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While it’s important to stay focused on current industry conditions and face the present challenges in UK manufacturing, we still need to look to the future in order to stay ahead of the game. We ask, does the UK need to embrace new technologies and processes in order to maintain its position in the global industry?

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower,” said Steve Jobs and who are we to argue with the man who co-founded the technology giant that is Apple. So is innovation the key to the future of UK manufacturing? Certainly new technologies and processes can save time and money, be more environmentally conscious and increase output.

However, developing these innovative ideas requires significant financial investment and funding, and the training of the next generation to implement these changes going forward.

We’re in the middle of a time of much uncertainty. At the beginning of August, the news came that UK manufacturing had declined sharply since the Brexit vote, according to data from IHS Markit. The key findings showed that services output and new business fell at the fastest rates since March 2009, and expectations were the weakest since February 2009.

As we covered in a recent blog looking at the impact of Brexit on UK manufacturing, this uncertainty creates a reluctance to invest in new methods in the immediate future but looking more long-term it will be the innovations that will help to re-energise the industry and maintain the UK’s strong global standing in the manufacturing arena.

At the same time that we’re facing an economic crisis, we’re also in the midst of ‘Industry 4.0’, aka the fourth industrial revolution, where technological innovation is at its peak ready to streamline our processes and revitalise our factories. This includes the idea of the ‘smart factory’, using the internet and cloud technology to link machines and enable incredibly accurate monitoring of data and systems to improve output time and problem resolution. It also means the increased uptake of additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, which we recently looked at in more detail, discussing whether it was the way ahead for manufacturers.

In an essay for PwC’s Strategy&, authors Robert Bono and Stephen Pillsbury argue that now is not the time to overlook these innovations: “By embracing them now, [industrial manufacturing companies] can improve productivity in their own plants, compete against rivals, and maintain an edge with customers who are seeking their own gains from innovation.”

This means that manufacturers need to look at the future benefits of innovation and the introduction of new technology, not just the immediate cost of implementation. A government report from 2013, looking at the issue of the future of manufacturing and how the UK needs to progress, suggested that those businesses that will be successful in the future “will be capable of rapidly adapting their physical and intellectual infrastructures to exploit changes in technology as manufacturing becomes faster, more responsive to changing global markets and closer to customers.”

While there have been huge economic and political upheavals since this analysis came out, we believe that the assessment is still true and remain both positive and optimistic about the future of UK manufacturing.

Topics: Corrotherm News

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