Category: News & Updates

Exhibitions and trade shows are essential tools for establishing and maintaining connections and relationships between businesses. At European Springs, we have found that attending these shows is an excellent way of speaking with people face to face. We value taking the time to discuss our high-quality springs and pressings with the other attendees and have a chance to observe their exhibits in return.

SOUTHERN MANUFACTURING & ELECTRONICS

The Southern Manufacturing & Electronics exhibition at Farnborough International Exhibition Centre was our first exhibition of the year. From Stand A135, members of our expert team, Andrew Edwards and Mark Fox, spent three days in one of the most comprehensive industrial exhibitions in the UK.

DATA CENTER WORLD

The Data Center World exhibition hosted in the London ExCel was a fantastic opportunity for our team to immerse themselves in the digital infrastructure, with this being the most significant global gathering of specialists, engineers and innovators worldwide. And with our expertise in data-based manufacturing, we are confident we made a considerable impact.

UK MANUFACTURING & SUPPLY CHAIN CONFERENCE

The UK Manufacturing & Supply Chain Conference was a stand-out addition to our attended events this year. Hosted in Milton Keynes in March, we were one of many exhibitors to contribute to this national forum for manufacturers and all companies at any stage of a supply chain.

MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY UK

The Medical Technology UK Exhibition, hosted in the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, was a chance for our speciality in bespoke wireforms to shine. Our innovative solutions for custom spring designs have been commissioned for a wide range of medical machinery worldwide. So we were excited to explore possible new applications for our products at this event.

MACH 2022

MACH 2022 took place from 4th – 8th April 2022. This outstanding event hosted by the Manufacturing Technologies Association was a fantastic few days where you could observe a tremendous showcase of advanced engineering and manufacturing techniques from across the whole sector. With over 25,000 visitors across the five days, including seminars and unrivalled networking opportunities, it’s easy to see why we were excited to take our place at the UK’s premier event for engineering-based manufacturing technologies.

And once again, our experts, Andrew Edwards and Mark Fox, were eager to make an appearance in the Birmingham NEC and discuss how European Springs could assist with any company’s manufacturing needs, such as supplying high-quality tension springs. With all the various machines and technologies presented, it was a chance to meet new people and a great insight into the advances developed for the sector.

National Manufacturing and Supply Chain Conference

We were excited to attend the National Manufacturing and Supply Chain Conference in May. This prestigious event held in Dublin was a perfect couple of days where our team cultivated many new positive business relationships and built connections with various industry colleagues.

We observed many companies from various industries exhibiting alongside us at the TEC, including our fellow member of the Lesjofor group, Metrol Springs.

SubCon 2022

This exhibition is the UK’s premier subcontract manufacturing supply chain event. Held in June at the NEC, we were present with many other company representatives to witness the 45^th anniversary of this vital networking event.

Andrew Edwards and Mark Fox were eager to share how our superior work processes can benefit the creation of our client’s desired components. From stand D100, they were able to discuss the varying ways we can manufacture a variety of high quality springs, stampings and wire forms. It was a lively event that enabled us to not only meet new clients but also to see current and previous clients face to face and present samples of our specialist manufacturing expertise in person.

WHY ARE EXHIBITIONS IMPORTANT?

We are proud of our high attendance record for the conventions, exhibitions, and expos this year, and we plan to continue attending as many as possible throughout the year. But we believe that simply visiting an expo is only half as effective as taking the time to exhibit at them. So, why do we find exhibitions so important?

Firstly, the new connections that will be made will explain why we value attending events. Whilst finding new clients is desirable, it’s not the only helpful business connections you can find by exhibiting. As a manufacturer of compression springs, finding new business partners is an excellent way to help strengthen the supply chain and will be crucial for finding new ways of increasing your long-term profitability.

Meeting potential clients face to face is one of the unique benefits gained from exhibiting. Whilst conducting Teams calls and email bursts to contact people is a valid method of communication, there is no substitute for being in person. Clients will feel more relaxed when they can get any of their questions answered in person and avoid any potential misunderstandings that could happen with online communication.

One of the ways we have made ourselves a leading company amongst spring manufacturers is by consistently increasing our brand awareness. So when our team mans a stand at a manufacturing show, we proudly present our brand and display the confidence essential for an internationally renowned manufacturer.

