WHY THE UK IS STILL A NATION OF MAKERS

Don’t believe the gloom-mongers, manufacturing

By guest editor, Peter Davison

In the summer of 2019, something surprising happened in the world of political policy-making.

The perceived wisdom is that manufacturing output accounts for nine per cent of our national income. But in the middle of 2019, a report came out of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. It was based on a study by Cambridge University to determine how vulnerable manufacturing exports would be to EU tariffs. And the report contained some unexpected news.

The size of the manufacturing sector, said the authors of the report, Inside the Black Box of Manufacturing: Conceptualising and counting manufacturing in the economy, has been underestimated for years. In fact, once activities tied to the sale of UK-made products, including engineering support and contracted

Manufacturing matters

The manufacturing sector supports 2.7 million jobs, makes up just under half (49 per cent –around £275 billion) of UK exports, and, according to a 2018 report from the Office for National Statistics, contributes 66 per cent of all UK research and development business expenditure.

services, are included, it is nearer to 15 per cent of GDP.

One of the authors, Dr Jostein Hauge from the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy at the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing, said policymakers needed new ways to assess the value of manufacturing activity:

“The difficulty lies in trying to measure manufacturing as a single category. It is inherently more complex. Economic value of manufactured goods increasingly depends on activities that are officially categorised as belonging to other sectors of the economy. A range of manufacturingrelated services are excluded from the manufacturing category.”

Seamus Nevin, Chief Economist at Make UK – the manufacturers’ organisation which rebranded from the Engineering Employers’ Federation a year ago – had this to say:

“Despite the common sense of declinism, manufacturing businesses contribute nearly three million mostly high-paying jobs, half of UK exports, the bulk (69 per cent) of this country’s R&D spend, and the UK is today the ninth largest manufacturing economy in the world in GDP terms.”

UK Aerospace industry flies high across the globe

Manufacturing is also an extremely diverse sector. Our aerospace industry is the largest in Europe, and second in the world only to the US. Around 130,000 UK workers are employed directly in aerospace, with around the same number employed indirectly. Annual turnover is around £30 billion, and we’re exporting 90 per cent of what we make.

Eighty per cent of a car can be built in the UK, according to The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. The automotive industry employs around 170,000 workers, with another 78,000 in the supply chain.

Chemical and pharmaceutical is our largest manufacturing export sector –adding £60 million to the balance of trade every day, according to the Chemical Industries Association and employing 135,000 workers directly, and more than half a million indirectly.

The UK is the fifth largest manufacturer of electronics, according to TechUK. More than 800,000 workers are employed in the field, contributing to an annual turnover of nearly £80 billion.

Small and medium-sized businesses drive food and drink sector

At 16 per cent, our largest manufacturing sector by turnover is the food and drink industry. Nearly all the producers are micro-businesses or SMEs (96 per cent, according to the Food and Drink Federation), and exports are worth around £13 billion a year.

British nuclear is a growing industry, as we look for alternatives to fossil fuels to meet our energy needs and hit our environmental targets. The Nuclear Industry Association says more than 60,000 people are directly employed in the industry, with another 80,000 working indirectly.

Meanwhile plastics is a £23.5 billion industry that employs more than 170,000 people. Around a third of our manufactured plastics are exported, and we’re recycling twice as much (3.3 million tonnes) than we’re making (1.7 million tonnes), according to the British Plastics Federation.

Finally, with 340,000 workers in the industry, Cool Britannia is the third-largest fashion employer in the EU, behind Italy and Germany. Our textiles are in demand the world over – and the industry adds around £12 billion a year to the UK economy.

Manufacturing will be an important element in the government’s eagerly anticipated local and national Industrial Strategies. Despite Brexit worries and a US-China trade war, Britain’s manufacturers are still on the make, selling domestically and – importantly – abroad. Over the next seven pages, Business & Innovation salutes the manufacturers.

White Horse Plastics brings manufacturing home

Precision plastic components manufacturer White Horse Plastics has reported renewed success in both the reshoring of contract manufacturing work from overseas and in the exporting of injection moulded expertise to an automotive system supplier on the continent.

The Faringdon-based company said its commitment to fail-safe technical solutions is part of the reason that it is now recouping or reshoring business that was being relocated to Far Eastern sources.

The firm’s expertise was recently engaged by a European first-tier supplier looking not just to source parts and tooling from WHP, but also to have the White Horse Plastics team help it specify the required plant.

Managing Director Paul Bobby said: “We’re delighted to help our original equipment manufacture customer. The facility has now been successfully commissioned, and we believe that industrial partnerships such as these are the way forward.”

“We are looking forward to replicating this success in other ways with other customers this year.”

Enterprising Mira is showered with royal praise as it expands

Construction work is continuing on Mira Shower’s £20 million, 158,000sq ft distribution centre at Worcester Six Business Park.

It follows the manufacturer’s success in winning a second Queen’s Award for Enterprise for its innovative Mira Sport Max Shower.

Last year’s Queen’s Award was the second the Cheltenham-based company had won, following success with its Mira Flight Safe anti-slip shower tray in 2017.

The latest Queen’s Award for Enterprise recognised the company’s world-first design for electric showers, which uses patented technology to increase water flow by up to 30 per cent, without using any more water.

Mira Showers Managing Director, Craig Baker, said: “This award highlights our commitment to innovation and the hard work and level of detail we put into the research and design stages.