Tasks and skills
Assemblers [1] are a relatively homogenous group of workers who assemble prefabricated parts or components to form subassemblies, products and equipment, according to strict procedures. The two main subgroups are; mechanical machinery assemblers and electrical and electronic equipment assemblers.
Tasks performed usually include: assembling components into various types of products and equipment; reviewing work orders, specifications, diagrams and drawings to determine materials needed and assembly instructions; recording production and operational data on specified forms; inspecting and testing completed components and assemblies and wiring installations and circuits; rejecting faulty assemblies and components.
According to Eurofound's Job Monitor, the key 3 tasks and skills of assemblers are routine, teamwork and gather and evaluate information.
Figure 1: Importance of tasks and skills of assemblers
Note: The importance of tasks and skills is measured on 0-1 scale, where 0 means least important and 1 means most important.
What are the trends for the future? [2]
The employment level of assemblers across sectors is expected to increase by 23 per cent between 2018 and 2030 which more than makes up for the contraction in employment over the period 2006 to 2018, when employment fell by 17 per cent. The employment growth of assemblers is expected in 21 of 28 analysed countries while only in 7 countries the occupation's employment is expected to decline.
Figure 2: Future employment growth of assemblers in European countries (2018-2030, in %)
The 23 per cent growth in employment understates the growth in demand for people to work as assemblers. Over the period 2018-2030, around 700,000 people are projected to leave the occupation for one reason or another such as retirement and they will have to be replaced.
Given the projected increase in employment over the same period, this will result in around 1 million job openings that will need to be filled between 2018 and 2030.
Figure 3: Future job openings of assemblers (2018-2030)
The majority of assemblers are employed in manufacturing, industries such as food, drink and tobacco; rubber/non-metal mineral products; textiles, clothing & leather; basic metals & metal products; wholesale and retail trade; wood, paper, print, publishing; and motor vehicles. Over time, the share of assemblers working in manufacturing is expected to decline, while that in sectors such as wholesale and retail will increase.
In 2018, with regard to education level, 64% of assemblers had medium-level qualifications, and only 8% had high-level qualifications. Between 2018 and 2030, the share of low- and medium-level qualified assemblers is expected to decline slightly, while the share of high-qualified assemblers is likely to rise to about 14%.
More information on employment trends and other characteristics of assemblers can be found here.
Which drivers of change will affect their skills?
Significant changes already take place in the large employers/sectors of assemblers, which means assemblers heavily rely on developments in manufacturing, ranging from production modes, value chains, new organisational structures and, of course, technological advancements. In turn, their job tasks and skills are expected to change. Drivers that affect all sectors, such as restructuring of value chains [3] inevitably affect assemblers as well, since their job tasks depend on the nature and way of production of the assembled product.
- Production modes and characteristics of several types of products change to accommodate shifts in consumer demand for niche and customised products. At the same time, strong rise in demand for sustainable products and eco-design [4] also affects production modes and the use new materials and machines. Assemblers will subsequently need skills to handle these new materials and corresponding machine operations. Moreover, the emphasis on reducing the material waste and increasing the efficiency of the production process (e.g. the supply-circle management [5]) lead to improvements in monitoring and quality control. Assemblers responsible for such parts of the production will inevitably need relevant skills and competences [6].
- Advances in technology are already reshaping manufacturing in terms of the structures of value and supply chains, organisations, as well as spreading the automation of production, logistics etc.
Automation could be perceived as the key driver of changes in assemblers’ employment and skills, as greater use of computer-controlling machines may reduce the number of their jobs or the change their job tasks. Some assembler jobs could be threatened by further factory automation, as already there are examples of two-armed robots working as assemblers[7]. Redefining their role, automation and digitalisation overall could require assemblers to move into roles of technicians or machine operators. Others may need to engage into more customer service and design roles as one-off, customised goods become more readily available.[8] In such cases, software and programming skills (e.g. in 3-D printing and rapid prototyping) will be needed. [9]
- Trends like technology advancements, trade globalisation coupled with outsourcing and off-shoring of some EU manufacturing industries change business models, value chain composition or social partners’ relations. For example, the automotive industry [10] has already responded to increasingly interdisciplinary technological advancements by engulfing stronger cross-disciplinary and inter-sectoral collaboration. Automotive assemblers rely more heavily on partners that provide supporting technologies and services. Clustering and new forms of public-private partnerships transcend new ways of collaborating, transmitting knowledge across sectors; in turn, assemblers could be faced with a broader set of collaborators/providers, highlighting the need for understanding other sectors, cross-sectoral working, team spirit, communication skills, critical thinking, problem solving, and effective working under pressure). [11]
- Risk of automation: As a part of its Digitalization and future of work project, Cedefop estimates the risks of automation for occupations. The most exposed occupations are those with significant share of tasks that can be automated – operation of specialised technical equipment, routine or non-autonomous tasks – and those with a small reliance on communication, collaboration, critical thinking and customer-serving skills. The risk of automation is further accentuated in occupations where employees report little access to professional training that could help them cope with labour market changes. Assemblers are reportedly an occupation with very high risk of automation.
