National Manufacturing Day 2026: How and Why We Are Getting Involved
On Thursday 24th September, manufacturers and suppliers across the country will be opening their doors for Make UK‘s National Manufacturing Day, and we’re getting involved. E3R will be exhibiting at West Yorkshire Manufacturing Services‘ National Manufacturing Day showcase in Brighouse, alongside dozens of regional manufacturers and engineering companies, to help introduce the next generation to a sector we spend every day championing.
Why Manufacturing Needs it’s Moment in the Spotlight
Ask a school or college student to picture a career in manufacturing, and there’s a good chance they’re imagining something quite different from the reality. The sector today is highly skilled, increasingly tech-driven, and spans everything from precision engineering and automotive to food production and renewable energy, yet that image often hasn’t caught up with the students who could be joining it.
That gap matters. We’ve written before about how long it can take to fill a skilled engineering vacancy and the pressure that puts on businesses, and a lot of that pressure traces back to the same root cause: not enough people coming into the industry to replace the skills leaving it. That’s exactly why Make UK set up National Manufacturing Day, to close that gap at the source by showing young people the apprenticeships, career pathways and genuine opportunities on offer before they’ve ruled manufacturing out without ever really seeing it.
What’s Happening on the Day
📍West Yorkshire Manufacturing Services, Kirkdale House, Armytage Road, Brighouse, HD6 1QF
📅 Thursday 24th September 2026
⏰ 9am to 5pm
Expect interactive activities, live demonstrations, and plenty of chances for students to meet employers and apprentices directly rather than just reading about them. Last year’s event brought together over 500 secondary school students from 25 schools with 32 exhibitors across 12 different industries, and this year’s showcase looks set to be bigger again, with more than 30 regional manufacturers and engineering companies confirmed to attend.
Why We’re Getting Involved
As a recruitment partner working across engineering and manufacturing every day, we see both sides of the skills gap: the businesses struggling to fill roles, and the sheer number of interesting, well-paid, genuinely varied careers that most young people never hear about at school. Being on the ground at events like this lets us do something that goes beyond any article or job advert, having real conversations with students and pointing them towards the apprenticeships and routes into the sector that actually exist locally.
It also fits with something we talk about a lot with our clients: workforce planning isn’t just about filling today’s vacancy, it’s about building the pipeline that means tomorrow’s vacancy doesn’t take months to fill either. Events like National Manufacturing Day are part of that longer-term picture.
Come and Say Hello
If you’re a school, college, or student in West Yorkshire, the showcase at WYMS on Thursday 24th September is well worth the visit, if you’ll be there, come and say hello. If you can’t make it on the day but want to know more about how we’re supporting talent pipelines into engineering and manufacturing, get in touch and we’ll be happy to discuss!
📞 01484 645269
