Some of Yorkshire’s leading manufacturing firms are facing skills shortages and problems accessing funding programmes to help them grow, a major roundtable event was told.

More than 20 leading figures spoke about the challenges and opportunities facing the manufacturing sector when they participated in a roundtable discussion, which was hosted by the York & North Yorkshire Growth Hub in conjunction with Made Smarter and The Yorkshire Post.

Caroline Broad, the business development and communications manager, at Clarion Solicitors, said Clarion was providing advice to a number of manufacturing businesses who were devising strategies to improve their resilience at a time when issues around people, procurement and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) were to the fore. She said some businesses were looking at how long they were keeping their manufacturing facilities operational in order to manage their energy costs and help them weather economic storms.

She added: "The opportunities can be endless when investing in innovation, and can take many forms for manufacturers. Labour shortages are still a concern and our immigration solutions are becoming increasingly popular in the sector, for all types and all different sizes of companies as skills shortages continue to disrupt." Ms Broad said technical roles required for innovation projects can be supported through links with academia, but some companies were needing to look overseas to help fill specific skills gaps.

The roundtable debate was chaired by Greg Wright, the deputy business editor of The Yorkshire Post. Picture: Andrew Taylor

Andy Makin, MD of Envirovent, which provides ventilation solutions for the public and private sectors, said there had been a growing demand for his company's services. He added; "We recently relocated to a new factory which has given us scale, but it has presented us with challenges."

He said the company was looking to increase capacity with extra automation to improve productivity, while enhancing the skills of the workforce. He also highlighted frustrations related to accessing funding streams. In some cases, the business had taken several time consuming steps in a bid to access funding only to be told that they no longer qualified or the funding bodies themselves had shifted, said Mr Makin.

He added: "You can be several steps in and then told that, for whatever reason, the funding streams have stopped. This is frustrating on many levels and ultimately, wasted effort.”

Nick Stafford, the chairman of Hambleton Brewery, said his biggest challenge “revolves around the things we can't afford to pay for”.

The roundtable was held at Hospitium in York Picture: Andrew Taylor

He said, for example, that Hambleton faced problems finding somebody who could advise them on changes in consumer trends in the next few years, so the business can make plans around them.

He added: "The greatest opportunity for us is around increasing productivity; we aim to double our turnover over the next five years, but improved profitability per employee is key to making this effort worthwhile."

He acknowledged that businesses would like to see closer links between manufacturing firms and the education system and many had experienced frustrations. He added: "Education is a debate in itself. There is a disconnect between the people running schools and business. The people running schools have different objectives."

Mr Stafford, who is a school governor, said a change in mindset was needed. He didn't believe that a study of manufacturing, for example, should be added to the school curriculum, which was already crowded. Instead, he said it should be encouraged as an extracurricular activity supported by motivated teachers and manufacturers.

This is the second in a series of articles about the roundtable.

Labour shortages remain a concern for some manufacturers, roundtable is told