MANUFACTURERS FACE AUTOMATION DIVIDE
AS FUTURE-FIT BUSINESSES ACCELERATE INVESTMENT.
Banelec’ s recent aerospace fan casing lift £ 500k order
The manufacturers that embrace integrated automation over the next five years are set to pull decisively ahead of competitors still relying on disconnected production systems, according to new global research highlighting one of the biggest shifts in industrial manufacturing for decades.
PwC’ s Global Industrial Manufacturing Sector Outlook 2026 predicts that the proportion of manufacturers with highly automated core processes will more than double by 2030, rising from 18 % today to 50 %. Among the industry’ s most advanced businesses, automation levels are expected to reach 65 %, creating an increasingly significant competitive advantage through higher productivity, greater agility and faster decisionmaking.
For Black Country based electrical control systems manufacturer and automation integrator Banelec, the findings reflect a trend that has been steadily gathering pace across UK manufacturing.
Rather than viewing automation as a series of individual projects designed to improve a single production line, more manufacturers are looking at how electrical controls, machinery, robotics, energy systems and production data can work together as part of a wider operating environment.
Dean Banner, Managing Director of Banelec, believes the conversation around automation has fundamentally changed.
“ Five or ten years ago, many automation projects focused on replacing a manual process or making one machine work more efficiently,” he said.“ Today our customers are looking at their entire operation. They want production equipment, electrical controls, robotics, energy systems and factory data to communicate with one another so the whole business becomes more responsive.”
That shift places greater emphasis on the engineering infrastructure underneath digital manufacturing. A
48 MACHINERY, AUTOMATION, CONTROL & ENGINEERING