Regent Engineering Celebrates the People Behind Manufacturing on National Manufacturing Day

Regent Engineering is putting its people and manufacturing capabilities in the spotlight for National Manufacturing Day, celebrating the skills that support sectors ranging from aerospace and defence to heavy engineering.

Taking place on Thursday 24 September, National Manufacturing Day is organised by Make UK and brings manufacturers across the country together to showcase the diversity of the sector, the highly skilled jobs available and the opportunities for people to build careers in UK industry.

For Regent Engineering, the occasion provides an opportunity to highlight women working across the business, with colleagues from the shop floor and offices coming together for a photograph marking the national celebration.

It is a workforce involved in an increasingly diverse range of manufacturing processes. From pressings, stampings and welded assemblies to heavy fabrications and robotic laser welding, Regent combines established engineering skills with investment in modern manufacturing technology.

The company’s capabilities also support demanding markets including aerospace and defence, where manufacturing quality, repeatability and engineering expertise are central to the supply chain.

“Manufacturing today covers an enormous range of skills, technologies and career opportunities,” said Managing Director Stuart Whitehouse.

“At Regent, that can mean working with pressings and stampings, producing complex fabricated assemblies or using robotic laser welding technology. We are also developing our capabilities for sectors such as aerospace and defence, where British manufacturing has an important role to play.

“Behind all of that technology are skilled people, both on the shop floor and throughout the offices, and National Manufacturing Day gives us an opportunity to celebrate them.”

Regent Engineering has been manufacturing in the Black Country for 85 years, developing from its origins in subcontract toolmaking, presswork and assembly into a modern manufacturing business covering Pressings and Assemblies, Steel Fabrication and its own range of Brand Products.

Its manufacturing capabilities now span components and assemblies produced through presswork and stamping, alongside substantial steel fabrications and welded structures. Investment in robotic laser welding has added another advanced process to the company’s portfolio, combining automation with the manufacturing knowledge developed across generations.

That breadth is particularly relevant as UK manufacturers seek opportunities across strategically important industries such as defence and aerospace.

Regent has continued to develop its credentials and capabilities for these markets, bringing together fabrication, presswork, assembly and advanced welding expertise with the flexibility required to support specialist manufacturing requirements.

Stuart continued: “Aerospace and defence are exciting markets for British manufacturers because they draw on so many areas of engineering expertise.

“For a company like Regent, our experience in pressings, stampings, heavy fabrications, welded assemblies and robotic laser welding gives us a strong manufacturing platform. These are capabilities that have been developed over many years and continue to evolve as we invest in technology and people.”

The breadth of the business also creates careers extending well beyond individual manufacturing processes. Production, engineering and fabrication sit alongside planning, purchasing, quality, finance, sales and administration, with each function contributing to the journey from an initial customer requirement through to a finished product.

For Stuart, the photograph of Regent’s female employees captures that wider picture.

“The women featured in our National Manufacturing Day photograph work across different parts of Regent, from the shop floor through to the offices,” he explained.

“That is exactly what we want people to see when they think about manufacturing. There is a huge variety of roles within this industry and plenty of opportunities to develop a rewarding career.

“Manufacturing is ultimately about people applying their skills to make things. Whether we are producing pressings, delivering a major fabrication or developing our work in aerospace and defence, it is the knowledge and commitment of our team that makes it possible.”

National Manufacturing Day also places an emphasis on introducing young people to industry and demonstrating the value of manufacturing apprenticeships and other routes into the sector.

For Regent, based in Darlaston at the heart of the Black Country’s manufacturing community, inspiring another generation to consider those careers is an important part of sustaining the region’s engineering heritage.

“We are proud to manufacture in the Black Country and proud of the people who represent Regent,” added Stuart.

“After 85 years, manufacturing continues to evolve, and that creates new opportunities for the people coming into our industry. National Manufacturing Day is a chance to show them the technology, the skills and, most importantly, the people behind modern British manufacturing.”