10 Manufacturers turning skills investment into a competitive advantage
How leading UK and European manufacturers are turning skills investment into a competitive advantage on the shop floor
Across the UK and Europe, manufacturers face a dual challenge: they must manage demographic shifts and accelerate digital, electrification, and sustainability transitions. Workforce upskilling stands out as a key driver of industrial competitiveness. Leading manufacturers invest in apprenticeships, corporate universities, and technology-led learning models. The programs help attract new talent and retain deep technical expertise as production systems change. Top manufacturers in the UK and Europe set the standard for workforce development by weaving skills investment into long-term strategy and aligning learning with real operational and industrial needs.
1. Siemens
CEO: Roland Busch – since February 2021
Supported industries: Industrial automation, electrification, software-enabled manufacturing
Siemens builds its approach around “future-of-industry” capability. Apprenticeships, dual-study, and professional education pathways feed digital-industrial roles at scale. Siemens Professional Education creates clear early-career routes. Its training-year updates highlight AI-supported learning, immersive techniques such as VR and AR, and digital-first skills that align with modern factory needs. Siemens stands out for consistency: its standardized programs roll out globally, helping plants and engineering teams adopt automation, cybersecurity, and data-driven operations with confidence.
2. Airbus
CEO: Guillaume Faury – since April 2019
Supported industries: Aerospace manufacturing
Airbus focuses its upskilling approach on digital capability as a core driver for manufacturing. It builds skills in data, analytics, and modern engineering workflows, which lead to higher quality and improved throughput. Airbus maintains strong apprenticeship pathways in engineering, digital, and manufacturing roles in the UK. These programs reinforce an “earn-and-learn” pipeline into production and technical positions. On the digital front, Airbus teams up with external learning platforms to speed up workforce upskilling in emerging technologies, supporting company-wide adoption of new digital practices.
3. Schneider Electric
CEO: Olivier Blum – since November 2024
Supported industries: Energy management, industrial automation
Schneider Electric takes a broad approach to education, training employees, partners, and customers in energy efficiency, automation, and data-center infrastructure. Schneider Electric University delivers on-demand learning designed to let people “upskill at your own pace,” creating consistency across a fast-changing industrial landscape. As factories move toward electrification and digitization, standard curricula, practical content, and accessible formats keep field teams, engineers, and operations leaders aligned on modern energy and automation systems.
4. ABB
CEO: Morten Wierod – since August 202
Supported industries: Electrification, robotics, motion, automation
ABB uses a “product-to-practice” learning approach, turning rapid changes in automation and electrification into structured training that engineers and operators can apply right away. ABB University offers training across products, processes, and technology advances, delivered on-site or online. The flexibility helps ensure factory modernization consistent across locations. ABB regularly promotes a culture of learning and upskilling, supporting both technical depth and the broader professional behaviors that modern industry demands.
5. BMW Group
CEO: Oliver Zipse – since August 2019
Supported industries: Automotive manufacturing
BMW ties its approach to technology transitions. The BMW Group Academy centers its training on high-voltage and battery systems, AI and digital skills, as well as new retail and operating models, so employees can keep pace with its evolving product and production strategy. Apprenticeships remain a key pipeline in the UK and Ireland, providing structured, supported on-the-job learning that builds manufacturing and technical capability early on. The “academy plus apprenticeship” system enables BMW to develop new skills while safeguarding quality and productivity during periods of change.
6. Mercedes-Benz Group
CEO: Ola Källenius – since 2019
Supported industries: Automotive manufacturing
Mercedes-Benz centers its approach on structured learning paths and role-specific curricula, blending eLearning with in-person training to build practical expertise. The company encourages ongoing professional and personal development, making continuous skills growth a core expectation. In the UK, apprenticeship routes create a clear path into technical roles through dedicated academy-style training, which supports consistent standards across service and technical teams and strengthens manufacturing quality feedback loops.
7. Rolls-Royce
CEO: Tufan Erginbilgiç – since January 2023
Supported industries: Aerospace/defense manufacturing
Rolls-Royce shapes its upskilling efforts around operational turnaround and long-cycle engineering needs. It focuses on building capabilities that improve execution, strengthen supply chain performance, and raise technical excellence. Since Erginbilgiç took over as CEO, leadership interviews have spotlighted transformation priorities and the need to build a foundation for renewed competitiveness. The goals typically require systematic skills development across engineering and operations. As Rolls-Royce restructures and refocuses, the main challenge is to preserve specialist knowledge while helping employees build modern manufacturing and program-management skills.
8. BAE Systems
CEO: Charles Woodburn – since July 2017
Supported industries: Defense manufacturing
BAE Systems takes a “skills pipeline at national scale” approach with apprenticeships, academies, and early-career routes built around real program work. It designs the development opportunities to keep pace with advanced engineering and digital demands. Since 2020, BAE has highlighted a major UK skills investment and positioned it as upskilling for long-term defense and advanced technology programs, showing a lasting commitment rather than a one-off initiative. The approach creates a repeatable model for building job-ready talent in essential manufacturing fields.
9. Volvo Group
CEO: Martin Lundstedt – since October 2015
Supported industries: Commercial vehicles and industrial manufacturing
The Volvo Group uses a corporate-university model. Volvo Group University delivers training on strategic skills like AI, electromobility, connectivity, automation, and cybersecurity, all through a centralized learning portal that supports personalized growth. The approach helps Volvo build new skills as product lines move toward electrified and connected commercial vehicles, while maintaining consistent capabilities across regions and business units. Volvo invests in vocational training, strengthening the broader talent ecosystem on which manufacturing relies.
10. Renault Group
CEO: François Provost – since July 2025
Supported industries: Automotive manufacturing
Renault anchors its upskilling approach in technical pathways for the EV transition, building technician and engineering capability as vehicle architectures, diagnostics, and production processes change. In the UK, Renault’s apprenticeship programs train high-caliber service technicians and parts operatives to strengthen network capability and support growth. Across Renault’s wider industrial landscape, the main upskilling challenge is to accelerate the development of EV-era skills while maintaining quality and throughput, especially as platforms and supply chains evolve. Recent leadership continuity has put a spotlight on disciplined execution, often raising expectations for structured training and skill-building.
Manufacturers in the UK and Europe illustrate that workforce upskilling is a strategic asset, not just a cost center. By blending structured learning with hands-on experience, these organizations strengthen industrial capability, protect institutional knowledge, and position themselves to compete as manufacturing technologies and regulatory demands continue to evolve.
