Page 30 - Carmarthenshire Skills Report 2024

Current Skill Requirements
Manufacturing is the 3rd largest business sector
in the county, and jobs have remained
consistent since 2014, although since 2018
there has been a small 4% drop in the amount
of people employed, this could be an early
indication of job reductions in the sector.
Certain roles have seen job increases since 2018
such as Food processing and manufacturing,
and business support roles, however, there has
been a sharp decline in metal work trades
• Assemblers (Metal Goods) -37%
• Metal Machining -29%
• Metal Working -9%
• Welding -16%
• Metal Making and Treating -10%
All the above equates to circa 200 less jobs in
these trades since 2018
Mechanical Engineers are also in decline, with
29% less than in 2018, although job adverts
suggest that employers are actively trying to
recruit such roles.
Within the last 12 months, the most advertised
roles are:
• Mechanical Engineers
• Sales
• Assemblers
• Welding
• Science, Engineering and Production
Technicians
• Engineering Technicians
• Electrical Engineers
• Engineering Professionals
• Production Managers and Directors in
Manufacturing
• Transport and storage (inc forklift drivers)*
• IT professionals
* Being the most difficult to fill
Manufacturing
Manufacturing future for Wales: framework’
The main focus at the moment for the county's
manufacturing base is one of increasing
productivity. That said, terms such as industry
4.0 do not resonate well with the SME’s as it is
deemed unobtainable. However, small
productivity gains can be utilised, the journey
towards automation and smart manufacturing
within the core SME groups in the county must
start with small steps in increasing GVA per job
and productivity and embracing small steps on
a longer path towards this goal.
Research, development and innovation are
identified as key drivers in responding to the
challenges of increased digitalisation and
automation, particularly with respect to
supporting the acceleration of SMEs and their
supply chains
Innovation support mechanisms (SMART) help
businesses to digitally transform priority
industries, supporting emerging technologies
in artificial intelligence, automation, smart
living and data.
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) are
helping transform manufacturing businesses,
enabling them to bring in new skills and the
latest academic thinking to deliver a specific
strategic innovation project through a
knowledge-based partnership.
Welsh Government introduced a SMART
productivity service, offering manufacturing
companies support for determining the
suitability of new digital/automation processes
including specifying and planning their
implementation.
These initiatives and best practices must be
encouraged within SME’s, these businesses will
need to approach this as small gains over time
as complete overhaul of systems and
operations is not viable.
30 All LMI Data: Lightcast™
. 2024