Manufacturing & Engineering

Manufacturing is the production of goods through the conversion of raw materials, parts, or components into a finished product ready for sale. This finished product may be sold directly to the manufacturers’ customers, to wholesalers who will distribute the goods to their customers, or to other manufacturers for use it in the manufacture of their products. Technology and automation are playing an increasingly important role in manufacturing, ensuring high volumes and consistent quality of products can be achieved.

Engineering is the design, construction, use and maintenance of machinery, or structures such as roads or bridges. It involves the application of maths, science and technical knowledge to solve problems. It is one of the broadest sectors, with many different specialist areas, such as aerospace, automotive, control and instrumentation, electrical, materials, mechanical, process or rail.

There are nearly

jobs in this sector in Hull and East Yorkshire

This accounts for over

of jobs in the region

Did you know?

Manufacturing and engineering is the largest sector in Hull and East Yorkshire. Just over 16% of all jobs in the region are in this sector - more than double the national average for Great Britain, which stands at 7.5%.
Since 2015, the number of jobs in the manufacturing and engineering sector in Hull and East Yorkshire has grown by over 13%, an increase of 5,090 jobs, making it the sector with the highest job growth in the region over this period.
In 2023/24, in Hull and East Yorkshire, 26.2% of apprenticeship starts and 30.7% of apprenticeship achievements were in Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies apprenticeships - double the average for England, which stands at 13.5% and 14.2%, respectively.
Women into Manufacturing and Engineering (WiME) is a local initiative aimed at encouraging more women to pursue careers in these industries.
In Hull and East Yorkshire, the largest manufacturing and engineering sector employers include those involved in manufacturing wooden building products, prefabricated buildings, and mobile homes (3,000 jobs); caravans (2,300 jobs); meat and poultry meat products (2,050 jobs); bread, fresh pastry products, and cakes (2,050 jobs); processing and preserving meat (2,000 jobs); pharmaceutical preparations (1,775 jobs); plastic building products (1,650 jobs); kitchen furniture (1,520 jobs); metal structures and parts of structures (1,500 jobs); other engineering activities, such as engineering design (1,500 jobs); machining (1,100 jobs); engines and turbines (1,000 jobs); and central heating radiators and boilers (1,000 jobs).
Since 2015, the types of manufacturing and engineering sector employers with the greatest increase in the number of employees in Hull and East Yorkshire include those involved in the production of meat and poultry meat products (1,550 additional jobs); manufacturing of engines and turbines (1,000 additional jobs); processing and preserving meat (800 additional jobs); manufacturing caravans (600 additional jobs); manufacturing plastic building products (450 additional jobs); processing and preserving fish, crustaceans and molluscs (400 additional jobs); and manufacturing central heating radiators and boilers (400 additional jobs).

Source: BRES (2024), DfE

Will there be opportunities available?

In the UK, at the end of 2024, 82% of manufacturing companies surveyed reported difficulties recruiting staff.
Siemens Mobility’s new train manufacturing facility and rail village in Goole has already created several hundred direct engineering and manufacturing jobs since opening in 2024. It is expected to create up to 1,000 direct jobs in the town over the next few years, with many more generated within the company's supply chain.
In 2024, in Hull and East Yorkshire, demand for staff to work in the manufacturing and engineering sector was high - there were 971 online job adverts for engineering technicians, production and process engineers, assemblers, and mechanical engineers.
Hull and East Yorkshire benefits from having two Freeport sites in the region - Humber Freeport Hull East and Humber Freeport Goole. Both sites offer incentives for advanced manufacturing businesses to locate there and are expected to contribute significantly to the number of manufacturing jobs in the region in the future.

Source: British Chambers of Commerce, Lightcast (2025)

Check out careers in the Manufacturing & Engineering sector in Career of the Week

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