He continued : “ What this tells us is that the Government urgently needs to look at more targeted support for the supply chain if we are going to see a sustained recovery in manufacturing .
“ Brexit is also adding to the uncertainty , with nearly a quarter feeling it will have a negative impact on their operations . 35 % were not sure one way or another , reflecting a general malaise when it comes to discussing negotiations on the UK leaving .
“ Only 10 % of total sales amongst our 289 respondents was exported to the EU , posing the question of whether it is as big a market for SMEs as we first thought .”
MGP , which is ERDF funded and delivered by Oxford Innovation Services , is the UK ’ s leading and largest business support programme aimed specifically at manufacturing SMEs .
The programme has been tracking the impact of Covid-19 through its Manufacturing Barometer and this highlighted a number of supply chain issues that it wanted to explore in more depth . It responded by joining forces with leading policy experts SQW to produce a detailed report featuring nearly 300 companies .
The survey revealed some interesting statistics around international trade , with 57 % of respondents undertaking some form of exporting . When compared with
a BEIS paper in 2018 that found only 20 % of all UK SMEs export , it proves that manufacturers are a lot more receptive to pursing overseas orders .
However , going global still remains a big challenge for micro businesses , with half of them not currently generating sales overseas .
Martin went on to add : “ There were some positives in the findings about the resilience of our manufacturers . 21 % of them have actually increased their order books during the pandemic and , of those , 62 % had diversified into new markets and just over half had introduced new products .
“ This shows the strength of our supply chain and the ability to innovate and this is what we need to encourage through specialist help , access to new technology and grant support to help them reach their potential .”
He concluded : “ We will be encouraging policymakers to use these findings to inform the development of effective measures that will support the recovery and growth of UK manufacturing .”
For further information or to download the report , please visit www . manufacturinggrowthprogramme . co . uk or follow @ mfggrowthp on twitter .
For further information , please visit www . manufacturinggrowthprogramme . co . uk
Issue 47 PECM 51