Industry Sectors

Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire is a centrally located region in the UK. It is within 17 miles of Birmingham and 45 miles from Manchester. London is just over 1 hour and 15 minutes away from Stafford and just under 1 hour 30 minutes away from Stoke-on-Trent by train.

Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire‘s central position and excellent transport infrastructure accounts for its large population catchment area.  There are over 2.76 million people within a 45 minute drive time, a significantly larger number than the catchment for Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Bristol or Newcastle.

The area is notably strong in manufacturing. Global manufacturers based in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire include: Siemens, GE Power, Pirelli, Michelin and Sumitomo Electric Wiring Systems. They represent manufacturing activity ranging from R&D in power converter technologies to automotive component manufacturers.

As well as advanced manufacturing operations, ceramics is still a key sector in the area with Stoke-on-Trent in particular having a rich history in this industry stretching back to the 17^th Century. As well as high end manufacturing, the ceramic skills base has attracted a growing number of specialised companies including Biocomposites and Mantec Technical Ceramics in addition to the industry’s traditional tableware products.

The strength of the manufacturing sector combined with the area’s outstanding motorway connections has led to Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire becoming a national hub for logistics and distribution.

A number of international companies also have their global and UK  headquartered operations located in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire.  Notably this includes JCB, Michelin, Steelite, FedEx, bet365 and Portmeirion.