Manufacturing Hub strengthens offer after recruiting new member

A BLACK Country recruitment firm is the latest to join a new manufacturing support organisation.

Stourbridge-based Jonathan Lee, which employs 100 people across five offices in the West Midlands, London and Dubai, has joined The Manufacturing Hub to support its staffing requirements and to act as an HR consultancy.

The firm specialises in the manufacturing and engineering sector, making it a strong fit for the hub.

It joins Cucumber PR, Start 2 Finish Marketing (S2F), PP Business Improvement and former Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) experts Alison Phillips and Rachel Eade.

Between them, the members provide SMEs and larger organisations with a one-stop-shop service for lean manufacturing, strategy, business development, sales and marketing and public relations support.

Mark Bignell, managing consultant at Jonathan Lee, said the firm was an advocate of collaborative working.

“With the amount of political change and uncertainty of late, manufacturers have found themselves lacking specialist support and are confused as to who to turn to for assistance on key issues, such as becoming more efficient, accessing funding or managing expansion,” he said.

“Finding the right people to add value to your organisation is critical to the success of any manufacturer and the existing skills gap is growing, as uncertainty inevitably leads to lower candidate confidence.

“We use our market knowledge and sourcing expertise to build the most appropriate recruitment solutions so that clients secure the best candidates for their business.”

He said being part of the Manufacturing Hub meant it could work more closely with other industry specialists to add real value to firms.

Steve Jolliffe, director of S2F and chair of the Manufacturing Hub, said: “Over the last few months we have been talking to a lot of engineering companies and one of the topics that kept cropping up was recruitment.

“We decided to address this by sourcing a recruitment consultancy that understood the sector and had a proven track record of delivering the goods.”

Companies accessing the Manufacturing Hub can use one, two or all six members to help their business.