British manufacturers give a patchy picture of their ability to ramp up output should the government need to mobilise key industries, a survey showed on Monday.
Britain is redoubling efforts to restore domestic industrial capacity in sectors deemed strategically critical – from defence to energy – as it seeks to reduce dependence on foreign supply chains laid bare by the war in Iran.
The survey from the Manufacturing Technologies Association, a trade body, showed many manufacturers would face financial and capacity constrains, as well as long lead times, in any government push to raise sovereign capacity quickly.
• 38% of manufacturers surveyed said they could ramp up capacity within 0-3 months, and a further 18% said it would take 3-6 months
• More than a quarter of respondents said they had no desire to support a need to boost sovereign manufacturing capacity
• 29% said they would be unable to add capacity if asked, and 24% said they could add up to 15%, while 12% said they could add more than 50% of capacity
• Access to funding was the top-ranked barrier to raising capacity, followed by lack of space
• 55% of companies said the government’s industrial strategy had made no impact on their company and they could not see any way that it could in future
• The survey of 358 manufacturers – comprising 50% small, 28% and medium and 22% large companies – took place between March 11 and April 6
(Reporting by Andy Bruce）
