Don't just read; take action

According to Make UK, the required digitalisation and innovation boost needs a simple one-stop-shop focused on SMEs to deliver funding, training and innovation support, with the industry body highlighting how targeting dedicated programmes to SMEs has delivered a 25% increase in productivity in South Korean smart factories and a 27% drop in defects as an example.

British manufacturing companies have been lagging behind international competitors over the last two decades, with manufacturers falling dramatically down the global automation tables. The UK's use of robotics and AI systems is poor, with training of people in relevant digital skills to take advantage of the innovation tech, well below what is needed to catch up, finds the report.

Don’t get me wrong, many of the surveys and reports that cross my desk really do make interesting reading and offer a wide range of expertise and insight. Indeed, the report from Make UK and Sage mentioned doesn’t just look at how the UK has generally been slow to adopt technological advances compared to its international competitors; it then goes on to explore what can be learnt from the internationally leading countries in manufacturing digitalisation. If you fancy taking a look (which I wholeheartedly recommend) you can download the report via bit.ly/46cG9G9

However, despite the value to be found in reports and surveys, it does sometimes feel as if the authors/commsisioners/surveyors are (and I should probably include the industrial media in this as well) more often than not simply preaching to the choir: Adopting Automation increases productivity; AI could make the UK more competitive; the UK lags when it comes to digitalisation – these are all valid findlings, but honestly, if you’re not aware of these issues already, you really haven’t been paying attention.

I guess what I'm trying to get to in a roundabout way is that there's little point in all the reports and surveys if they don't result in some sort of potitive action. I'm not suggesting that businesses should go out and make radical changes on back of reading the latest industry observations and insights, but they could at least use any knowledge gained as catalyst for change. So read the reports, absorb the statistics, learn the lessons and, most importantly, take some action.

Charlotte Stonestreet

Editor