Better understanding of manufacturing is needed to address its needs – Nielsen
A BETTER understanding of the manufacturing sector is needed if its requirements are to be properly addressed, a leading Birmingham business figure has said.
Beverley Nielsen, Director Corporate Affairs at Birmingham City University, said: “Manufacturing is just not appreciated in terms of the talent we need to recruit or the context we use in discussing it.”
Her conclusion was based on new research which showed that despite repeated reports of a demise in the sector, manufacturing was still responsible for more than half of the West Midlands economy and contributed nearly a third of the UK’s total output.
The research, commissioned by BCU from the West Midlands Economic Forum, has found that manufacturing makes a 53% comparative contribution to the Midlands economy and 30% to the UK as a whole.
The figures, based on estimates about the dependency of other sectors of the UK economy on manufacturing, were commissioned by the university.
Commenting on the research findings, Ms Nielsen said: “It is clear we need to find better ways to really understand what is happening in the economy rather than relying on existing methods which appear less suited to providing the insights we need for the connected economy.
“Manufacturing is just not appreciated in terms of the talent we need to recruit or the context we use in discussing it.”
Paul Forrest, Director at West Midlands Economic Forum, said the current public debate on manufacturing failed to acknowledge the productivity of the West Midlands region.
“Export performance in the West Midlands has grown by 30% in the last two years which, looking at productivity growth in accordance to Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), shows we’re outperforming people in Germany and China,” he said.
“In contrast to the national economy, where there are arguments that there is an output gap, the big problem in the Midlands is that we’re hitting capacity constraints, in particular in transport and infrastructure. The policy response in the Midlands should be completely different to the national policy response.”
