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Future of Manufacturing

Ketan Varia

Hi All,

You’ll be aware that Advanced Manufacturing offers one of the highest growth opportunities for both the economy and business, and forms a key part of the UK government’s strategy to 2035 (see. This makes the work of our committee highly significant.

the UK government has it own strategy for Manufacturing  https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/invest-2035-the-uks-modern-industrial-strategy/invest-2035-the-uks-modern-industrial-strategy

• Resilient Supply Chains: Encourages reshoring and domestic production to reduce dependence on global supply chains.
• Green Manufacturing: Prioritises clean tech industries (e.g. EVs, batteries, low-carbon materials) to meet Net Zero targets.
• Digital Transformation: Supports adoption of AI, robotics, and Industry 4.0 tools to modernise factories and boost productivity.
• Skills for the Future: Emphasises technical education, apprenticeships, and lifelong learning to fill manufacturing skills gaps.
• Finance & Investment: Proposes more patient capital and public-private investment to scale advanced manufacturing SMEs.
• Place-Based Growth: Backs regional industrial clusters and devolved leadership to drive local manufacturing innovation.

However, the recent Economist Leader in June 2026 https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/06/12/the-world-must-escape-the-manufacturing-delusion argues that manufacturing is no longer the primary path to widespread job creation or economic growth. That said, it strongly emphasises the continued importance of technical and professional skills in revitalising the sector, as well as the need for international collaboration across supply chains.

In summary it says: 

  • Traditional factory-floor jobs are losing economic relevance.
  • Routine manual tasks now offer lower pay, fewer benefits, and less security.
  • Despite political focus on “bringing back manufacturing,” the real economic value lies in design, automation, logistics, and services.
  • The economy is shifting toward tech-enabled production & services.
  • Real opportunity is by boosting productivity via automation & AI.

Would welcome people's thoughts on this.

Ketan Varia 

Parents

  • I'm a regular reader of the Economist and find that their range of topics and intellectual focus, without too much pandering to political partisanship makes it a good weekly read. That being said, in this instance I think though the article is more nuanced than it first reads, there is a bit of the Economists natural tendency towards Economic liberalism showing.

    The economist is a proponent of free trade, open markets, and leveraging comparative advantage as a strategy for maximum wealth for all nations. In an ideal world I believe that they would be right, and that nations, especially more developed ones should be able to leverage the high value per-worker services sectors, including those relating to production, such as design, automation etc for wealth creation and trade, whilst buying manufactured goods from places that already specialise in that. But - as acknowledge by the Economist in the article - manufacturing capability bring inherent security and resilience to weather a dangerous world ridden with tensions, war, tariffs and closed market policies/politics. in the world we do live in, rather than the ideal world of perfect free trade, it is in every nations interest to maintain a strong manufacturing base, even if the economic arguments for doing so may be less strong than the security/resilience arguments. Where they do make a good argument regarding the politics is the acknowledgement that the job creation potential for modern manufacturing is far less substantial than in the manufacturing of old. This is undoubtably true, but again I think under-prices that value in developing and maintaining the high-value and hopefully high paid skills that are required for developing and maintaining a modern, largely automated manufacturing base, and the multiplier effects and additional jobs in the local economy and supply chains that these bring - especially when targeted at currently underperforming regions, such as the UKs long neglected manufacturing regions. 

  • in reply to Harry Sullivan
    Harry Sullivan said:
    a strategy for maximum wealth for all nations.

    This avoids mention of just who will have that wealth. It needs to address the inequality of the wealth of the people. 

    Wealth for the few, poverty for the many is less than ideal, even if they are in 'full menial employment'.

    We probably need to rethink the idea of 'manpower' and get away from it's equivalence to 'horse power'. Lawyers may charge for cognition by the hour, but we some hard thinking to do.

  • in reply to Philip Oakley

    A very reasonable point. I think the question of whether a manufacturing resurgance does something to address wealth inequality is a complex one. Certaily the service and digital economy seems to rely on a mass of poorly paid gig economy workers and an increasingly small, very highly paid core of AI/developer skills, and business models that lead to huge concentrations of weath. I suppose that a resurgance of manufacturing if highly automated brings a relatively small (relative to the wealth generated) number of well paid, highly skilled jobs, but addressing wealth inequality has to meen expanding the size of the. pool of people who are in secure, well paid job, unless the surpllus generated by automation is fed into some form of UBI type system but I suspect that is not around the corner anytime soon. 

  • in reply to Harry Sullivan
    Harry Sullivan said:
    are in secure, well paid job

    or even just "secure, reasonably paid jobs"!

Reply Children
  • in reply to Andy Millar

    Hello Andy:

    With the rapid pace of technology over ones lifetime I don't believe a "secure" job exists anymore.

    Where "secure" means doing the same basic function (example accounting) over say 40 years, even while working for different organizations.  

    Over has to be flexible as one technology dies and another replaces it, constantly learning new areas of expertise.

    Peter 

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