Exploring manufacturing roles
Manufacturing provides the goods and services almost everyone uses on a daily basis, as well as parts and products used by businesses to function successfully. It covers a number of sectors including Chemical & Pharmaceutical, Food & FMCG, Automotive & Fleet, Building & Construction Products, Energy & Utilities, Oil & Gas and Aerospace. In the manufacturing sector UK directly employs 2.6 million people and provides a number of careers.
Bradford Manufacturing Week sponsors and recruitment specialists, E3 Recruitment explore some types of roles that are available:
Operations Manager
An operations manager directs and oversees a manufacturing plant. This individual is involved with almost every aspect of the operation to ensure profitability and quality of the products or goods being manufactured by the organisation. This includes developing policies and procedures, establishing financial budgets and ensuring safety in the manufacturing environment. This occupation requires several years of experience in a manufacturing environment and most of these professionals are promoted into this role after supervising one or several specific areas of manufacturing such as engineering or production. The average salary ranges from £45k working for a small SME up to £80k working for a large blue-chip company.
Engineers
Almost all manufacturing organisations have engineers who design the products or goods it manufactures and improve the manufacturing process to increase efficiencies and quality as well as cut costs. There are different types of engineers related to the type of manufacturing environment, such as mechanical, electrical or industrial engineering and the average salary is dependent on type and ranges from £36k to £50k.
Buyers and Purchasing Managers
Manufacturing requires purchasing materials to make the goods a company produces. Buyers and purchasing managers find and purchase quality materials used to manufacture goods. These professionals work with vendors and travel to organisations who manufacture materials to test the quality of the materials and negotiate pricing. These roles often require a bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, economics or a related discipline. The average salary ranges from £27k for a Buyer to £46k for a Purchasing Manager.
Assemblers and Fabricators
Some manufacturing processes require human interaction to provide quality goods. Following specific instructions and blueprints, assemblers and fabricators use tools, machines and their hands to assemble pieces and goods on the manufacturing line to complete a finished product. Some of these professionals can require extensive technical knowledge to assemble and fabricate complicated parts and products, while others use only manual dexterity to assemble parts or products repetitively on the manufacturing line. Most of these roles require GCSEs. The average salary ranges from £20k to £35k dependant on the level of skill required.
Commercial Roles
From Accountancy and Finance, Human Resources, Business Support, to Sales and Marketing, these are the non-manufacturing roles that support the manufacturing organisation by ensuring they are operating at a profit, they have the right employees in place, to marketing and ultimately selling the product. All of these roles are vital to ensure the manufacture is successful.
To find out more about Bradford Manufacturing Week please visit: https://bradfordmanufacturingweek.co.uk/
