About the Manufacturing Barometer

What is the Manufacturing Barometer?

The UK’s largest quarterly survey of small and medium sized manufacturers, powered by SWMAS and designed to capture the views and challenges of the small and medium-sized businesses who account for over 99%*  of UK manufacturing firms.

How is the data used?

Survey findings are anonymised, aggregated, and included in quarterly Manufacturing Barometer publications. These valuable insights are shared with government, and other influential stakeholders, to inform future industrial strategies.

SWMAS launched the  Manufacturing Barometer in 2009. Since 2012, this survey has covered the whole of the UK, produced in partnership with the national Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS).   When this closed in December 2015,  SWMAS continued the survey to represent the voice of the SME manufacturing sector, both  nationally and across the South West.

What are the benefits?

Exclusively for UK based, small and medium-sized manufacturers, the Barometer offers these firms:

A platform to make their voice heard in a sector that is often dominated by large corporations.
 
A chance to highlight the specific support they require, which SWMAS will use to design future services that address the challenges and opportunities revealed each quarter.
 
The ability to influence future stakeholder support so that it enables sector growth by meeting the specific needs of small and medium-sized manufacturers.
 
An opportunity for responding businesses to have their good news featured in the quarterly Manufacturing Barometer publication, and across social media channels.
 
Each quarter, all survey respondents will be sent a digital copy of the Manufacturing Barometer as soon as it’s published.
 

*based on ONS statistics and employee numbers associated with SME status
(does not factor in potential parent company ownership status)


The latest Manufacturing Barometer results are in!
July's report offers valuable insights into how the growing low carbon/green technology market could impact SME firms across the UK manufacturing industry...

 

 

July
2023
(Covering Q1 2023-2024)
April
2023
(Covering Q4 2022-2023)
April
2023
(Covering Q4 2022-2023)
January
2023
(Covering Q3 2022-2023)
January
2023
(Covering Q3 2022-2023)
October
2022
(Covering Q2 2022-2023)
October
2022
(Covering Q2 2022-2023)
July
2022
(Covering Q1 2022-2023)
July
2022
(Covering Q1 2022-2023)
April
2022
(Covering Q4 2021-2022)
January
2022
(Covering Q3 2021-2022)
January
2022
(Covering Q3 2021-2022)
October
2021
(Covering Q2 2021-2022)
October
2021
(Covering Q2 2021-2022)
July
2021
(Covering Q1 2021-2022)
July
2021
(Covering Q1 2021-2022)
April
2021
(Covering Q4 2020-2021)
April
2021
(Covering Q4 2020-2021)