A few weeks ago, Made in Yorkshire moved into West Yorkshire Manufacturing Services, and it’s already proving to be a fantastic hub for collaboration and industry engagement. Last week, we had the privilege of experiencing National Manufacturing Day in full swing. Thursday, 26th September, was dedicated to inspiring the next generation by showing secondary school children that manufacturing is a modern, innovative, and exciting industry with vast career opportunities.
Hundreds of children attended, engaging with manufacturing professionals in an interactive setting designed to break down stereotypes about the industry. Manufacturers from across West and North Yorkshire, passionate about addressing the long-term skills shortage, exhibited and showcased their companies to open young minds to the creative and technology-driven aspects of manufacturing and engineering, giving them a glimpse of what the future could hold.
After the schools had left, Sam Sleight and the latest addition to the Made in Yorkshire team, Curtis Stennett, caught up with some of the manufacturers involved in this incredible initiative. Among them were two companies we know very well as valued Made in Yorkshire members: Additive-X and Colchester Machine Tool.
Jo Young, Managing Director at Additive-X, highlighted the significance of the event:
"Additive-X are passionate about bridging the gap between education and industry to create a pipeline of talent that will drive the future of manufacturing. Young people today have an abundance of digital skills, which manufacturing needs—we need to get them involved as early as we can with part-time jobs, work placements, and apprenticeships!
We loved it. Congratulations to Mark, Beth, and the team at WYMS for a really well-planned, well-organised, well-attended, super-successful event!"
Jonathan Wright, Managing Director at Colchester Machine Tool, added:
"At Colchester, we believe in the importance of inspiring and educating the next generation about the wealth of opportunities within manufacturing. Events like these allow us to engage with young learners, demonstrating the vital role manufacturing plays in the UK economy. By showcasing the sector's diversity and potential, we aim to encourage young people to consider careers in this dynamic field."
While catching up with our members, we also took the opportunity to gather thoughts from other manufacturers who share the same passion for supporting the next generation of the manufacturing workforce.
Dominic Hancock, Sales Manager at Electroparts, told us:
"We are here to showcase manufacturing as a career path. There’s probably no other sector where there is such a range of job roles. Every day is different. You start with nothing, have a problem, and then end up with something. It’s what keeps things interesting."
Demi-Leigh Searle, Employee Experience Manager at Accu, shared her views:
"For us today, it’s mainly about showing that manufacturing and engineering is not boring and actually there’s loads of different roles and something for everybody. We’ve had a really busy day. Lots of people to talk to, and we also met loads of amazing people at other companies within the Yorkshire region."
Sadie Clough, HR Manager at Camira, emphasised the importance of early engagement:
"It’s been great to raise the profile of Camira. Although we're based in Huddersfield, the younger generation don’t really know who we are... It shows them what career opportunities are open to them, and hopefully, they might consider us as a local company they want to work for in the future. People generally think when you say we work in manufacturing fabric, they go, 'Oh, like on a sewing machine?'—but no, there's so much more to it! There's the back office, HR, finance, marketing, design, production... it’s really vast, and it’s good to be able to educate them on that."
After the event, we caught up with Mark Lewis, CEO of West Yorkshire Manufacturing Services, who summarized the importance of supporting such initiatives:
"Manufacturing here in West Yorkshire is home to over 6,000 businesses, over 118,000 jobs, and contributes over £7 billion to our regional economy. Yet, it’s a sector which has, until lately, been largely neglected as a career option, resulting in an ageing workforce and a significant lack of young people joining the sector. National Manufacturing Day has, therefore, become a firm fixture in our calendar, inspiring hundreds of young people while offering valuable insights to teachers and career guides. It also provides manufacturers with the opportunity to meet their potential future workforce."
Also, a special shout-out to Beth Ward, Marketing Manager at WYMS, for her monumental effort in preparing the goodie bags for the hundreds of children who came through WYMS for National Manufacturing Day. The sheer number of bags she put together nearly blocked us from getting out of the office on Wednesday night!
On a final note, it was fantastic to see F1 in Schools present at the event. Based out of Denford’s manufacturing facilities, just down the road from our new office in WYMS, the F1 in Schools team likely had the shortest commute for the event! Their high-speed demonstrations certainly captured the children’s imaginations, showing how engineering and design play critical roles in exciting projects like Formula 1. With the F1 in Schools World Finals now less than two months away, Made in Yorkshire is proud to be the platinum sponsor of Unity Racing, Scarborough UTC’s F1 in Schools team, who will be representing not only Yorkshire on the global stage but also the entire UK as the only British team competing.
Come on, Unity!
