A commentary in yesterday’s Times newspaper by Economics Editor David Smith was headlined ‘Manufacturing may have lost two decades, but it is not a lost cause’.
In it, David reported the fairly depressing statistic that manufacturing output in the UK for the whole of 2018 was no higher than it was in 1998. On the surface then, it looks as though Britain’s manufacturers have gone nowhere over the past 20 years.
Dig a bit further into the article though and David points out what businesses like AluK have long known; that manufacturing productivity has grown considerably over recent decades and now comfortably exceeds the rest of the economy.
In fact, the UK still has the ninth largest manufacturing sector in the world and, while it only accounts for 10% of our economy, its contribution is closer to 20% when you consider its wider influence and importance in terms of exports.
The manufacturing sector in the UK is changing of course – the same article points out that it is now a ‘key source of innovation’, and that is certainly something that we would wholeheartedly endorse.
In the doors and windows market, there’s an incredible amount of innovation happening all the time – not just in terms of the performance and energy efficiency of our products but in security and smart homes as well.
AluK is leading the way with our £3m investment in an inline vertical powder coat point line with a fully integrated flash oxidisation pre-treatment plant. We’re the only aluminium systems house in the UK with this set up in house and it allows us to use the most advanced metal finishing technology currently available anywhere in the world on all our products.
The FIT show in May will be the perfect opportunity for AluK and the rest of the industry to showcase all of our latest innovation of course and our plans are well advanced for our stand there.
The article concluded that ‘what’s good for manufacturing is, in general, good for Britain’ and certainly the window and door industry is proving that to be true.
