Industrial skills gap analysis is essential for businesses striving to stay competitive in the era of rapid technological advancements. As automation, AI, and digital transformation reshape the industrial sector, the gap between existing workforce skills and evolving job requirements continues to widen. This impacts productivity, efficiency, and business growth.
With the right tools, businesses can accurately assess workforce capabilities, identify critical skills gaps, and implement data-driven training strategies. This blog explores how industrial skills gap analysis, powered by technology-driven solutions, helps organizations build a future-ready workforce.
What is Industrial Skills Gap Analysis?
Industrial skills gap analysis identifies the gap between the skills that your workforce currently possesses, and the skills required to meet industry demands.
For instance, in the manufacturing sector, a significant portion of employees are multi-generational who should be trained to use new technologies to remain effective. Companies can stay competitive by equipping their workforce with the right skills to meet modern industry challenges.
Investing in the future of learning is one of the most effective ways to bridge the industrial skills gap, enhance workforce adaptability, and build business resilience.
According to the World Economic Forum, due to the increasing adoption of technology and automation about 50% of all employees will need reskilling.
Harbinger’s 4-Step Guide to Closing the Industrial Skills Gap
Now that we have understood what industrial skills gap analysis is, let’s explore the steps to close the gap.
Step 1: Conduct Skills Gap Analysis
Begin by identifying the mismatch between your workforce’s existing skills and the skills they need to build to meet the future demand. Divide the industrial skills gap analysis process into three stages:
- a. Create a Skills Taxonomy: Start by defining your organization’s business goals, then build a skills taxonomy—a structured framework that categorizes and organizes all the skills needed across roles, functions, and levels to achieve those goals.
- b. Assess Your Workforce’s Current Skill Set: Identify where your workforce stands with respect to the skills required in your organization and its future goals. This can be done with methods such as employee surveys, focus group discussions, and assessment tests.
- c. Automate Skills Gap Analysis: Research the tools and technology that fit your organization’s needs. With the deployment of the right tools and technology, automate your industrial skills gap analysis process and eliminate the need for human intervention.
Do you want to learn more? Explore Harbinger’s practical strategy guide to automate skills gap analysis. Download Now
Traditional skills gap analysis required talent development teams to manually gather workforce capability data, making it outdated and prone to error. The deployment of AI-based solutions for industrial skills gap analysis makes the process efficient and eliminates bias. This provides L&D and HR teams with real-time visibility of workforce capabilities and predicts future workforce skilling needs.
Learn how we enabled a leading driver training organization to assess skills gaps across 12 driving competencies and deliver targeted, video-based learning through a competency-based framework.
Step 2: Introduce Targeted Training to Bridge Skills Gap
With clear understanding of the skills required to achieve your business goals, the next step involves designing tailored learning programs. At this stage, your L&D team must evaluate the best approach to deliver training. This involves making a strategic decision about whether to invest in a new learning platform or partner with a learning technology provider.
3 Key Considerations for Designing Targeted Training Programs
- a. Craft Personalized Learning Pathways
Design personalized learning pathways for employees based on their roles and development needs. Ensure that training content and delivery method are tailored to each learner’s specific requirements. - b. Leverage AI
Effectively implementing AI in designing and developing targeted training programs transforms training by automating course creation, tailoring content, and adapting learning experiences in real-time. AI-based tools assess skill gaps, recommend relevant modules, and provide instant feedback. With data-driven insights from these tools, organizations can scale training efficiently, optimize learning outcomes, and accelerate workforce development effectively.Learn how we built an AI voice chatbot to create an AI-based smart eLearning experience with automated information search, best-matching multilingual responses, and conversational interface.
- c. Partner with eLearning Technology Experts
The right eLearning technology provider brings in industry knowledge and cutting-edge technology to develop tailored, powerful solutions that enhance L&D and training initiatives. These solutions include subscription-based skilling platforms, AI-driven assessment tools, and adaptive learning systems.
Step 3: Evaluate Effectiveness of Your Skills Gap Training
Measure training effectiveness by tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) and assessing job performance to ensure skills translate into business outcomes. Conduct regular assessments and knowledge checks to evaluate retention and application. Gather learner feedback through surveys and interviews to improve engagement and overall training impact.
Step 4: Continually Assess and Refine Your Skills Gap Training
Skills gap training is a persistent process that requires your organization to design a structured system to sustain it. This effort includes regularly assessing the training program, upgrading the training whenever required, and developing a continuous learning environment. You also need to ensure the training stays relevant to the evolving technology landscape, ongoing and future skill requirements, and business needs.
Harbinger’s Advanced Solutions for Workforce Training
Closing industrial skills gaps is not about strategy, it requires deployment of right tools and training resources. The following are some industrial training videos and tools designed to enhance learning and workforce efficiency.
- Commercial Motor Vehicle Driving Course
We developed a responsive, Section 508, and SCORM-compliant commercial motor vehicle driving course that addresses the problems faced by commercial motor drivers. This interactive and user-friendly course also provided crucial learnings to improve motor vehicle driving competencies.
Explore Featured Work - Windmill Installation Video
We designed a SCORM-compliant, illustrative-style windmill installation video for a global energy company. The video demonstrates ideal bolt installation techniques used to build windmills.
Explore Featured Work - Game-Based Course for General Transport
We used gamification to build an effective course on general transport for a global energy company. The course features an intuitive menu for seamless navigation. It covers both general and project transport procedures. We’ve localized it into 10 languages for wider accessibility, increased engagement, and improved training outcomes.
Explore Featured Work
Automate Industrial Skills Gap Analysis with Harbinger
Industrial skills gap analysis presents businesses with an opportunity to build a more competent workforce. However, identifying skill gaps and designing targeted training are time-consuming and not simple tasks. This makes automation the key to making industrial skills gap analysis faster and more effective.
Our award-winning eLearning technology and content solutions help organizations assess workforce capabilities, implement data-driven training, and adapt to industry changes with ease. Talk to our expert today to discover how our solutions can streamline your industrial skills gap analysis strategy and enhance workforce development.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are the common causes of industrial skill gaps?
Rapid technological advancements, aging workforce, lack of targeted training programs, and changing job requirements are some of the most notable causes for a widening industrial skills gap.
2. What role does automation play in industrial skills gap analysis?
Automation simplifies the industrial skills gap analysis process by streamlining assessments, tracking learner progress in real-time, and providing data-driven insights to optimize training strategies.
3. What challenges do companies face in implementing industrial skills gap training?
Companies face challenges ranging from developing an appropriate skills taxonomy, providing the right training material, and engaging employees in training to choosing the right tools and integrating them into existing workflows.
4. Which tools can be used for automating industrial skills gap analysis?
Organizations can leverage AI-based skills gap assessment tools, subscription-based skilling platforms, advanced LMS, and workforce analytics platforms to automate skills evaluation, gap analysis, and training recommendations.