Exhibitions not only give you the chance to present yourself to the industry, but you also get an opportunity to observe other companies within your sector. In addition, expos are great places for new announcements such as new product launches, services or new machinery. This assists with the previously discussed brand awareness and gives you a chance to see how the other attendees receive this new release. Additionally, it allows you to get a sense of what your competitors are getting up to. These two data sets will be vital for deciding how you want your business to proceed.

 

EXPERTS IN BESPOKE WIRE FORMS, PRESSINGS AND SPRINGS

At European Springs, we constantly look for innovative ways to improve our already effective processes and strategies. As a result, we are confident that whether our customers desire our stock of torsion springs or require bespoke pressings, we will provide what they need in a high-quality, cost-effective product.

If you would like to visit our team in person, please follow our social media announcements on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn for updates on all our upcoming plans.

If you have any questions about the products and services we provide, please contact us today or call us at 0208 633 1800, and a member of our expert team will happily answer all your questions.

UK manufacturing is still feeling the impact of the last two years’ events. Production and economic disruptions created many challenges that the industry is still struggling to overcome. These obstacles have been exacerbated by more recent events, such as the Russian war in Ukraine and the erratic China lockdowns.

An unfortunate result of these problems is the rising cost increase that UK manufacturing has to manage. Supply chains are still recovering, and energy bills are rising, but the demand for British manufactured products is also growing. This increase in demand is outgrowing the supply to fulfil it, causing an increase in costs. So how do manufacturers address these costs and maintain their competitiveness within the industry?

National Insurance Increase

From April 2022, the UK government increased the National Insurance contributions (NIC) by 1.25% for the tax year. This means manufacturers would be required to contribute 15.05% for each workforce member as opposed to the previous 13.8%. With the industry already struggling to fill positions, there are concerns that this increase will make it difficult for employers to recruit new engineers. If growth is limited due to this, it could increase the existing skills gap and create significant problems for the productivity of many manufacturing companies.

The response to this increase varies, but 38% of businesses have stated that they plan to pass the additionally incurred NIC onto the customers, while others choose not to. Some companies cannot absorb the costs; in this case, letting inflation trickle down to the broader economy is a sensible solution; this can enable managers to protect their employees’ jobs and allow time for the situation to improve.

Increasing Energy Costs

There has been a sharp rise in energy costs during 2022, impacting everyone, domestic, commercial and industrial. However, the high energy nature of manufacturing means that these increases affect them more accurately than in other areas of the UK.

These sharp increases have forced manufacturers to assess every business area to increase energy efficiency and mitigate costs. This can include analysing the energy usage of processes, the requirements of various equipment, and even temporarily halting the most energy-intensive procedures.

Government Support for Industry

The manufacturing industry plays a considerable role in the UK’s economic output. Manufacturers employ roughly 2.6 million people across the country and are responsible for 44% of all UK exports. Despite the many issues the industry has faced, manufacturing remains a vital organ within the larger body of the county. Fortunately, the government may be taking steps to support this vital industry.

The UK government announced earlier this year that it would be providing support for high energy usage businesses that are struggling with the rising energy costs. The plan is to extend the energy Intensive Industries Compensation scheme and, thanks to its increased budget, be broadened to apply to more businesses, including steel manufacturing.

Industry Minister Lee Rowley said he wished to keep UK manufacturing at the forefront of the industry globally by providing this assistance. With the current changes to the scheme already having a positive impact on some areas of the sector, potentially, this support could be extended to include various other manufacturers, such as spring suppliers.

Choosing Local Power Generation

The rising costs of energy will inevitably have an impact on any manufacturer’s ability to remain competitive. These issues have not just been limited to financial expenses either. In a recent survey conducted by Aggreko, 65% of the 251 manufacturers stated that they had experienced an increasing number of power cuts over the last 18 months. The combination of the erratic market and unexpected power cuts harming operations has encouraged the manufacturing industry to explore on-site power and distributed energy solutions.

Distributed energy systems (DES) is a broad term that covers a diverse array of energy generations, control and storage options. This can be applied to on-site power generators and renewable solar and wind power sources. With the advances in renewable technologies, its become increasingly affordable for compression spring manufacturers to decrease their energy costs through solar panels’ on-site power generation. Additionally, with the load management installed, on-site managers can remain unaffected by widespread power cuts from more centralised sources such as national power stations.

Before national power grids were established, each business needed to develop its internal power generation. On-site power enables managers to specifically regulate the power they need as well as provide the desired energy security for their operations. Returning to this may be a solution for manufacturers to cut costs and improve their environmental efficiency.

