Feature
Manufacturing
Rise of the Midlands - Maintaining our position as the manufacturing heartland
Nick Harrison, partner and operations & supply chain lead at KPMG in the Midlands, explains why the region’s makers must embrace technology to remain competitive and drive the UK’s manufacturing heartland forward.
of subsectors across the region, from food and drink, to automotive and aerospace. A lot of the opportunities for these businesses are based on the disruption that we’re seeing in the industry and it is how manufacturers deal with disruption that will determine their future. With investment from the
T
Government’s Transforming Cities Fund, testing autonomous vehicles in the West Midlands and the 5G pilot coming to the region, the Midlands is taking a huge leap ahead of any region or city. To
here’s a huge opportunity for manufacturers in the Midlands, with a wide range
operate driverless cars at ‘level 5’ autonomy (fully driverless), 5G connectivity is required, so that alone will attract inward investment. As a result, we’re seeing a lot of tech companies either moving or expressing an interest in the Midlands, which is fantastic and we really need to make the most of it. But the investment and
technology also gives us the ability to do the R&D required for future mobility. With multimodal transport, you can envisage that you’re moving from your home, to your vehicle, to public transport and finally to your place of work, and that will be seamlessly
connected. Here in the Midlands, we have the opportunity to build this type of capability. Some of the areas that the
industrial strategy focuses on are about building ecosystems with universities, manufacturing institutes and businesses of all sizes and bringing them all together. The aim of this is for everyone to listen to one another, but also for these collaborative groups to create something that’s not built in isolation. Through our devolved Government in the West Midlands, we have the ability to push this agenda forward, particularly as our infrastructure and transport networks bring other opportunities with them, like HS2.
Nick Harrison
What challenges might the region’s manufacturers face? The biggest challenges will be around skills and investment, and in making sure that our future engineers, designers and manufacturers stay within the region. With 5G across the Midlands,
without a doubt, the region could attract the likes of Apple and Google and I know that this is something that some of the other metro areas are looking at. When you embrace technology
and change, it creates an ecosystem that becomes increasingly attractive to the younger generation. Once you have
58 CHAMBERLINK December 2018/January 2019
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