Supporting British Manufacturing
Follow our latest thought leadership and reports focussing on the future of Manufacturing in the UK.
The UK manufacturing sector has been a major contributor to the success and wealth generation of the UK economy, global development and influence, for centuries.
With 87% of our most recent survey respondents saying that ‘Government support for the sector is inadequate’. Ahead of the general election, we’ve created a ‘Manifesto for Manufacturing’; calling for better levels of support and a dedicated minister for the manufacturing industry.
Findings and recommendations
As strategic challenges, the following are identified as the key areas the sector needs to focus their attention:
Manufacturing Businesses Outlook
Manufacturing companies in the UK and elsewhere will undoubtedly find the upcoming few months to be crucial.
Supply chain issues, combined with the cost of working capital, lacklustre economic growth and continued global uncertainty will provide real challenges for business.
Reshoring could be good for business, our country and its residents as well as the environment.
Its true that some products and services are best sourced from abroad. We don’t, for example, have a strong domestic semi-conductor industry and rectification of this will take time, initiative, and resources beyond the reach of most UK businesses. However, that doesn’t apply to everything and global events surrounding volcano eruptions, blocked shipping canals, the pandemic, and geopolitical conflicts have all disrupted supply processes causing unacceptable delays to many OEM’s.
This has and will continue to drive the need for OEM supply chain managers and their suppliers to reconsider an aspirational supplier list that has shorter travelling miles and quicker supply, over and above, pure cost.
Couple this with the need to decarbonise too; and it presents a real opportunity for manufacturers to challenge the status quo, caused by a generation of buyers exercising ‘flight to value’.
The UK has always been a trading nation and it will always be both an importer and an exporter. However, the case for reshoring has, given the events of just the last few years possibly never been as strong. We hope that this document and its links stimulates the reader to think about the possibilities.
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)
Since an organisation's ESG policies and actions grow more and more significant to investors, employees, customers, and the larger communities in which they operate, ESG is now unquestionably a topic on the boardroom agenda.
ESG areas that are most likely to have an impact on importers and exporters include:
We're here to help
With the knowledge and ability to tackle every situation, both domestically and globally, our manufacturing team works with a wide range of specialised advisors and businesses. Building long-term relationships is something we are proud of.