Manufacturing’s Future

The importance of manufacturing for the UK economy and its high international standing ensures a bright future, but how to reach that destination is still unclear. These rising costs will continue to stress existing processes and test any innovations. Still, we at European Springs firmly believe that the industry’s resilience will be able to overcome any of these challenges.

European Springs plans to rise to these challenges presented and use these obstacles as opportunities to learn and explore. We are committed to constantly exploring new ideas and improving our methods to provide our clients with consistently excellent results with our bespoke pressings and springs.

Read more about why European Springs is a leading industry manufacturer here.

It’s widely known that the manufacturing industry was one of the most significant contributors to harmful greenhouse gases, but this is all changing thanks to adopting new procedures and processes to reduce this environmental damage to minimal levels.

This commitment is heavily connected to the global shift to a greener world, with the most support coming from the UK, thanks to new government policies. This coordination aims to see the manufacturing industry reduce its emissions to staggeringly low levels and create an ecologically sound supply chain that can be sustained indefinitely.

Net Zero 2050 Explained

The UK government’s Net Zero 2050 strategy is an impressive target to reduce harmful emissions by decarbonising all sectors across the UK by the year 2050. These ambitious plans have affected every industry and inspired significant changes nationwide in manufacturing companies. This eventual goal is staggered with various smaller targets preceding it to ensure progress. Examples of these goals are ending the sale of new diesel vans and cars by 2030 and incentives for farmers to use low-carbon methods. Every day more ideas are being developed to assist in this laudable goal of reducing the climate impact of all industries and developing this emerging Green Industrial Revolution.

The Industries Approach to Climate Change

The industry has widely embraced this goal of becoming sustainable, which is no small task considering the industry was responsible for an estimated 20% of UK emissions. The current plan is to reduce this significantly before 2030, and according to the CCC’s annual assessment, whilst there is a long way to go to reach the desired 90% reduction by 2050, progress is being made

Recycling is a vital way of creating a sustainable company. Unfortunately, the raw resources the manufacturing industry requires are not infinite, and mining new natural resources each year requires significant effort and energy that negatively impacts the environment. New methods, such as waste hierarchy, are being introduced to combat this.

Apply the Waste Hierarchy

As a UK spring manufacturer, we know that one of the most successful ways to improve your company’s sustainability is to include the waste hierarchy in your work processes. This hierarchy is a thought exercise that can be applied to any manufacturing company regardless of its context.

It works similar to a flow chart but is usually visualised as an upside-down triangle. This is because the most favourable options are encountered first, and only if these prove impossible do you move to the next step down. This process continues when addressing your waste materials, checking each step to find the highest one that applies with the worst-case scenario (environmentally) at the bottom.

The steps are as follows:

Prevention – This is the first, best step to apply to your waste materials. By preventing materials from becoming waste, you prevent any problems preemptively. This adds the benefit of inspiring a lean, streamlined manufacturing operation that requires fewer resources and helps save financially.

Reuse or Recycle – These two steps have the similar goal of finding new productive uses for your waste. Reuse applies more to refurbishing and repairing objects to extend their life; in manufacturing, this can apply to the equipment used. Recycling waste materials focuses on ensuring that any waste materials are recycled for new uses. For example, any damaged tension springs can be recycled for their reusable materials.

Recovery – This option is a less effective alternative to recycling. Recovery is the process of incinerating the waste materials to regain some of the lost energy used to collect it in the first place. These materials are burnt for electricity production and help reduce the burning of fossil fuels.

Disposal – this is the lowest step of the waste hierarchy and the worst option environmentally. With this choice, your waste material will be sent to a landfill site. Due to this choice’s environmental impact, the UK government is highly taxing landfill usage. Any company pursuing a sustainable future should avoid this step as much as possible.

The hierarchy is a proven effective tool for lowering a company’s waste materials, providing ecological benefits, and adding a financially favourable efficiency to the usage of your materials.

Sustainability Through Innovation

The main challenge of creating a sustainable manufacturing industry is not limited to material usage, and many other areas have been explored successfully for environmental improvements.

Manufacturers are intensive energy users that can gain significant savings by decarbonisation. Switching to low carbon technologies supports both the Net Zero strategy but also the natural financial optimisation of your business.

Many manufacturers are investing in air source heat pumps for their building heating and cooling needs. These relatively new alternatives to conventional systems are significantly more environmentally friendly. For example, ASHP units transfer heat or cold from outside, which is a low carbon operation that awards them with a zero-carbon rating. Choosing these will also open up the possibilities of using green electricity tariffs, which many energy suppliers offer.

