Domestic mould and toolmakers report sales are improving as the trend for reshoring to the UK continues. But there is a mixed reaction to the shrinking toolmaking skills workforce resource, as more and more of those in the sector reach retirement age and leave the industry. Bob Tunks, managing director of Essex-based BK Tooling, believes the toolmaking craft in the UK will continue to shrink. "There is no training going on in small companies which have an ageing workforce with no new blood." He has been closely monitoring trends and notes there has been a leap in toolmaking equipment auctions in the past year. "I discovered that 18 of them were due to retirement of directors. That is a big jump from five years ago, when there would have been two."
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