Manufacturing Recruitment Agency in Peterborough

Peterborough

Peterborough has been building things for nearly a century

Perkins Engines—founded in 1932, now part of Caterpillar—has been manufacturing diesel engines here for over 90 years. Peter Brotherhood has built steam turbines since 1903. Baker Perkins makes food processing equipment for the global market. This isn’t a city that stumbled into manufacturing—it’s built on it.

At F17 Recruitment, we help Peterborough manufacturers find skilled production staff who can operate from day one—not just fill a headcount.

Image: Peterborough manufacturing operations

Image: Peterborough production facility

Local Market

An engineering heritage with modern momentum

Peterborough’s manufacturing base combines legacy engineering with advanced production—and it’s still growing.

Perkins Engines (Caterpillar) operates a 125,000 sq m factory at Eastfield producing up to 420,000 diesel engines annually—Peterborough’s largest private-sector manufacturer with approximately 1,250 employees
Crown Holdings is investing £150 million in a 625,000 sq ft beverage can factory at Delta Park—Europe’s largest, creating 280 jobs with capacity for 3 billion+ cans per year
Photocentric in Fengate is a global 3D printing and photopolymer resin manufacturer—invested £7 million in a centre of excellence with three print farms and won three Queen’s Awards
Peter Brotherhood (now Chart Industries) is the UK’s only manufacturer of steam turbines up to 40MW—supplies the Royal Navy’s Astute-class submarine programme
Baker Perkins (Schenck Process Group) designs and manufactures food processing equipment from their Peterborough HQ for clients worldwide
TRB Lightweight Structures and Codem Composites form a growing advanced composites cluster serving aerospace, motorsport, and satellite communications
Manufacturing concentration in Peterborough is approximately 50% higher than the UK average

The Challenge

Competing for skilled hands in a logistics-heavy city

Peterborough’s manufacturing employers face a hiring environment shaped by competition, demographics, and policy:

Warehouse and logistics roles offer similar entry-level pay (£12–13/hr) with lower skill requirements—pulling candidates away from manufacturing
20% of UK manufacturing workers were projected to retire by 2026—Peterborough’s skilled tradespeople (CNC programmers, tool setters, maintenance engineers) are ageing out
Post-Brexit immigration changes reduced the flow of EU-origin workers who historically filled production and food manufacturing roles—Peterborough has one of the UK’s largest Eastern European communities
36% of manufacturing vacancies nationally are hard-to-fill due to skills gaps—significantly above the 24% all-industry average
The composites sector specifically flags difficulty recruiting staff with required specialist skills

Image: Peterborough manufacturing hiring

Image: Manufacturing screening process

Our Approach

We find production staff who can actually operate

At F17 Recruitment, we don’t send CVs and leave you to work it out.

Every candidate we put forward for your Peterborough operation is:

Pre-screened for specific skills—CNC programming, machine operation, assembly, quality inspection
Assessed for genuine technical competency, not just years listed on a CV
Matched to your production environment—whether that’s precision engineering, food processing, composites, or high-volume assembly

So instead of reviewing stacks of applications, you’re speaking to people who can actually run your machines.

Why It Matters

A bad hire on the production floor costs more than a vacancy

When the wrong person is on your line, the problems compound—scrap rates climb, machines go down, and quality failures reach your customers.

The wrong hire can lead to

Increased scrap rates from operator errors and poor setup
Machine downtime caused by inexperienced or untrained operators
Quality failures that reach customers and damage your reputation

The right hire means

Consistent output to tolerance with lower reject rates
Machines running at capacity without avoidable stoppages
A stable, skilled workforce that builds quality into every unit

How We Work

Recruitment built for Peterborough’s production lines

Understand your operation

We learn what you make, the machines you run, the tolerances you work to, and your shift patterns.

Source and assess

We attract production candidates and filter them for genuine technical skills—not just keywords on a CV.

Deliver a focused shortlist

You receive only candidates with verified skills and realistic expectations, with clear notes on why they’re a fit.

Support through to start

We stay involved to ensure a smooth integration onto your floor.

Why F17 Recruitment

We know what Peterborough makes—and who makes it

There’s a real difference between hiring a CNC operator for precision engineering at Perkins and a production operative for high-volume assembly at Crown Holdings. Different skills, different assessments, different candidate profiles. We understand that—and we recruit accordingly.

We process, filter, and assess candidates—so you only spend time on the ones who can actually do the job.

Image: Peterborough manufacturing team

Roles We Cover in Peterborough

From the shop floor to the quality lab—every manufacturing role

Production Operatives

CNC Operators

Machine Operators

Quality Inspectors

Assembly Operatives

Maintenance Engineers

Tool Setters

Production Supervisors

Welders & Fabricators

Fill your production line in Peterborough—with people who perform

You don’t have time to train someone who can’t handle the machines or meet the tolerances. We make sure every candidate you speak to has already been assessed, filtered, and matched to your operation.

F17 Recruitment

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