European Springs is constantly searching for new ways of improving our sustainability as one of the leading manufacturing companies in the UK. We apply these green processes to the creation of all our wireforms, springs and automotive metal pressings.

Browse our stock catalogue for more details on what we can supply for you.

The UK manufacturing industry plays an essential role in supporting the economy. With over 270 thousand businesses in the UK contributing to this sector, the UK is internationally known as a significant contributor to global manufacturing.

STEM is an integral part of this industry as it covers science, technology, engineering and mathematics, all essential skills needed for every role within manufacturing. However, these STEM roles need to adapt and evolve to fit the ever-changing needs of this vital industry, and apprenticeships help with that.

Increased Need for Engineers

 

The skills gap has been troubling the industry for many years. In addition, recruitment difficulties have plagued manufacturing as many companies struggle to ensure complete teams. At the start of the year, the British chamber of commerce reported record highs in recruitment struggles. This has been credited to several reasons, but they all have the same result of making it difficult for companies to fill team positions. The more a company’s team is affected by the lack of skills, the more it will affect the quality of their products. This is why European Springs prides itself on promoting its STEM apprenticeship schemes and supporting new people as they begin their careers in manufacturing.

Is a STEM Apprenticeship Right for You?

With STEM covering a broad range of roles and job possibilities, it can be daunting to envision your future within it and assess if it’s the right place for you.

The ability to use logic effectively and identify when processes are not as efficient as they can be is evidence that you may be skilled in critical thinking. As bespoke spring manufacturers, we rely on these critical thinkers, people who can spot these problems and then create reasonable solutions to fix them. These skills can be effectively applied to almost any role within the manufacturing industry as, at its core, the sector is grounded in science and mathematics.

To be an engineer for a springs manufacturer, you need to have a detailed understanding of the materials you’ll be using and the machinery involved. But knowing how it works is only a first step.

Despite the initial impression that STEM apprenticeships are a mechanical process, the truth is that they require individuals who can be creative. All industries rely on growth and change to keep up within this competitive field, which is as accurate on a company level as on a personal level. Therefore, successful engineering apprentices need to develop their creativity alongside their critical thinking. These two skills combined will enable them to solve any problem that may arise and recommend new, more efficient processes that will give their associated company an edge in the industry.

STEM Apprenticeship Benefits for Employers

The manufacturing industry has been struggling with a skills gap for some time. To solve this issue within our own company, European Springs has long supported engineering apprenticeships and STEM apprenticeships in general.

This gives us a different perspective on the usefulness of STEM apprenticeships. In addition, as each applicant successfully progresses through their time working in a single area, we have seen a broader uplifting of all the processes we manage. This success can be attributed partly to the unique perspective each apprentice provides our company.

As mentioned earlier, our engineers are encouraged to speak up about ineffective processes and use their creativity to recommend improvements, including our STEM apprentices. Each student we take on will bring new ideas and vision for achieving the most efficient working processes. These new ideas can be assessed and potentially implemented as innovations that will improve our products and processes long term. In addition, with the industry’s focus on upskilling or reskilling team members, apprenticeships can help create a team with more diverse skills, creating a stronger workforce.

How Does an Apprenticeship Work?

The ability to conceive effective project management to meet deadlines, and communicate well with other engineers is an essential part of being a STEM apprentice. These, along with the required skills in IT, mathematics, and physics, are all areas that will be significantly developed during your time as an apprentice. To be a truly productive member of your team, you’ll need to analyse and adapt current processes to find more effective ways of completing your tasks.

You’ll achieve these by learning the trade skills from our more experienced staff and using them to complete day-to-day tasks. These will include:

• Shadowing
• Supervised work

Shadowing and supervised work are excellent learning tools that far surpass classwork. The benefits of hands-on learning of processes and tasks followed by completing them yourself under supervision cannot be understated for building a skills base as well as your initial confidence.

• Studying
• Assessment

The classroom study is then combined with practical research to reinforce the skills an apprentice will learn. Consisting of usually a couple of days a week, an apprentice will take the time to study the deep data of STEM roles. Assessments are an essential part of apprenticeships. Completing contextual exams on what you’ve learned and addressing supervisor feedback will help you fill those gaps in your knowledge and assist your growth into a successful STEM graduate.

