South Yorkshire is a market leader in Advanced Manufacturing and Materials Industries and is home to companies from areas such as steel, metals and alloy processing, through to manufacturing high-tech products for sectors including aerospace, automotive and household appliances. Advanced Manufacturing and Materials is one of the region’s key clusters, bringing together world-leading companies, support organisations and expertise.

Within South Yorkshire there has been huge investment in advanced manufacturing and materials, particularly at an infrastructural level, such as incubation units for start-ups and centres of excellence for improved research. In addition, millions of pounds have been invested into the state of the art Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) near Sheffield.

This investment is designed to encourage higher productivity, new business formation, greater innovation and increased inward investment. The 100 acre AMP is a core component for the development of this sector and offers a unique opportunity for world leading manufacturing and research centres and high technology manufacturing companies to co-locate.

A large number of domestic and multi-national companies have now made a home in Barnsley. Many of these businesses are in the engineering and manufacturing industries and have reaped the benefits of the suitably skilled and experienced workforce already available in the area. Examples include:

• Qualter & Hall which manufactured the new roof for The British Museum in London.
  
• Japanese owned Koyo which manufactures five million bearings a day for customers such as Jaguar.
  
• Kostal which provides steering columns and switches for BMW and Aston Martin.
  

Barnsley has an array of industrial premises at very competitive prices, with high quality industrial units from £4.50 per sq ft. In addition, four new business parks are in development at Barnsley's M1 junctions, all of which will provide excellent premises for forward thinking companies. With their close proximity to the Advanced Manufacturing Park these sites are the ideal location for businesses within the Advanced Manufacturing and Materials industries.