The UK’s manufacturing sector contributes 11% of the nation’s GDP and employs somewhere in the region of 2.6 million people. With recent reports suggesting that the sector may have been undervalued by around £50 billion, it’s clear that the industry is a huge part of our economy. So it is a cause for concern that, with the exception of some individual businesses, the sector as a whole has been contracting in recent years, despite a stable output from these first few months of 2016. Those of us working in the industry obviously want to see a turnaround in these negative statistics, but we’re not going to see any change by waiting around for it to happen to us.

Without the innovation and implementation of new technology to make our manufacturing processes more efficient, the sector will stagnate. Some people could even argue that the sector has already been stagnating for a few years, but even if this is true, it is not too late for those of us within the industry to make a difference.

The changes that need to be made concern not only improvements to products, but to processes. Yes, inventing something new and exciting is good – as a recent article on this site points out, the UK has a history of world-changing innovations – but while such an invention may improve things for the business or person responsible for it, it is unlikely to improve things for the sector as a whole. Meaningful changes to the national manufacturing sector can only be made if there is a widespread, national effort to honestly evaluate our businesses’ manufacturing processes and make improvements where we can. If multiple companies across the UK strive for newer, more efficient manufacturing processes, the manufacturing sector could finally be in a position to grow again.

Thankfully, the key to this particular puzzle might already exist. The Internet of Things, or, more precisely for our sector, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has been talked about for a few years as the next stage in our development. There are already a few articles on this site talking about the IIoT’s emergence, and there are several news stories from recent days and weeks discussing the latest movements of big, international countries towards a fully integrated manufacturing process. But what is the IIoT? And is it relevant to smaller, UK based businesses?

The IIoT is the connection of the machines in your manufacturing process to the internet. This is a significant step to take because it means that data can be gathered from those machines and used to make your processes more efficient. This data could range from something as simple as the regulation of heating In your factory to save money on energy bills through to analysis of individual machines to let you know if they’re not functioning at their peak. With this data, you would have the power to make sure that you are never spending more money than you need to, and that the potential of the resources that you already have is being maximised.

The IIoT represents a fantastic opportunity for UK SMEs. Yes, it requires some investment of time and money, but as the technology required becomes ever more accessible, the scale of the investment on your end will lessen. In return for your investment, you will get a more efficient manufacturing process that will improve your bottom line.

Remember, this is not something to leave to your product developers and engineers, this is something that needs to be implemented as a strategy within your business. If you’re an SME based in the UK, then you’re in a great position to tap into a highly-skilled, university-educated work force who will be able to take your IIoT vision and turn it into a reality, ensuring that you get the maximum return on your investment.

If the UK manufacturing industry is going to grow, we can’t focus on simply safeguarding what exists, we need to innovate and improve to keep making our products and processes better. With the emergence of the IIoT, we have the tools to make our factories and processes more efficient, and investment in this area can only improve things for our businesses and for the sector as a whole.

Patrick Tonks

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Tags: Industries, Manufacturing