Each year we offer excellent apprenticeships at European Springs. These are available for STEM students exploring their future as well as experienced staff wishing to reskill themselves into a new role. Thanks to our established development plans, we are committed to maintaining the highest quality learning experience for our successful applicants. During your time as an apprentice, you can earn while you learn about the manufacture of many products such as torsion springs and begin your journey into a profitable career as a member of the most successful industry in the UK.

You can learn more about the success of our apprenticeship schemes in our associate article.

 

 

The manufacturing sector has seen its share of changes over the last few years, but during this time, it has proven itself a resilient industry that can adapt to meet any challenge. Adaptability is essential for not just your business but your workforce; this is where apprenticeships thrive.

Despite the shifting nature of the manufacturing industry, one constant that’s becoming more apparent is that a profitable career in engineering is no longer limited to university graduates. Instead, apprenticeships have become an excellent route for critical thinkers and innovators interested in a career in STEM.

What is an Engineering Apprenticeship?

At European Springs, we host new apprenticeships every year. Engineering apprenticeships are essentially working courses that provide students interested in STEM the chance to gain hands-on knowledge and valuable experience required to become professional engineers. These courses are usually a mix of hands-on work alongside study modules to create the invaluable skill set required.

Different Types of Engineering Apprenticeships

Because of the large variety of roles applicable to a career in manufacturing, there isn’t one apprenticeship that can cover it all. Therefore, finding the right one to support your interest in STEM is a significant first step in your potential career. Here are some examples of the different apprenticeships a student could choose from.

Mechanical Engineering Apprenticeships

The skills acquired through a mechanical engineering apprenticeship are connected to several industries. Skills you can learn through this are welding, hydraulics, pneumatics, CAD design and CNC machining.

Manufacturing gains the most from mechanical engineers, such as transport with train engine repair, power for designing pumps for energy companies and here at European Springs as experienced tension spring manufacturers.

Engineering Environmental Technologies Apprenticeships

This is a relatively new area of engineering apprenticeship. This focus was developed to help combat the rising adverse effects of the industry on the environment. As a successful apprentice, it would be your responsibility to create innovations that make manufacturing, construction and building maintenance sectors more environmentally friendly. With the advances the manufacturing industry is making toward net-zero carbon emissions, the role of these engineers has never been more critical.

Manufacturing Engineering Apprenticeships

Manufacturing engineering apprentices have a choice of pathways. These can cover aerospace, marine, welding, technical support, and fabrication, such as torsion spring manufacturers. Of course, the tasks involved will vary depending on your chosen sector. Still, by selecting a manufacturing engineering apprenticeship, you open the doors to the many areas of STEM.

What to Expect From an Apprenticeship

As we mentioned earlier, hands-on experience is an essential part of any engineering apprenticeship. Observing valuable trade skills in use within a suitable working environment will have the most impact on the apprentice.

This education is done through the apprentice being partnered with an experienced staff member, who will teach skills such as accountability, planning and responsibility for the day-to-day tasks you’ll conduct once qualified.

Studying is an important part when working on an apprenticeship. While some consider the physical contributions the most impactful, maintaining a high level of study with theory is essential too. This may be just a couple of days a week, either at a partnered college or in-house with your fellow apprentices.

Shadowing and supervising work are some of the most effective parts of a manufacturing apprenticeship. By first shadowing your assigned staff member, you can practically learn the different aspects of the role in a more visual way than through study. Your shadowing will then be followed up by taking on those tasks under the supervision of experienced engineers. This is the best time to ask critical questions and build that all-important confidence through getting a taste of a STEM career.

Assessments with a supervisor are to be expected when working on an apprenticeship. Reviews are not a negative judgement of your performance but a vital element of learning the role with the benefit of providing someone who can answer any of your questions. After being regularly assessed for your current skills and job knowledge, you will usually complete coursework and exams as the final step to achieving your apprenticeship.

Benefits of Choosing European Springs Engineering Apprenticeships

As experienced spring manufacturers, we can attest to the benefits of taking on apprentices from an industry standpoint. Every year we take on new apprentices through our established development plans. We firmly believe that this helps give us a competitive edge in maintaining our status as a leading compression spring manufacturer. In addition, when companies take the time to invest in their staff through upskilling or reskilling, they can find that this training will create a far more diverse and effective team than persistent recruitment drives.

For the apprentices themselves, one standout benefit is the ability to learn whilst they earn. In addition, working toward a nationally-recognised qualification while simultaneously making a wage is hard to beat when investing in your future.

Increased Demand for Engineers

The manufacturing sector is currently struggling with a skills gap that creates problems for many manufacturing companies. At European Springs, we prioritise involving apprentices within the industry as we firmly believe that by supporting the next generation of engineers, we help individuals find great careers whilst supporting the industry.

