Disruption causing ‘optimism and frustration’ for region’s manufacturers

Manufacturers from across the West Midlands mixed optimism and frustration in almost equal measure as they discussed the state of the sector at a round table event.

The wide-ranging discussion, convened by KPMG and TheBusinessDesk.com as part of an ongoing project on manufacturing in the Midlands, covered investment, industry 4.0, skills, access to finance, Brexit and more.

It is a critical time for the sector, which is dealing with uncertainty caused by political, economic and structural changes.

Nick Harrison, KPMG

Nick Harrison, partner and Midlands manufacturing lead at KPMG, said: “In my career, I’ve never seen so much disruption happening to the sector, and I use disruption in its widest term. This isn’t disruptive technologies, this is also all the various headwinds that businesses are clearly facing, especially in manufacturing.

“If you take what we’re seeing in automotive – the move to electric vehicles, mobility as a service, connected and autonomous vehicles – I think the Midlands could have a fantastic part to play in that, but the business model will change, the delivery model will change.

“How do we adapt and how does the government support that adaption? How do we link in with the universities to create these ecosystems of capability?

“I think that’s a huge opportunity and one where I would see quite a lot of optimism for people around the table to be involved in.”

Part of that optimism is rooted in the strength of the region, which has been boosted by significant investment and which has a series of milestones, such as 2022 Commonwealth Games and HS2’s scheduled arrival in 2026, that should continue the momentum.

Karl Edge, Midlands chairman, KPMG

Karl Edge, Midlands regional chairman at KPMG, said: “The regional economy in the Midlands is having a bit of a renaissance at the moment and is benefitting from the level of infrastructure investment that’s coming in.

“It then feels like that creates opportunity for manufacturing and gives the ability to reinforce what has been a great strength of our region over many years.

“The challenge though is have we got the narrative right in terms of where we link to Government. Two years ago the industrial strategy was something people were talking about, it seems to have been put to one side with Brexit – because I don’t think government has capacity for anything other than Brexit at the moment – therefore what can we do locally with our businesses?”

A full report from the manufacturing round table will appear on TheBusinessDesk.com next week.

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