THREE of Dorset’s best-known workplaces are opening their doors to schools and colleges today as part of the UK’s first National Manufacturing Day.

Lush Cosmetics, Siemens’ Yunex Traffic Systems and the RNLI, all based in Poole, are all taking part.

National Manufacturing Day gives manufacturers the chance to open their doors and provide a behind the scenes look at how they operate, recruit local talent and the opportunities they offer.

All three employers will host a series of activities at their sites.

Yunex, at Sopers Lane, will have a treasure hunt around the factory as well as hands-on activities for children to get involved. Lush will offer tours of the facilities to see the had-made process for its products as well as offering the opportunity to learn how to make a bath bomb.

The RNLI offer the chance to see how the latest generation of lifeboats are manufactured as well as the chance to look around a lifeboat and see how they operate.

Stephen Phipson, chief executive of the manufacturing industry group Make UK, said: “National Manufacturing Day is the opportunity for local communities to really see what happens in their local factories as companies open up for the day.

"Around the UK, there are lots of job opportunities and openings across the sector, so we hope people take the opportunity to have a look and see what modern manufacturing is really like.”

The day is also being supported by the Dorset Engineering and Manufacturing Cluster which is an affiliate partner of Make UK.

The cluster is a concentration of marine, aerospace, and technology companies contributing £1.4billion to the Dorset economy.

Manufacturing in the South West overall employs 206,000 people which is almost 10 per cent of the South West employment in total. It also accounts for 11.2 per cent of the South West economy.

Details, along with every employer taking part, are at nationalmanufacturingday.org