North East England has a highly-skilled, loyal workforce, trained in the very latest manufacturing processes and techniques. More than 116,000 people work in manufacturing roles and 58,000 of those are specialist workers employed in advanced manufacturing businesses.
With exceptionally low attrition rates, companies locating here can be confident to invest in training their staff for future growth. The North East also offers highly competitive salary costs for advanced manufacturing jobs. To employ an engineer in the North East is around a third less than London and cheaper than most other UK regions including the West Midlands and Scotland.
International companies such as Caterpillar, Komatsu, Marelli, Faltec, Vantec Europe Ltd, GSK and SMD chose to locate major manufacturing facilities in the North East because of the ready availability of a skilled engineering workforce. They can recruit skilled and experienced staff in automotive, food and drink, pharmaceuticals and cross-sector fabrication with ease.
Companies moving to the North East can gain a competitive advantage by collaborating with our universities and benefiting from their expert industry knowledge. Our five universities and higher education institutions work hand-in-hand with industry and business networks to develop and deliver bespoke training courses, giving the workers of the future the technical skills they need for careers in advanced manufacturing.
Local colleges and universities offer over 300 advanced manufacturing-related courses, many of which are integrally linked to the prospective job market. The Institute of Electrification and Sustainable Advanced Manufacturing (IESAM) is the first institute to address the industry need for PEMD training in the North East. The project brings together the North East Institute of Technology and key regional higher education and further education providers. It’s funded by the Driving the Electric Revolution Challenge, co-funded by Newcastle University, and delivered by Innovate UK for UK Research and Innovation.
The region’s talent pool is strengthened by a wealth of students specialising in science and engineering subjects primed for the workplace. There are over 120,000 students across our five universities, with over half studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, ensuring a large talent pool of future industry-ready employees.
New College Durham in partnership with Newcastle University are delivering a £1.3m National Battery Training and Skills Centre.
