[ Spotlight: UK manufacturing ] Sunsolar
Sunsolar was recently awarded £5m in government funding to build solar PV panels in the UK, as part of a programme to restore the country’s economy and create new job prospects.
Given the grant as part of the government’s Regional Growth Fund, it will see the introduction of 565 new job opportunities and apprenticeships over the next five years. The company will be the only solar panel manufacturer in the UK, where competitors currently import from Europe and China, and the company aims eventually to have a completely self-sufficient factory. The Regional Growth Fund is a £2.4bn fund from which businesses across England can apply for grants and loans from 2011-2015, for support projects and programmes that create economic growth and sustainable employment. Rob Grant, business manager at Sunsolar, comments: ‘We are working very hard to try and buck the negative trend within manufacturing and are keen to change the decline in the industry, particularly within the Midlands, and are actively working towards bringing business back into the local economy. We hope the introduction of much-needed jobs, use of local, UK-based suppliers and the running of a self-sufficient factory will put the area on the map.’
MK Electric
S
ince the early 1960s, the UK-based manufacturing sector has been in decline. Faced with eroding profit margins, many successful companies that previously made their products on UK soil have succumbed to the temptation of moving their manufacturing processes overseas.
Major names that had previously ‘flown the flag’ for UK manufacturing have taken this course of action – an example being Dyson, which in 2002 decided to shift its manufacturing away from its base in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, to Malaysia. Although nearly 800 manufacturing jobs were lost, Dyson claimed that the cost savings from this enabled greater investment in UK-based research and development. A decision like this is usually dictated by profit margins and the desire to give shareholders a return on their investment. In this respect, perhaps, moving production abroad is understandable – however, it inevitably has economic consequences in the UK.
Facts and figures
According to figures from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), over the past 30 years, UK manufacturing has shrunk to about 12 per cent of the economy. The number of people employed has dropped steadily from 5.2m in 1990 to 2.6m in 2009.
For almost a century MK Electric has been manufacturing products in the UK. Today it employs 950 people between the company’s head office in Basildon and factories in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, and St Asaph, Clwyd. In line with this, the company recently invested £500,000 into its Southend facility, installing a state-of-the-art powder coating plant to transform its production operations – part of an ongoing project that has seen a total of £1.56m invested in the factory over the past two years. ‘The fact that we manufacture in the UK is a huge benefit to our customer base – both here and abroad,’ says Jason Ng, marketing manager for MK Electric. ‘We see a huge demand in our wiring devices – particularly the decorative ranges – coming from the Middle East and Asia Pacific. These markets buy British because they know it comes with a stamp of quality and reliability.’ It’s estimated that the company’s products travel a distance of 16 times less when manufactured in one of MK’s UK facilities, compared to those produced in a Far Eastern facility. With more than 70,000 fewer miles travelled, there is a clear reduction in the products’ carbon footprint. With the new UK and European regulations enforcing higher green credentials for new build projects and lower carbon footprints during construction, good environmental performance isn’t just a consideration but a necessity. Ng concludes: ‘Our principle is local manufacture for local markets. Given the company’s heritage, continuing investment in UK manufacturing is part of our DNA. We’re incredibly proud to still manufacture 83 per cent of our products here and to be one of the biggest employers in the areas where we have our factories.’
September 2012 ECA Today 51
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