The UK Engineering Skills Gap with Wayne Stannett

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A 25-year engineering skills gap doesn’t get fixed with slogans, and it definitely doesn’t get fixed by buying shiny new tech while the basics fall apart. We’re joined by Wayne Stannett, founder of Regit in Norfolk, to talk honestly about what it takes to rebuild vocational engineering training that produces people you can trust on real plant, not just people who can pass an exam.

Wayne walks us through how Regit was born out of the legacy of REAGIT, how it grew from a bold decision into a serious training centre, and why bootstrapping taught the same lesson we want engineers to learn: be resourceful, solve problems, and keep improving. We get into apprenticeships in the UK, ECITB scholarship programmes, finding teachers with real passion, and why community projects create the kind of pride you cannot print on a certificate.

We also zoom out into reliability engineering and maintenance culture. We challenge the Industry 4.0 mindset when fundamentals are missing, from strategy and data to competence and behaviour. If you care about reducing repeat failures, improving precision maintenance, and building a workforce that can actually deliver reliable work, this conversation is for you.

Subscribe for more straight-talking reliability and engineering conversations, share this with someone hiring apprentices, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What’s the one “fundamental” your site keeps skipping?

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