If you are interested in exploring a new career in manufacturing, we recommend learning more about our apprenticeship schemes here. If you have any questions, please fill in the connected enquiry form, and we’ll be happy to answer any of your questions.

Manufacturing is a highly professional industry that requires its workers to earn particular qualifications, leading to the current skills gap shortage troubling the sector. Recruiting skilled engineers and other production team members is a constant issue to fill all the current vacancies, but there are ways to fix this.

What Is The Manufacturing Skills Gap?

The manufacturing industry plays a prominent role in the UK’s economy. With over 270 thousand businesses in the manufacturing sector across the UK, it’s recognised as one of the most significant contributors to the UK economy.

Any business needs to adapt to thrive and evolve, including STEM industries. By implementing intelligent technologies such as big data, cloud computing and industrial IoT, managers can more accurately optimise their work processes and identify those areas that need improvement.

The skills gap is partially due to the rapid advances in smart technologies and automation that are helping increase the efficiency of the industry. However, whilst investing in these new technologies is a great idea, many people do not have the experience or qualifications to use them.

Unfortunately, there are many working positions unfulfilled across manufacturing and other STEM sectors. These vacancies are known as the skills gap. The manufacturing skills gap is not just a buzzword for low employment numbers; it is, in fact, a complex reality that many spring manufacturers face as there are more open positions than applicants to fill them.

Manufacturers National Contribution

Pressing manufacturers such as ourselves are among the many companies in our sector to account for 9.7% of the total UK economic output in 2021 (gross value added). At the start of 2022, manufacturing output was 0.8% higher than the previous month but 1.6% below the beginning of 2020. All of this was achieved with this sector 7.3% of the jobs positions available in the UK.

Current State of The Industry

The British chamber of commerce, early this year, reported in their quarterly recruitment outlook that there are record highs in recruitment difficulties. In addition, 79% of companies shared that they have problems filling positions. Companies have reported a broad range of issues that have contributed to this, such as the effects of Brexit and the pandemic.

Head of people policy, Jane Gratton, believes that these results highlight the continuing difficulties employers face in accessing the skilled labour they need and that such a loss will impact the country’s economic recovery. For example, as more compression spring manufacturers struggle to fill their skills gap, it will create a knock-on effect on their ability to provide products. This effect will continue adding struggles to an already pressured supply chain battling supply and demand.

Upskilling Your Team

One short term solution to the skills gap problem is to upskill your current workforce. Re-training and developing new skills is an excellent way to grow your existing team and address those areas with gaps. Additionally, focusing on automating easier processes will free up those team members to address the more complex parts of your business.

Another practical method for filling skills gaps with upskilling is implementing personal development plans (or PDPs). These help companies set goals for each employee and encourage their development as they learn the skills required.

By upskilling your team to your new equipment and procedures, companies are building well-rounded, multi-skilled workforces capable of filling those missing positions and increasing their businesses’ overall efficiency.

Investing In Young People

At European Springs, we believe that investing in new engineers supports us and benefits the industry as a whole. In addition, by increasing awareness of the advantages of STEM careers to students through various existing programs and apprenticeship schemes, the talent pool will be increased dramatically.

Continuing to promote our excellent apprenticeships is crucial to us as a company. We offer incredible schemes that follow the mechanical manufacturing apprenticeship framework and award BTEC Level 3 certificates in Engineering operations and maintenance.

Filling The Skills Gap

The way manufacturing companies react to this labour shortage will be an essential factor in deciding the future of the manufacturing industry. In order to prosper, the sector must embrace the initiatives already in place to attract new skilled people to enjoy a profitable career in STEM.

Scholarships, bursaries, and apprenticeships are all fantastic ways of increasing this awareness and are proving to address the skills gap successfully. In addition, male and female postgraduates students can apply for funding opportunities that will help them explore a career in manufacturing or any other sector under STEM.

Brunel University in London offers a mentoring program called Women in Engineering and Computing (or WIBEC) that encourages and supports female graduates and undergraduates to begin a fulfilling career in manufacturing.

The UK is home to many prestigious universities well known for innovation, research and creativity. This has created a reputation for top-ranked UK universities globally and has been providing STEM education in many forms for centuries. In addition, this positive relationship between these institutions and manufacturing companies have created a supportive network for job hunting or apprenticeship applications that makes it much easier for employers to find people to fill their skills gaps.