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Advanced engineering

The South West is home to the greatest concentration of marine and advanced engineering in the UK. Engineering is the second largest sector in the region. Whilst engineering has suffered significant decline throughout the UK, the South West has fared relatively well and benefits from links with defence-related and health-related industries.

Within the region there are three principal components of this sector:

Aerospace (Bristol)
Automotive (Swindon)
Measuring instruments and medical devices (Gloucestershire).

The South West is one of the worlds most significant aerospace regions. It is home to the headquarters or major facilities of 9 of the top 11 aerospace companies operating in the UK, inlcuding Airbus, Rolls Royce, BAE Systems, Messier-Dowty, Westland Helicopters and Boeing. Additionally, the headquarters of the Defence Procurement Agency are in Bristol. It is estimated that in the South West, approximately 10,000 people are employed in aerospace or a related industry.

Most people work in small to medium enterprises (SME's) which employ less than 250 people.

Women are under represented in the sector. The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has mentoring schemes for women.

Research* indicates that advanced engineering is being driven by:

Pressure on cost effectiveness – the need to reduce cost and increase innovation
Complex systems integration in the supply chain – small to medium enterprises (SME’s) need to develop new skills handling complex projects
Falling number of engineering graduates – if the trend continues there may be frequent and acute shortages of engineering skills in some areas of specialisation.

* The State of the Key Sectors Research, Arthur D Little, SW Regional Development Agency 2004

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