Written by Kunal Sawhney, CEO, Kalkine Group
Manufacturing has been an elementary part of economic growth, it becomes even more critical at a time when the nation is looking forward to amplifying the commercial operations, strengthening supply chain systems, effectively paving the way for the businesses to surpass the pre-Covid levels of commerce.
The government of the United Kingdom has been apparently working in line with the manufacturing industry to implement measures that can accelerate the processes and help them to magnify the commercial scale.
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has allocated multi-million monetary support for five new research centres that will be responsible for ameliorating the productivity of supply chains, driving the development of digital manufacturing technologies.
A collaboration of the manufacturing industry and the UK government will be supporting the development within the enterprises, promoting the usage of emerging technologies. Backed by the alliance, a total of £53 million has been authorised through the Made Smarter programme.
The monetary injection by the government is expected to propel the latest breakthroughs in the areas of digital manufacturing by supporting the adoption by businesses of all sizes. From the incorporation of AI and blockchain technology in supply chains, smart machines in the manufacturing space to the usage of advanced robotics, the industry stands to benefit from a plethora of advancements that can further the growth of enterprises, making them more efficient.
With this, the business can increase its productivity in a sustainable manner as the economy rebuilds from the Covid bottoms. With the institutions of a brand new supply chain innovation hub, as many as 37 individual projects will get benefited under the new funding to help transform manufacturing supply chains and the overall digitalisation process.
With the varied economies of scale, manufacturers always seek to boost competitiveness and productivity, as a result of which they can improve the profitability margins, thereby contributing more to the national economic growth.
The domestic manufacturing sector has been flourishing with orders following the phased exit roadmap laid out by the Downing Street administration. There has been an all-round growth within the industry, however, the businesses have been encountering an acute shortage of raw materials and a skilled workforce.
Approximately a sum close to £25 million has been set aside for the investment in five new industry-sponsored research centres across the UK. All these research centres will be responsible for accelerating the development of digital solutions that can help manufacturing businesses of various sizes and scales, advancing the supply chains to become more resilient and efficient.
The winning projects of the Digital Supply Chain Competition will be awarded a considerable share from a sum of £18 million. There are 37 recipients from the competition, including Jaguar and Land Rover, Technology provider Circulor, Perpetual Labs’s project and Durham-based Pragmatic Printing SORT-IT.
Some of these projects will explore and investigate the usage of blockchain, intelligent automation programmes, and other technological advancements that can help in reducing environmental, social and economic risks, alongside assisting the nation to reduce carbon footprint through the dynamic tracking of CO2 emissions.
