Calderdale College partnered with West Yorkshire Manufacturing Services (WYMS) and Make UK to deliver Yorkshire’s largest National Manufacturing Day showcase for the second-year on Thursday 26 September.

Over 30 businesses attended, including 3MBIC, Lloyds Banking Group, the University of Huddersfield and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, to show their support for the event and demonstrate the wide range of careers in the manufacturing sector.

The day opened doors for school pupils to explore careers in modern manufacturing through a variety of hands-on, interactive workshops. The activities included demos of Virtual Reality (VR) and robotics machinery, racing cars on the F1 in Schools track, 3D printing and tours of our industry-standard workshops.

The manufacturing sector contributes around £7bn to the local economy, employing over 117,000 people. As the second largest sector in West Yorkshire, 14% of all high growth businesses in the region are manufacturers, making it a career path of life-long professional development and growth.*

David Malone, Principal and Chief Executive at Calderdale College, said: “At Calderdale College, we are dedicated to working closely with our project partners to ensure that we develop a skilled and capable workforce that can meet the demands of the engineering and manufacturing sectors in our area. National Manufacturing Day is a key milestone that highlights the crucial work we do at The Engineering Centre.

Students spoke to our apprentices for an insider-view of college life and met with our expert tutors to watch live demonstrations of F1 in Schools cars being manufactured and tried their hands at VR welding. They also learned how a manufacturing apprenticeship at our Engineering Centre can lead to a rewarding and lifelong career in the manufacturing sector.

Visitors also had behind-the-scenes access to the i4.0 Hub, where apprentices can experience high-tech manufacturing techniques, such as VR, Augmented Reality and robotics. The Hub was funded by the Brighouse Town Deal to transform the future of engineering and manufacturing in West Yorkshire.

Click here to learn how an apprenticeship at our Engineering Centre in Brighouse will set you up for life in the manufacturing sector.

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*Invest West Yorkshire – West Yorkshire Combined Authority