Understanding the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on UK manufacturing and identifying priorities for renewal through innovation
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Strathclyde
Department Name: Design Manufacture and Engineering Man
Abstract
This project seeks to address and mitigate the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK manufacturing industry. The pandemic could have a shattering effect on UK manufacturing. There is an urgent need for action if we are to limit the scarring effects of the pandemic on the future of UK manufacturing. Improving innovation capability within manufacturing firms and across manufacturing supply chains is going to be important if we are to "build a future which is greener, safer and healthier than before"(1). This project will:
1. Understand the manufacturing landscape (by month 6). The project will start by gathering a clear picture of the effects of Covid-19 on manufacturing firms and supply chains. This will be done through a large scale survey combined with a smaller number of interviews.
2. Identify vulnerabilities and explore scenarios for UK manufacturing supply chains (by month 8). Using data from phase 1 and existing understanding of UK supply chains, the research team will analyse areas of vulnerability. Working with scenario experts, they will then develop a number of scenarios that will be useful to policy makers.
3. Provide insights into developing innovation capabilities that will help secure a stronger future for UK manufacturing (by months 12 and 18). The researchers will use their existing academic knowledge, combined with the data from phases 1 & 2 to identify some of the targeted actions that could help UK manufacturing to develop innovation capability, within the firm and also across supply chains.
Reference
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-research-and-development-roadmap
1. Understand the manufacturing landscape (by month 6). The project will start by gathering a clear picture of the effects of Covid-19 on manufacturing firms and supply chains. This will be done through a large scale survey combined with a smaller number of interviews.
2. Identify vulnerabilities and explore scenarios for UK manufacturing supply chains (by month 8). Using data from phase 1 and existing understanding of UK supply chains, the research team will analyse areas of vulnerability. Working with scenario experts, they will then develop a number of scenarios that will be useful to policy makers.
3. Provide insights into developing innovation capabilities that will help secure a stronger future for UK manufacturing (by months 12 and 18). The researchers will use their existing academic knowledge, combined with the data from phases 1 & 2 to identify some of the targeted actions that could help UK manufacturing to develop innovation capability, within the firm and also across supply chains.
Reference
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-research-and-development-roadmap
Publications
McDougall N
(2022)
Competitive benefits & incentivisation at internal, supply chain & societal level circular operations in UK agri-food SMEs
in Journal of Business Research
Strazzullo G
(2021)
An Investigation of the Translational Asset: A Proposed Classification
in Journal of the Knowledge Economy
| Description | This project has contributed to our understanding of the effects of the covid pandemic on UK manufacturing, as perceived by the businesses themselves. The team investigated reports, the news headlines, took part in lots of discussions and events, worked with industry groups, held events, used surveys, and conducted interviews with manufacturers and other stakeholders. This gave us knowledge that provided insights for policy makers, manufacturers and support organisations. Some key findings: • The overall the impact of covid on UK manufacturing was not as bleak as we expected and there were many positives. • Some sectors were impacted more than others - with manufacturers involved in transport - particularly aerospace and automotive feeling the effects most, along with those supplying the hospitality industry. • Innovation is seen as an imperative going forward - nearly everyone we interviewed talked of how important innovation was during the pandemic and is going to be going forward. We have investigated this further and have developed and tested a tool for manufacturers. • A key theme from both the interviews and the survey was the pandemic accelerating the digital journey. We saw examples of interviewees talking about how investment pre-covid had made the transition to home working easier, others who talked about investment in technology helping deal with social distancing restrictions, and examples of things like VR helping with remote maintenance and commissioning. • People wanted to talk about the tangible differences in the way they work, about the transition to working from home, about issues of social distancing in the workplace and about the health and wellbeing of the workforce. Attitudes differed but many talked about being more mindful of health and wellbeing and personal circumstances. We also heard stories of people building stronger relationships while working apart, often contrary to what was expected. • Changes in supply chain - this varied across the sectors, within food and drink and life sciences especially people were talking about new partnerships. For some it was about working with local partners - we saw a lot of this within food and drink and some good examples as discussed earlier when talking about working together to solve a common problem e.g., PPE, hand sanitiser, ventilator challenge etc. • Reshoring was something that came up in many interviews. Whilst politicians and the press often present reshoring as an opportunity, in the interviews we conducted it was seen more as a worry for those employed by companies with headquarters not in the UK. • A considerable number of people we interviewed said they were worried about people, skills and talent in manufacturing going forward. Again, there were different conversations, with some concern about people leaving manufacturing, particularly the over 50s and the loss of years of experience. At the other end of the scale, others were worried about lockdown resulting in less people entering the sector including less apprentices, graduates, and young people. For those whose digital journey had been accelerated during the pandemic, they mentioned the new skills needed in a different working environment. |
