The big push to encourage pupils into the sector

For the last five years, Scarborough’s biggest firms have joined forces in a bid to encourage thousands of young people to take up careers in manufacturing.

Scarborough Engineering Week aims to provide North Yorkshire’s economy with a long-term boost.

It’s part of a strategy to destroy the old-fashioned “rags and spanners” view of manufacturing. By giving young people the chance to see and touch a range of hi-tech objects produced by Yorkshire-based manufacturers, the organisers hope that youngsters will stay in Scarborough and find skilled jobs with local firms.

Last year, students had the chance to step inside a 3D virtual reality model of an engine, as part of The University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC). One young visitor described it as “just like being Iron Man”.

The 2013 event attracted 2,600 people, including large numbers of local pupils who had probably never set foot inside a factory. They may well see manufacturing in a different light today.

Scarborough has a number of firms that have a big impact on a global scale. Unison, for example, already supplies tube-bending machines which are used to make parts for Wal-Mart shopping trolleys and Chinook helicopters.

Unison has also helped to develop the Boeing Dreamliner, which is lighter and more fuel-efficient than other aircraft. One of the company’s customers, Airbus in Filton, near Bristol, uses six of Unison’s machines to produce bent tubes in the wings of aircraft, including the super jumbo A380.

Unison, which has £6m turnover and 55 staff, has just created what is believed to be the largest electric tube-bending machine that has ever been shipped.

Alan Pickering, Unison’s managing director, said: “We’ve got plans to open a US operation. We’re still debating where to place it, but the most logical place would be in the Atlanta area. It’s an international hub, and we have a lot of customers down there. There seems to be a lot of manufacturing moving south.”

Mr Pickering is a fan of “contextual learning” in which maths taught in the classroom is put to good use in a practical setting.

The need to train and nurture young people is particularly strong during periods of rising youth unemployment.

Coun Derek Bastiman, Scarborough Council’s deputy leader, added: “It’s vitally important that we get young people employed in the Scarborough area.”

Jim Dillon, the chief executive of Scarborough Council, stressed that there was strong political momentum behind plans to improve Scarborough’s skills base.

Mr Dillon said: “Everybody has got the same vision and we are very focused on what we’re trying to achieve.

“We need to get the skills right to meet demand.”