Page 8 - Industrial Technology April 2021 issue

INDUSTRY

UPDATE...

Transforming manufacturing resilience

could add £26 billion to the economy

THE RESILIENCE INDEX, COMMISSIONED BY RS COMPONENTS, FINDS MANUFACTURING WEAKNESSES,
BUT HIGHLIGHTS OPPORTUNITIES TO ADD £26BN OF PRODUCTIVITY VALUE TO THE ECONOMY

S Components has launched the Resilience others are more fragile. Food production, metals and the achieved sustainably. This is why resilience is so vital to
Index, one of the most comprehensive studies textiles sectors are not only below the manufacturing our future.”
of UK resilience that paints a mixed picture for average but below the UK average too. While they were With the economic shockwaves from Brexit and
Rsenior engineers looking to build resilience into making small gains in the early 2000s, after the financial Covid-19 placing business resilience under the spotlight,
their plant, process, and people in the years to come. It crash of 2008 these reversed and have never recovered. se added: “The last 12 months have been the most
finds that transforming manufacturing
resilience in the UK could add £26bn of
productivity value to the economy, bringing it
in line with some of the best performing
European nations and providing greater
protection to the businesses and individuals
that rely upon it.
The business commissioned an in-depth
study which mined 20 years of data from six
sources of data across investment, david.b@atlas.co.uk
productivity, and employment to track the
resilience of some of the UK’s most
prominent industries.
The Resilience Index reveals that, even though UK Emma Botfield, UK and Ireland managing director at challenging that our industry has faced and with our
manufacturing’s resilience is higher than the UK average RS Components, says: “In the face of multiple economic, successes interwoven into trade relations and the flow of
base, it needs to add 18 additional points, where one social and political challenges, this study shows what goods, resilience needs to be built into the network.
point of the Index is worth £1.4bn, to its score if it is to many senior engineers have known and feared for many “The idea of resilience within a business isn’t just
match some of the best performing nations for productivity years: UK manufacturing has to build greater resilience to having cash in the bank to weather the storm, it’s
and add £26bn to the economy. The research shows that, improve performance. investing in the latest processes, equipment, products and
when taking a broader look at the data and tracking “Our sector is improving productivity and safety all the ways of working as well as having protected, highly
industries such as manufacturing, construction, and time, but it still stands behind Europe in output, and that trained, well equipped and motivated people. Building
financial services since 2001, the UK is consistently is something which must change for future growth and resilience into organisations is likely to be a legacy of the
behind the western European average. prosperity. We certainly have the potential to unlock the COVID-19 pandemic and, for the UK, Brexit cross-border
While many key areas of UK manufacturing are £26bn productivity opportunity, and the determination trade, and will see companies sink or swim in this sea
showing vital signs in key measures of business resilience, and desire are certainly there to do it, but it must be change of business operations.”

8 INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY • March/April 2021