Manufacturing & Production

Despite the doom and gloom of the recession, there are still jobs in manufacturing and production available. Careers in manufacturing and production don’t have to involve monotonous factory work. It’s isn’t just about packing boxes, shifting boxes, packing boxes and then shifting more boxes. And, for the record, not every chocolate factory is staffed by Oompa Loompas. Employees in this sector are instrumental in manufacturing a huge range of products, including: clothing, military vehicles, heavy machinery, cars, pharmaceuticals, plastics, adhesives, food and drink.

Essentially, manufacturing and production is about turning raw materials or chemicals into finished products. Companies rely on manufacturing and production to get their goods produced quickly and out to their consumers. For example, United Biscuits depends on mass production to get its biscuits out to the masses. They produce thousands of packs of Jaffa Cakes an hour, and, holy mackerel, that’s a lot of Jaffa Cakes. It’s not all about mass production though; manufacturing can also encompass handmade crafts and high-tech batch production.

So what career options are available? Jobs in manufacturing and production range from manual labour and operational jobs to highly technical and managerial positions. It isn’t just about screwing the caps on toothpaste; there are also manufacturing and production careers in research, testing, prototype development, production engineering and maintenance.

Most technical production is now done by machines, computers and robots, but this doesn’t mean factories are human-free zones. Machines need people to control, programme and maintain them, such as computer numerical control engineers and specialists in maintenance. Safety experts are employed to make sure nobody gets sucked into a machine and turned into a box of human donuts and, of course, every factory also needs factory floor staff, supervisors and production managers.

Essential work in research, product development, testing and experimentation needs to be carried out before production can occur. There are actually guys who work as flavour technicians, conducting experiments with chemicals and carrying out taste tests to conjure up new flavours for the food and drink industry. Flavoured crisps don’t just grow on trees (though we wish they did). Quality control experts are also required to make sure that the finished products are consistently good enough to make it outside the factory doors.