The Datum Report

Occupation 8160 · Process, plant and machine operatives

Production, factory and assembly supervisors

Half of full-time production, factory and assembly supervisors in the UK earn more than £36,777 a year, and half earn less.

Production, factory and assembly supervisors oversee operations and directly supervise and coordinate the technical and operational work of those carrying out production, manufacturing and assembly roles.

How people enter it

Academic qualifications may not be required but relevant experience is necessary, and some GCSEs/S grades or an equivalent academic or vocational qualification may be an advantage. Apprenticeships combining practical work experience and technical training are available in some areas.

What the work involves

• directly supervises and coordinates the activities of production, manufacturing and assembly staff
• establishes and monitors work schedules to meet the organisation’s requirements
• liaises with managers and other senior staff to resolve operational problems
• determines or recommends staffing and other needs to meet the organisation’s requirements
• reports as required to managerial staff on work-related matters

Also called

Foreman (plasterboard mfr) · Leading hand (textile mfr) · Mill foreman (food products mfr) · Print room supervisor · Process supervisor (chemical mfr) · Production team leader (vehicle mfr)

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for production, factory and assembly supervisors, full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 8 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions