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Advanced Engineering

Advanced Engineering includes...the manufacture of machine tools, insulated wire and cable, electronic valves, medical and surgical measuring equipment, instruments for measuring, industrial process control equipment, optical instruments, motor vehicles, bodies and parts, aircraft and spacecraft.

This page offers a wealth of information and resources to help you investigate working in this sector or to help you read up to impress in applications and interviews.

Contents include:

Overview

Advanced engineering is the second largest sector in the South West. The sector employs around 47,000 people and contributes over £3 billion to the regional output, with £1.3 billion in direct exports.

The sector has three principal components:

Aerospace is the largest sub-sector, in employment terms, accounting for almost a third of all employment positions in the advanced engineering sector. 9 out of the 12 largest aerospace companies in the UK have major facilities in the South West, supported by upwards of 700 supply chain companies.

The automotive sub-sector is mainly concentrated in the Swindon area and is made up of a large proportion of vehicle part and sub-assemblies, supplying companies across the rest of the UK and Europe.

In the measuring instruments and bio medical devices sub-sector the region has particular strengths in healthcare products and research and development. There are concentrations of employment in this sub-sector across the region, notably in Gloucestershire.

Type and location of work

The following key facts about the Advanced Engineering sector were drawn from the Annual Business Inquiry - a survey that collects employment and financial information from businesses.

The Annual Business Inquiry data shows both the number of businesses in the sector and the number of employees.

In 2007:

There were 1,192 Advanced Engineering businesses in the South West.
The majority of these businesses (1,125) had fewer than 100 employees.
Only 67 businesses had 100 or more employees.
The sector employed some 46,900 employees (2.1% of the South West workforce).

The main sub-sectors in terms of employee numbers were:

The manufacture of aircraft and spacecraft (17,700 employees).
The manufacture of instruments for measuring (6,600 employees).
The manufacture of motor vehicles (5,800 employees).
The manufacture of electronic valves (3,700 employees).
The manufacture of medical/surgical equipment (3,400 employees.)

The main sub-sectors in terms of number of businesses were:

The manufacturing of instruments for measuring (275 businesses).
The manufacture of medical/surgical equipment (174 businesses).
The manufacture of motor parts for vehicles (132 businesses).
The manufacture of machine tools (123 businesses).
The manufacture of aircract and spacecraft (106 businesses)

The top three Local Authority Areas (LAs), in terms of numbers of Advanced Engineering businesses located within them, include: Gloucestershire (184 businesses); Devon (158 businesses); and, Dorset (142 businesses). Summaries of the key industry facts for these LAs are shown below:

Gloucestershire: 89% of businesses (163 businesses) had less than 100 employees. The main industries in this LA included the manufacture of instruments for measuring (36 businesses), the manufacture of medical/surgical equipment (32 businesses) and the manufacture of machine tools (21 businesses).

Devon: 97% of businesses (154 businesses) had less than 100 employees. The main industries in this LA were the manufacture of instruments for measuring (33 businesses), manufacture of medical/surgical equipment (29 businesses) and the manufacture of machine tools (24 businesses).

Dorset: 96% of businesses (136) had less than 100 employees. The main industries in this LA included the manufacture of instruments for measuring, the manufacture of aircraft and spacecraft, the manufacture of medical/surgical equipment and the manufacture of parts for motor vehicles.

Major employers

Click here to view the major advanced engineering employers in the South West.

(Simply tick the 'Advanced Engineering' box under 'Industry sector' and hit 'search'. This will bring up many of the major advanced engineering employers in the region)

Job roles in this sector

There are a wealth of job roles within the advanced engineering sector. Explore job roles...

Search for jobs now!

Skills deficits

Skills deficits are normally understood as either a skills shortage where there are hard to fill vacancies resulting from a lack of skills, qualifications or experience in applicants, or as a skills gap, referring to employees that are not proficient at their current job.

With regards to skills shortages, SEMTA (the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies) reported skills deficits for the Electronic, Automotive and Aerospace Industries for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Skills gaps or shortages provide opportunities for graduates to fill! Talk to your tutor or careers service about how you can develop skills that are in short supply to give yourself the edge in the job market.

In the Automotive sector hard to fill vacancies were greatest in the large operator and craft level occupations including:

Welding skills
Use of CNC machinery

In the Automotive sector skills gaps were found in technical engineering including:

CNC machine operators
Assembly line/production robotics
Computer Aided Design.

More general skills gaps were also in:

Communication skills
Team working
Problem solving

The Peninsula Graduate Programme may provide free skills training in these areas.

In the Aerospace sector hard to fill vacancies were found in:

Professional engineering
Skilled trades (craft)
Machine Operatives

In relation to ‘Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul’ hard to fill vacancies were also found in:

Non-destructing testing technicians and other test technicians
Instructors/trainers
Aircraft tradespeople
Avionic engineers

In the Aerospace industry skills gaps were found mainly in:

Technical engineering skills
CNC machine operators
Computer Aided Design (CAD)
Computer Aided Manufacture (CAM).

In relation to the ‘Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul’ skills gaps were also found across a wide range of occupations from managers and supervisors, technicians, licensed engineers, professional engineers, craftsperson, operators and assemblers.

Particular skills gaps were identified in technical and practical skills.

Information on the skills deficits on measuring instruments and bio medical devices was not available due to the small number of businesses in the sub-sector responding to the SEMTA Labour Market Survey. This resulted in a lack of data for meaningful analysis.

For the South West SEMTA also report skills deficits for the broader Engineering sector. In 2008 hard to fill vacancies included:

Process plant and machine operatives
Skilled trades.

Skills gaps were reported in 22% of engineering establishments in the South West compared to 21% UK wide.

Particular occupations in which skills gaps were apparent included:

Process plant and machine operative occupations
Managerial positions

The main specific skills perceived as lacking in engineering employees in the South West included:

Technical and engineering skills which incorporate:

CNC machine operations
Computer Aided Design (CAD)
Computer Aided Engineering

General skills gaps within the engineering sector in the South West included:

IT skills
Key/core skills
Management skills

The Peninsula Graduate Programme may provide free skills training in these areas.

More generally, SEMTA predicts that the future skills requirement of the engineering sector will involve a need for intermediate and higher level qualifications.