Craft Apprentice
Apprenticeship£18k
Typical range £14,560–£21,674
How to get in
Earn while you learn from age 16
UK-wide rate
Cylfaa · Gweithdy Lunio · Lunio's Workshop
GweithgynhyrchuManufacturing
This is the manufacturing home of Cylfaa. It is for employers taking manufacturing and engineering into a classroom, schools planning careers sessions, and students who want to know what the jobs are really like.
Lunio · Lunio's name means "to shape". Lunio is the manufacturing owl and runs the workshop where Cylfaa makes things.
Pack coming this term
Rydych chi yma · You are here
Gweithdy Lunio in the village
Gweithdy Lunio is one of the ten homes of Cylfaa. Each home is a sector of Welsh work, with its own pack and its own skills gap to close.
- Tŵr Codi Construction
- Melin Ynni Green Energy
- Gweithdy Lunio Manufacturing
- Tŵr Fflach Digital
- Fferm Arad Agriculture & Food
- Glan Atom Nuclear
- Neuadd Mentro Enterprise
- Gardd Lliw Inclusion & Green Skills
- Canolfan Iechyd Health, Care & Safety
- Y Salon Hair, Beauty & Wellbeing
- Cae'r Her Cylfaa Challenge
The skills gap
The gap Lunio is closing
Current figures for Wales, and North Wales where they exist. Every number links to where it came from.
138,000people work in manufacturing in Wales
More
Manufacturing is 15.6% of Wales's economic output, the highest share of any UK nation, and adds £12 billion a year.
Source: Make UK, Mar 2026
19,000advanced manufacturing jobs, Flint & Wrexham
More
Flintshire and Wrexham host one of the strongest manufacturing clusters in Wales: aerospace, cars, medicines, food and more.
Source: Flintshire Wrexham Investment Zone Skills…, Mar 2026
6,000new jobs planned by the Investment Zone
More
The Flintshire and Wrexham Investment Zone (2025 to 2035) aims to attract £1bn of private investment in advanced manufacturing, digital and logistics.
Source: North Wales Skills and Employment Plan 2026–2028, Jul 2026
Where employers are short
- Electrical, mechanical and control engineering skills
North Wales employers report persistent shortages in electrical, mechanical, controls and systems engineering, including PLC and CNC skills.
Source: North Wales Skills and Employment Plan 2026–2028, Jul 2026
- Automation, robotics and AI skills
The RSP reports growing demand for automation, AI, robotics and engineering-IT hybrid skills in advanced manufacturing across North Wales.
Source: North Wales Skills and Employment Plan 2026–2028, Jul 2026
- Ageing workforce and a narrow young talent pipeline
Advanced manufacturing faces an ageing workforce, high replacement demand and difficulty attracting young people in key industrial areas.
Source: North Wales Skills and Employment Plan 2026–2028, Jul 2026
- Too few girls and women choosing engineering
Women hold 17% of UK engineering and tech roles, and North Wales apprenticeship data shows women are significantly underrepresented in engineering.
Source: EngineeringUK, Jul 2026
- Work-readiness of new starters
87% of North Wales employers (all sectors) say new entrants are not fully work-ready or vary in readiness.
Source: North Wales Skills and Employment Plan 2026–2028, Jul 2026
Jobs and pay
What the jobs pay
Six real roles, from a first apprenticeship to a degree route. Salaries are typical yearly pay, with the usual range.
CNC Machinist
Entry Level£33k
Typical range £25,000–£42,000
How to get in
Maintenance Tech
Apprenticeship£37k
Typical range £27,000–£48,000
How to get in
Robotics Eng.
Digital Role£45k
Typical range £31,000–£60,000
How to get in
Chemical Eng.
Green Role£49k
Typical range £34,000–£65,000
How to get in
Aerospace Eng.
Degree Route£50k
Typical range £30,000–£70,000
How to get in
Welsh pay figures are used where they exist. Cards marked UK-wide or England use national figures because no Welsh breakdown was found. Apprentice pay uses the UK apprentice minimum wage from April 2026 unless an employer's own rate is shown.
Through every Byd
Green and digital in manufacturing
Green and digital skills are changing every job in Wales, so every pack has a slide for each, written for this Byd.
Lliw's green path
Making in Wales Is Going Green.
Read more
North Wales factories are cutting carbon fast: capturing CO2, running on renewables and using smart tech to waste less. Every one of those changes needs skilled people.
- 800ktonnes of CO2 captured a year
Padeswood cement works near Mold will capture about 95% of its kiln emissions from 2029, creating 50 new permanent jobs.
Source: Deeside.com, Sep 2025
- 100%renewable power at Toyota Deeside
Toyota's Deeside engine plant uses green electricity, sends zero waste to landfill and built 244,078 engines in 2025.
Source: Toyota UK, 2026
- 11%less CO2 from Wrexham cereal lines
Kellanova's £75m Wrexham upgrade adds AI-controlled lines that use less energy, cutting cereal production CO2 by 11%.
Source: Food Manufacture, Oct 2024
Fflach's digital spark
Smart Factories Run on Code.
Read more
Modern factories are full of sensors, robots and data. North Wales employers need people who can program machines, read data and fix problems before they happen.
- Digital twins
A virtual copy of a production line, used to test changes on screen first. AMRC Cymru in Broughton helps Welsh firms build them.
- PLC & automation engineer
Programs the controllers that run machines and robots. PLC skills are a persistent shortage in North Wales, says the RSP.
- CNC programmer
Writes the code (CAM) that tells machines how to cut metal to a fraction of a millimetre. Coleg Cambria runs CAM and CNC courses.
- AI on the production line
Kellanova's new Wrexham lines use machine learning to cut energy use. Someone has to train, check and improve those systems.
