Engineering news
Global manufacturing executives rank the UK as one of the top destinations for future sales growth, ahead of established manufacturing economies such as Germany, according to a new report.
The 2014 KPMG Global Manufacturing Outlook found that the UK is ranked second – equally with China – as a country where global companies expect to derive the majority of their sales growth over the next two years. Only the US (45%) beats the UK and China (both 17%).
The survey reveals that in terms of a country where global companies expect profit growth in the next two years, the UK is ranked third (16%), only marginally behind China (18%), and ahead of Germany (15%).
Stephen Cooper, KPMG’s UK head of industrial manufacturing, said: “This is encouraging news for manufacturers in the UK and reflects the increasing confidence in the sector we have seen in recent months. The UK economy overall is showing positive economic signs, while comparatively, some of our overseas competitors are on more shaky ground.
“It is also interesting that the global companies expect a higher profit growth in the UK than Germany. Germany traditionally has a reputation of being efficient in manufacturing processes, so one would expect them to rate perhaps higher than the UK as a naturally more profitable country for investors. The wider Euro crisis and European debt issues may still have a lag impact on Germany”
The report also found that manufacturers were making a dramatic move to 3D printing technology to reduce product development life cycles. While 81% of global companies said that they were using 3D printing in product development, this trend was even more marked with UK companies where 85% said that 3D printing was used to speed up product development.
The survey found that a majority of UK manufacturers (71%) are focusing their innovation efforts on enhancing existing product lines and services, rather than on breakthrough innovation (29%). This is perhaps due to a lack of R&D funding, which was found to be the top issue limiting the ability of companies to innovate, with 46% of global companies and 62% of UK firms selecting this as the top challenge.
The research also found that the number one issue for UK companies in managing their supply chain was inadequate IT systems for supply chain visibility, planning and execution.
The report is based on a survey of 460 senior executives from the aerospace and defence, automotive, conglomerates, consumer products, engineering and industrial products and metals industries.