THE North West remains the powerhouse of the UK’s manufacturing sector and an increasingly critical factor in the region’s economic growth, according to new statistics today from manufacturing organisation EEF.

They show the manufacturing sector employs about 315,000 people in the region and is worth £16bn to the economy, almost 13% of the UK’s overall manufacturing output. It also accounts for 11% of the North West regional economy.

The growth is being driven by a broad spectrum of manufacturing companies in the region, from food and drink to healthcare, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, as well as the aerospace and automotive sectors which have a major bearing on the supply chain and have seen significant investment.

Growth is also being driven largely by manufacturing exports which have increased by 34% in the past five years, especially to emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India and China.

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The food and drink industry is one of the largest manufacturing sectors and yet, all over the world, companies struggle to attract the best and brightest to consider careers in the industry. In the UK they are trying a new approach by catching them while they are young.

The UK food and drink industry has been selected as one of the key sectors to participate in ‘See Inside Manufacturing’ – The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) flagship scheme to get factories to open their doors and inspire school children to consider careers in manufacturing.

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The government has pledged to invest £1.7M in the UK food and drink manufacturing sector to fund strategic skills projects designed to support competitiveness, growth and jobs.

Julie Alton, Managing Director of Jenrick Engineering, which has a specific Food and Drink Recruitment Division, commented:

“This is an excellent boost for the Food and Drink manufacturing sector. It is a part of the FMCG industry that has the potential for substantial growth, and has proved incredibly resilient throughout the current economic uncertainty.

These grants will only improve the growth prospects and employment opportunities within this sector.”

If you’d like to read the full article on Food Manufacture, please click on the following link: foodmanufacture.co.uk

If you are an engineer who wishes to explore job opportunities in the Food and Drink industry, please contact our Food and Drink career specialists, Karen Stilgoe and her team, at the Jenrick Engineering Crick Office on 01788 824 555.

ARTICLE SOURCE:

• foodmanufacture.co.uk

Jenrick Engineering, a leading recruitment agency in the Food and Drink Sector, is very pleased to report that Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), a marketer, producer and distributor of Coca-Cola products, has invested £50m in its Wakefield, East Kilbride and Sidcup manufacturing facilities, with an aim to strengthen its business while reducing the impact of its operations on the environment.

The investment includes introduction of a new £30m automated warehouse at the Wakefield bottling facility in Yorkshire.

The company said the new facility will increase the Wakefield unit’s storage capacity by 102%. The products manufactured at the site will be delivered directly to customers.

An investment of £5.4m at its East Kilbride site includes introduction of a SIDEL SB0 20, a new energy-efficient bottle blowing facility that will produce lightweight PET bottles.

The CCE has also invested in a ACMI Fenix 165 packaging machine, which removes the need to use cardboard in the packaging of multi-pack products.

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