Gemau Cylfaa · The Cylfaa Games
Play in Gweithdy Lunio
Free games for students, families and classes. Presenters: they make a good last five minutes.
Job ExplorerFlip Lunio's job cards in Gweithdy Lunio: what the jobs pay and how to get in.Which Owl Are You?Eight questions. Find out which home in Cylfaa is yours.
All the Cylfaa games
Routes in
Four ways in
Real courses and schemes at North Wales colleges, universities and employers.
Apprenticeship
Airbus craft apprentices spend Year 1 at Coleg Cambria Deeside, then Years 2 and 3 at Broughton. You need 5 GCSEs at C/4 including Maths, English and Science.
College
Coleg Cambria Deeside runs HNCs in Mechanical and Electrical Technology plus PLC and CNC courses. GLLM's £12m Rhyl Engineering Centre has robotics and CNC kit.
University Degree
Wrexham University specialises in advanced manufacturing and engineering, including optics and photonics. Bangor University and GLLM also offer engineering degrees.
Higher / Degree Apprenticeship
Airbus degree apprentices earn £21,674 while studying a BEng in Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering at Coleg Cambria (Swansea University). Fees paid.
Employers in this Byd
- AirbusBroughton, Flintshire
- Toyota Manufacturing UKDeeside, Flintshire
- Kellanova (Kellogg's)Wrexham Industrial Estate
- IpsenWrexham
- JCB TransmissionsWrexham Industrial Estate
- Teledyne QioptiqSt Asaph, Denbighshire
- Heidelberg MaterialsPadeswood, near Mold
- Jones' Village BakeryWrexham Industrial Estate
The pack · for employers
Walk into a classroom ready.
The manufacturing pack is being built now and is coming this term. This is what will be in it.
What's in the pack
- The full deck with speaker notes · scripted, timed and ready to present
- A clean deck · the same slides without notes, for the screen
- A 25-minute version · for a tight assembly slot or form time
- Printables · role cards, myth busters, guess the salary, and activity sheets for Explorer (Years 7 to 8), Investigator (Years 9 to 10) and Strategist (Years 11 to 12)
- A run sheet and a feedback form · so you know what happens when, and the school can tell you how it went
Built for Welsh classrooms. Mapped to Curriculum for Wales and the Four Purposes, with Gatsby Benchmarks evidenced. Bilingual, Welsh and English. Neurodiverse-friendly by design. From September 2026, careers and work-related experiences are a legal requirement under Curriculum for Wales.
Log each session in Owl Impact® and it becomes verified social value evidence.
Register interest. Be first when it's ready.
Leave your details and we'll tell you the moment the pack is ready.
Cae'r Her · The Cylfaa Challenge: young people solve Wales's skills gaps themselves, and the winning idea gets funded and built for real.
Bring the Challenge to your schoolFor students and parents
Which Byd are you?
Real Welsh jobs in manufacturing and engineering, what they pay and how to get in. The student pages for every Byd live here.
Explore your futureFind your Byd
Byd is Welsh for "world". Every home in Cylfaa is a Byd: a world of work. Join your school's team for the Cylfaa Challenge and send your Gofyn, your ask, to the Cylfaa panel.
Sources
Where the figures come from
Every figure on this page comes from one of these. Checked October 2026.
See all sources
- Make UK, Welsh Manufacturing Manifesto: Back our makers, drive economic growth · 23 March 2026
- North Wales Skills and Employment Plan 2026–2028, Appendix 1 (North Wales Regional Skills Partnership) · July 2026
- North Wales Skills and Employment Plan 2026–2028, CJC Economic Well-Being Sub-Committee report · 17 July 2026
- Flintshire Wrexham Investment Zone Skills Programme · 13 March 2026
- Welsh Government, Business register and employment survey: 2024 (manufacturing 10.3% of employee jobs) · 29 October 2025
- Airbus in the United Kingdom (A321 wing facility at Broughton, 430 new UK jobs) · September 2026
- Deeside.com, 245 new starters join Airbus in Broughton · 17 September 2025
- Airbus Aerostructures Craft Apprenticeship advert (Broughton / Coleg Cambria) · 2025
- Airbus Engineering Degree Apprenticeship advert (Sept 2026 start) · 2026
- GOV.UK, Minimum wage rates for 2026 · April 2026
- National Careers Service job profiles (CNC machinist, engineering maintenance technician, robotics, chemical, aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineer, welder, CAD technician, food scientist, food factory worker, laboratory technician, quality control assistant) · accessed October 2026
- EngineeringUK, Engineering and technology workforce · 29 April 2026
- Deeside.com, World-first carbon capture cement plant confirmed for Flintshire · 25 September 2025
- Toyota UK, Toyota marks production of its six millionth engine at Deeside · 2026
- Food Manufacture, Kellanova to create 130 jobs with £75m investment in Wrexham site · 3 October 2024
- Ipsen, Wrexham investment unveiled at 50th birthday · 13 June 2023
- Business News Wales, A bright future for advanced manufacturing in North Wales (AMRC Cymru) · 4 October 2024
- Coleg Cambria, Engineering, Manufacturing & Maintenance (employer courses) · accessed October 2026
- Deeside.com, Coleg Cambria apprentices win big at Make UK Wales awards · 11 December 2025
- Grŵp Llandrillo Menai, Rhyl's new engineering centre opened by First Minister · 22 February 2024
- Aerospace Wales Forum, Teledyne Qioptiq Ltd listing · accessed October 2026
- Agg-Net, JCB Transmissions celebrate production milestone · 22 May 2015
- Wikipedia, Wrexham Industrial Estate · accessed October 2026