Wowgloucestershire – job sector factsheet Prospects 2012 ©
MANUFACTURING: CURRENT JOB MARKET
· Businesses that manufacture are vital to the UK economy although the numbers employed have been on the decline for years. According to the Manufacturers’ Organisation, over 2.5 million people were employed in manufacturing in 2010. This figure includesadmin, finance and other non manufacturing workers who are based in manufacturing companies
· The UK is one of the largest manufacturers in the world– the biggest is the USA followed by China, Japan, Germany, Italy and then either France or the UK (people don't agree!). However, other countries are rapidly catching up, including India, Brazil, South Korea andRussia
· Although there is competition from companies overseas, Britain still has many strengths – important sectors include the aerospace and defence industries (UK defence exports are said to be worth £4 billion), car production (although how well car manufacturers do varies every few years – only a couple of years ago, over 1 million cars were produced in the UK), pharmaceuticals, and the production of food and drinks
· Product design, which is sometimes included in manufacturing,is another important area – British-trained designers are sought after throughout the world
· Certain locations are well known for particular sectors, e.g. Birmingham is famous for its jewellery trade and the East Midlands is known for clothing and textiles. Computer games manufacturing occurs in many locations but important areas include Surrey, Coventry, Dundee and Leeds
· Manufacturing companies have suffered major job losses in the last few years. Sometimes this is the result of work contracts beingawardedto companies based in other countries e.g. recently train maker Bombardier had to cut its 3000 workforce in Derby by nearly a half when Thameslink awarded a train building contract toSiemens inGermany. Bombardier is in fact Canadian but, as with many large manufacturing companies,it has bases across the world
· Another reason for job losses is lack of customers and/or cost savings e.g. Britain’s largest manufacturer, and Europe’s largest arms dealer, BAE,getting rid of 1000s of jobs at sites all round the UK
The food sector
· The UK’s largest manufacturing sector
· This includes anything from animal feed to soft drinks
· Around half a million people work in this sector
· Company size ranges from one (e.g. a self-employed baker) to huge international firms such as Coco-Cola. Most companies have fewer than 10 staff
· The largest employers are bakery and meat manufacturing and processing companies
· Although manufacturing of food and drink takes place throughout the UK, certain areas of the UK (such as Yorkshire and Humberside, and the South West have significant numbers)
· About a quarter of the workforce is aged 30 or younger – as people retire, the industry will need more workers to join
MANUFACTURING: FUTURE TRENDS
· There are likely to be far fewer opportunities for people with lower level skills – either due to sophisticated machinery taking over tasks formerly carried out by staff or the jobs being sent overseas for lower-paid workers to perform. Operatives increasingly need to be able to multi-task e.g.beingon the production line but also dealing with quality control checking and/or machinery maintenance
· Many of the firms involved in manufacturing have hi tech premises and staff need to be able to operate sophisticated (and very expensive) equipment. In spite of the recession and recent redundancies (which are happening in all sectors), the industry needs highly skilled young engineers, scientists and other technically-minded people to join it
· Many countries which pay lower wages than ours are also producing increasing numbers of graduates in science and engineering. The UK’s strengths, such as in the pharmaceutical industry, could decrease. The pharmaceutical industry, however,still has a £50bn turnover and the UKis a world leader in various research areas
· If scares regarding quality occur (such as lead found in toys manufactured overseas), people might be prepared to pay more for goods made in this country
· Smaller businesses and the self-employed face numerous challenges which could put them out of business – e.g. strict health and safety procedures for food producers
· The cost of raw materials is likely to keep increasing. This pushes the cost of manufacturing up and some businesses are likely to struggle
· Numerous environmental issues might have an impact on the sector. For instance, world food shortages mean nutritious food products need to be developed by scientists, and a dwindling supply of rain forest plants (which are used to create drugs) could mean problems for the pharmaceutical industry
· Various markets are expected to grow for manufacturers. Examples include companies involved in medical equipment, security technologies, robotic engineering, and new energy products
· If the pound continues to be weak, this might keep overseas demand for UK goods high. However, when and if the pound becomes stronger, the price of UK goods will increase and demand is likely to godown
· New inventions, such as 3D printing– a way of fabricating objects designed on the computer – has become more affordable, which should make manufacturing more viable on a smaller scale
· Manufacturing experts say that the UK can excel in design and innovation (which it is well known for) and specialist manufacturing – including3D printing, advanced materials manufacture and 'just-in-time' manufacture
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Wowgloucestershire – job sector factsheet Prospects 2012 ©
MANUFACTURING: PICTURE IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE
· Manufacturing is extremely important for Gloucestershire even if, as in the rest of the UK, the industry overallis on the decline
· About 14% of jobs are in manufacturing. NB this includes a few headquarters of major companies, where admin, finance, human resources etc functions are carried out, rather than actual manufacturing
· The work is often hi-tech. A number of employers are involved with the medical, aerospace and defence sectors, for instance
· According to Gloucestershire Local Economic Assessment 2011, businesses with the most employees are those involved in advanced engineering (about 21% of employees)followed bymachinery and equipment, then fabricated metal products, then food and drink, then publishing and printing ...right down totextiles/clothing (around1% of manufacturing employees)
· Although some of the companies are huge, such as hi-tech firm Renishaw (whichmakes industrial measuring equipment), the vast majority are small. Some, especially those in the creative industries (jewellery design, pottery, etc), consist of just one or two people
· The economy has affected how well companies are doing but other factors, including takeovers and mergers have also had an impact. The Cheltenham-based headquarters of Kraft Foods (which took over Cadbury's in 2010) and which employed 450 people,closed in 2011
· On the other hand, some employers are doing well. Renishaw, which had to lose staff in 2009, hadincreasedsales growth throughout the world in 2010
Examples of manufacturing employers in Gloucestershire
· Bottle Green (drinks manufacture), South Woodchester
· Daylesford Organics (food manufacture), Kingham
· Winstones Ice Cream, Stroud
· Uniliver (Walls Ice Cream), Barnwood
· Snow Business (artificial snow for the film, TV and retail industries), Stroud
· Unite Modular Solutions (pre-fabricated buildings), Stonehouse
· Milliken (cloth manufacture for snooker tables), Stroud
· Moog Controls (aerospace), Tewkesbury
· Helipebs Controls (hydraulic components), Gloucester
· Kohler MIra HQ (showers), Cheltenham
· Glatfelter (fibre/paper products), Lydney
· Ambrell(induction heating),Cheltenham
· Prima Dental Group (dental products), Gloucester
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Wowgloucestershire – job sector factsheet Prospects 2012 ©
MANUFACTURING: FINDING OUT MORE
www.automotive-skills.org.uk
Sector Skills Council for the automotive industry
www.cogent-ssc.com
Sector skills Council for the oil and gas, chemicals, nuclear, petroleum and polymer industries
www.materials-careers.org.uk
Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining’s careers site
www.imeche.org
Institution of Mechanical Engineers
www.iomnet.org.uk/
Institute of Operations Management
www.manufacturinginstitute.co.uk/
The Manufacturing Institute
http://www.proskills.co.uk/ and http://www.prospect4u.co.uk/
Proskills UK Sector Skills Council for manufacturing and process industries
www.semta.org.uk
The Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technology
www.wisecampaign.org.uk
Encourages women into science, engineering and construction careers/study
www.youngeng.org
Site to encourage young engineers
www.improve-skills.co.uk
Sector Skills Council for food and drink manufacture
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