Manufacturing : Future trends

Advanced manufacturing

Manufacturing has a key role to play in the UK’s economic recovery. It not only contributes to exports and productivity growth but also ensures that the UK economy is not overly dependent on sectors such as banking and financial services. In certain regions of the UK, manufacturing is vital to the local economy. Retaining traditional manufacturing skills and recognising the growth potential in the high-tech ‘advanced manufacturing’ sub-sectors are important steps on the road to economic recovery.

The government’s publication, The Path to Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth (November 2010), announced a rolling growth review to consider structural reforms and how to tackle barriers to growth in six different sectors, including manufacturing. It stated that:

Despite perceptions to the contrary, the UK has real strengths in manufacturing, responsible for over half of all UK exports in 2009. The UK has a strong competitive advantage in sectors where it is possible to build on the UK’s strong skills and research base, such as aerospace, defence, bio-pharmaceuticals, microelectronics and chemicals, and emerging potential in other sectors including in low carbon vehicle technologies.

The aims for the sector for the next ten years are to grow manufacturing in the UK, to make the UK Europe’s leading exporter of high value goods and related services, and to increase the proportion of the workforce seeking, and capable of, a career in manufacturing (UK Parliament, 2011).

Reverse logistics

Reverse logistics is concerned with the management of waste or used products. It has become more important recently as governments have introduced legislation to reduce the dumping of waste, so measures have to be taken to re-use, recycle, repair, refurbish and/or re-manufacture what would previously have been dumped. Increasingly, manufacturers must consider the ‘whole life’ of the product, and designers need to plan ahead for how the product will be disposed of at the end of its life.

Research and development (R&D)

More than 70% of business R&D in the UK goes into the manufacturing sector, and goods produced in the sector account for nearly half of all UK exports. Research involves exploring new concepts or materials for products as well as making incremental improvements to existing products. The aim of research is to give the manufacturer an edge in the market, by introducing ideas for an improved product or innovating a new, advanced process. The development process involves taking a product design or prototype and making it into a product that can be manufactured. Development teams consider the scale of production (volume), the availability of materials (and their cost), production safety, lead times, quality and overall cost. The government has pledged to provide £200million a year by 2014-15 to support manufacturing and business development, with a focus on supporting potential high growth companies and the commercialisation of technologies, including funding for an elite network of R&D intensive technology and innovation centres (HM Treasury, Spending Review 2010).

Shortage of engineers, scientists and technologists

According to SEMTA: The Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies , around 205,000 jobs will need to be filled within manufacturing sectors between 2010 and 2016 to replace people who retire and meet demand from fast-growing industries like advanced manufacturing.

The perception is that schools are not producing enough pupils who have studied physics, maths and chemistry at A-level or Higher level. The study of these subjects at advanced level is crucial for entry into engineering and science degrees. The government is trying to address this issue, through the National Apprenticeship Service as well as Skills Funding Agency, which offers fully or partially funded training in the sector, but this does not go to the root of the issue.