The status of UK manufacturing

Abstract

The world climate for business—especially in electronics, automotive products and machinery—has never been better. Growth in the major economies, excepting the USA and the UK, is expected to be robust, averaging some 3%. Behind this general growth trend there are even better prospects for the manufacturing sector—in 1989 world trade volume increased overall by 8% and this year it is forecast to rise by some 6%. Looking even deeper into one of the ‘locomotive’ sectors of world business—electronics and computers—this sector looks set to grow at around 7-10%, admittedly slower than over the last 20 years where growth averaged 15% annually, but still a very healthy growth rate. Are we, as a major manufacturing nation, in a position to exploit this business growth? Has our manufacturing base become too small and too narrow and do we have enough multinational companies in the key business sectors to gain increased market share? This article discusses the status of the UK economy and in particular that of the manufacturing sector, and attempts to put some international perspective on this status. It also discusses briefly how the development of computer technology may affect working practices in the next few years and thus help the nation become more competitive.