| Exploitation Route | During the life of the project the team developed a tool that can be used my manufacturing companies to think about the future and to analyse where they should build innovation capability, both for themselves and in terms of their supply chain. As part of the project the team developed 4 scenarios for the future of manufacturing in Scotland (in 2036). These awere tested for completeness, plausibility etc by industry leaders and policy makers. An initial framework was developed around innovation capabilities and the team have been running workshops with companies from the Scottish Aerospace sector using this framework along with the scenarios to help companies to think about the future and building innovation capability. During March 2022 we ran an event with industry leaders, policy makers and other key stakeholders to explore the outcomes and look at the policy levers that will help build innovation capability within the aerospace supply chain. The project, through dissemination events reported last time, did come to the attention of the Scottish Government who were putting together a recovery plan for Manufacturing in Scotland. We hope that the work will continue to be used by policy makers eg. the Scottish Government Manufacturing Strategic Leadership team and by manufacturing trade bodies and support organisations eg. ADS, Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service. There are obviously academic beneficiaries and the team have been asked to speak at a number of events and conferences, and we are working on a number of academic papers which we hope will be built on my other researchers in the manufacturing and innovation space. |
| Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
| Description | An interesting part of this work was looking to the future of manufacturing. The team worked with scenario experts to develop four scenarios of manufacturing in Scotland in 2036 that we hope will be useful to policy makers. The team used the scenarios when runnning workshops with manufacturers to help them think about alternative futures. The project, through dissemination events reported last time, came to the attention of the Scottish Government who were putting together a recovery plan for Manufacturing in Scotland. Members of the team contributed to the final report. During March 2022 we held a workshop looking at how best to support manufacturers who are part of the aerospace supply chain. This included respiresentatives from manufacturing, from policy (eg. Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise), from support organisations (eg. Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service, High Value Manufacturing Catapult), trade organisations (eg. ADS) as well as academics. The PI on the project was invited to join a Scottish Government working party on diversity, inclusion and wellbeing in Scottish Manuafturing. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
| Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
| Impact Types | Economic,Policy & public services |
| Description | Contributed to Equalities and Wellbeing in Manufacturing report |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | The recommendations have now been implemented, resulting in changes in policy, support organisations and within manufacturers. |
| URL | https://www.gov.scot/publications/equalities-wellbeing-manufacturing-recommendations-report/pages/2/ |
| Description | Two members of the team are contributing to Making Scotland's Future - A Recovery Plan for Scotland |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| URL | https://www.gov.scot/publications/making-scotlands-future-recovery-plan-manufacturing-draft-consulta... |
| Description | Made Smarter Network+ |
| Amount | £4,885,886 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/W007231/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2021 |
| End | 12/2024 |
| Description | Manufacturing Made Smarter Network+ (MMSN+) |
| Amount | £100,763 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/V016555/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2021 |
| End | 08/2021 |
| Title | Future scenarios for manufacturing in Scotland |
| Description | We used support from academics familiar with scenario planning to develop 4 future scenarios painting possible futures for what manufacturing in Scotland will look like in 20 years time. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | During the research we worked with academics and manufacturers to produce 4 scenarios for manufacturing in Scotland. These scenarios were then used to stimulate discussion with a further 6 manufacturers about their own future and strategy. And prompted them to think about their future supply chains. |
| Title | MaSCICMAF |
| Description | During this project we developed a framework that allows measurement of innovation capability in terms of its maturity for the whole end-to-end supply chain. As a result, the manufacturing supply chain innovation capability maturity assessment framework (MaSCICMAF) is created using a systems approach to supply chains with an understanding of supply chains based on the SCOR model and its supply chain planning level. MaSCICMAF, based on academic literature, is a framework that is built on the idea that innovation capability of a supply chain consists out of individual innovation capability of single organisations and their interacts. Hence, MaSCICMAF offers are company scoring model and a supply chain scoring model. |
| Type Of Material | Data analysis technique |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This tool has now been used by multiple companies (6 directly in the research and more since completion of the work) |
| Description | Prof MacBryde invited to join Scottish Government working group "Equalities and wellbeing in manufacturing" |
| Organisation | Government of Scotland |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Prof MacBryde was an active member of this working group at the invitation of Kate Forbes, Minister for Finance and Economy, Scottish Parliament |
| Collaborator Contribution | The working party sought evidence from multiple sources, including manufacturing companies, academics and support organisations. |
| Impact | The working party made recommendations which have now been implemented by Scottish Government, industry and other public bodies. https://www.gov.scot/publications/equalities-wellbeing-manufacturing-recommendations-report/ |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Scotland Manufacturing Recovery Plan |
| Organisation | Government of Scotland |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Members of the Project Team contributed the Scottish Government team developing the Manufacturing Recovery Plan. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Members of the team Zante, R. and Fernandez, B contributed insights to the team, using in some cases knowledge gained through the project. |
| Impact | A published report "Making Scotland's Future - A Recovery Plan for Scotland" |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Covid-19 - Innovation, challenges and support within manufacturing supply chains |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Live webinar as part of the NMIS Insights programme, 17th February 2021. Also recorded and put on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFSJPjtQCt4&list=PLdnbrSQ2dyG3_JprL3vZ2ppN7XYqW4GE-?dex=28 Around 70 people registered for the event and there have been further 40+ watches on Youtube. We used the event to talk about some of the early findings of the ESRC study into the effect of Covid on UK Manufacturing, but focused more on the Scottish context since this event was hosted by the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland. We promoted the study and invited more people to participate in the survey and interviews. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFSJPjtQCt4&list=PLdnbrSQ2dyG3_JprL3vZ2ppN7XYqW4GE-&index=28 |