Advice pays off for Bristol manufacturers

10th Apr 2008

UK manufacturing enjoyed its most productive year for a decade in 2007. Phil Townsend from South West MAS looks at the part Bristol is playing in the ongoing revival of this hard-pressed sector.

Who says manufacturing is in decline? According to the latest available figures from the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) manufacturing is going through a renaissance. During 2007, UK manufacturing was at its most productive for a decade. Not only was investment at an all time high over the same period, but the numbers of companies posting a profit was up 34 per cent.

Much of the credit for this is down to the way in which the sector has transformed itself of late. Faced with huge pressure from overseas competitors, companies have learned to become far cleverer about the way they do business by embracing lean manufacturing practices, innovating their core offering, investing in technology and specialist skills and exploiting new markets.

Nowhere is this more evident than Bristol. Although the city is fast becoming known for its thriving financial services sector, manufacturing is still very much alive and well. It currently accounts for 8 per cent of Bristol’s Gross Value Added (around about £720m a year), while the number of people employed is around the 22,500 mark, about 12 per cent of all jobs (or 8 per cent of all jobs in the South West of England). There are currently in excess of 1,800 manufacturing firms operating in the city.

Traditionally, aerospace and advanced engineering, have been the bedrock for much of Bristol manufacturing, and these sectors continue to perform well, despite the recent upheaval at Airbus. However, the most startling growth has been in niche manufacturing, where SMEs are busy channeling their energies, and their expertise to good effect. Food and drink, building products as well as printing and publishing are three areas that are leading the way.

Increasingly firms in Bristol are also looking overseas to emerging markets such as China and India that are expressing a real appetite for the highly engineered products made in the city.

The figures back this up. According to the EEF, 35 per cent and 28 per cent of companies rate both countries respectively as a future major opportunity. At the same time, the number of companies getting excited about the new EU members has trebled since 2004. Little wonder then, that exporting now accounts for almost half of all manufacturers’ turnover nationally – a figure which is only likely to continue to grow.

"Manufacturing is still a very important sector across South West England, contributing £13 billion to the region's economy as well as 286,000 jobs which equates to 13 per cent of the workforce”, says Greg Taylor, head of business support at the South West RDA. He continues; "The South West MAS, which is funded and supported by the South West RDA, has played a crucial part in improving the productivity and competitiveness of manufacturing businesses and helping to transform the sector to what it is today."

Niche manufacturing is clearly the future for the sector in Bristol. However, it wouldn’t be right to say that manufacturing doesn’t face challenges. Without question, issues remain. However, those manufacturers that are customer-focused and perform in terms of production times and service delivery will be the ones that win in the long run. It is the job of MAS and its partners to ensure this happens.

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