When experienced people leave

When a maintenance technician with 25 years in the plant announces his retirement, the discussion is usually about who takes his post. It is rarer to discuss what he knows that is not written down anywhere: which bearing on line 2 fails first in summer, and what noise the pump makes the day before it stops. All of that leaves with him, and the gap shows at the first breakdown nobody recognises any more.

What is changing

Eurostat data show a steadily ageing population. The share of people aged 65 and over in Romania rose from 16.5% on 1 January 2014 to 20.3% on 1 January 2025, and the median age went up over the same period from 40.8 to 44.1 years.

For a plant, the comparison between generations matters more. On 1 January 2025, Romania had about 1.44 million inhabitants aged 50-54 and 1.43 million aged 55-59, against roughly 1.02 million aged 20-24 and 0.99 million aged 25-29. The generations reaching retirement age over the next 15 years are visibly larger than those now entering the labour market.

Emigration adds to this. According to Eurostat, in 2017, 19.7% of Romanian citizens aged 20-64 lived in another EU member state, the highest share in the Union. In 2025, the number of Romanian citizens aged 20-64 usually resident in another EU state was about 2.3 million.

On the ground, this means departures no longer come only at retirement, with years of warning. People of 35 leave too, for another country or for an employer in the same industrial park, with a few weeks’ notice.

What knowledge leaves

The hard part is not the written procedure but what surrounds it. In maintenance: the real history of each machine, the temporary repairs that keep the line running, the spare part that works even though it has a different code. In format changeovers: the fine adjustments that are not on the setup sheet, the order in which the clamps are tightened, how to recognise a good part on the first shot. In process setting: which parameters get adjusted when a batch of material arrives from a different supplier or when humidity rises in the hall. And contacts: whom to call at the machine supplier to get an answer the same day.

The expert often does not know that he knows all this. Asked “how do you do it”, he describes the official procedure. The difference only appears when you watch him work or when you ask about a specific breakdown.

The risk map

The first step is to find out where the exposure is. Take the list of machines and processes that stop delivery if they stop. For each one, ask: who fixes it when it breaks at night, who does the setup when a new part arrives? If the answer is always the same name, you have found a risk.

Then place each person in a matrix with two axes:

• how unique the knowledge is: several people can do this; one person does it well and others struggle; only he can do it;
• time until departure: more than three years; between one and three years; under a year or unknown.

The cells combining “only he” with “under a year or unknown” get a transfer plan this month. For retirements, you have age and length of service from HR. For everyone else, “unknown” is the honest answer for almost anyone with a trade that is in demand. Treat it as short term, not long term.

Redo the matrix once a year and whenever someone leaves from the top cells. Keep it at management level; it is not a list to post on a wall.

A successor, in good time

Tacit knowledge is not transferred in a few weeks. The successor has to work alongside the expert on real situations, breakdowns included, for months. As they progress, the roles reverse: the successor does the work, and the expert watches and steps in only if needed.

A common mistake is a successor named on paper but fully occupied with other work. If they have no time explicitly allocated in their schedule, the transfer does not happen. The second mistake is how it is presented to the expert. “You are training your replacement” sounds like being shown the door. The transfer must be part of his role, with time set aside and, where possible, recognised in his appraisal or salary.

What to write down and what to film

A few formats that work well on the shop floor:

• one-point lessons: one sheet, one idea, more photograph than text, written by the successor after the expert has shown them and checked by the expert;
• video of format changeovers, shot on a phone, with the expert explaining what he checks and why, cut into short steps and linked to the machine code;
• troubleshooting guides built from breakdown history, not from the manufacturer’s manual: symptom, probable causes in the order they usually occur, what to check, what to do;
• a log of process adjustments, where the expert notes what he changed, why and by how much.

Troubleshooting guides are written together with the expert: the successor asks the questions, the expert answers, someone takes notes. Before filming, check the plant’s internal rules on video recording and the consent of the people who appear.

A document is good if a technician who has never done the operation can do it with the document while the expert watches without stepping in. If it does not pass that test, it gets rewritten.

Leaving in stages

For retirements there is more flexibility than is used. In the last year, the expert can work reduced hours, with the rest of the time given to the transfer. After retirement, a contract for a few days a month or availability by phone for breakdowns covers the period in which the successor has not yet seen every situation. You settle the right contractual form with HR and the legal adviser.

For departures abroad or to a competitor you do not have these options. There the only defence is that the transfer has already begun.

Do not wait for the notice period

A notice period means a few weeks with a person who is already thinking about the next job. That is too little for what he has accumulated over the years. Any critical knowledge held by a single person is a risk today, not from the day he hands in his resignation. The transfer plan starts while the person is still fully engaged.

What is still unknown

It is not clear how many of the Romanians who have left will return, or whether those who do will come back to the same trades. It is also unclear to what extent automation will reduce the need for people in setup and troubleshooting, or only shift it towards other skills. You already have the plant’s age structure from HR, and with it you can complete the first version of the risk map this week.

How do you handle knowledge transfer at your plant? We discuss it in the “Leadership” WhatsApp group.