{"id":935,"date":"2021-05-11T10:44:05","date_gmt":"2021-05-11T08:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/matchplat.local\/general-purpose-machinery-in-the-uk-trends-and-challenges\/"},"modified":"2021-05-11T10:44:05","modified_gmt":"2021-05-11T08:44:05","slug":"general-purpose-machinery-in-the-uk-trends-and-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matchplat.com\/en\/general-purpose-machinery-in-the-uk-trends-and-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"General purpose machinery in the UK: trends and new challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

General-purpose machinery<\/strong>\u00a0is one of the critical components of UK manufacturing.<\/p>\n

Recent signs of recovery<\/strong> suggest a\u00a0positive outlook\u00a0for the sector. According to forecasts by the\u00a0Confederation of British Industry<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(CBI), the output of UK small and medium-sized businesses are to recover in the second quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n

\"General<\/p>\n

UK general-purpose machinery: trends and figures<\/h3>\n

The\u00a0rise in production levels\u00a0comes after a flat start to the year, but one in which\u00a0companies\u2019 optimism\u00a0<\/strong>has grown at its highest rate in 7 years<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Contributing to the positive picture is the gradual reopening<\/strong> of the main economic activities and the progress of the vaccination campaign throughout the country. This situation stimulates the recovery of domestic demand, with the\u00a0IHS Markit Purchasing Managers Index\u00a0<\/strong>(PMI) reaching\u00a0a peak of 60.9 in April. <\/a>This is the highest value since July 1994, when the index reached a record high of 61.0.<\/p>\n

The figure reflects an\u00a0expansion in production<\/strong> for UK manufacturing, which is now looking to make up lost ground after the difficulties of the 2020s. A more moderate outlook for exports accompanies rising orders in the domestic market.<\/p>\n

While uncertainty related to Brexit continues to be a factor with manufacturers, recent data has suggested that there is a plethora of opportunity.<\/p>\n

In February 2021, total UK exports<\/strong> stood at around\u00a0\u00a346.2bn<\/a>, following a negative January figure in which exports fell 42% year-on-year. Leading the recovery in EU trade are\u00a0machinery, transport equipment and\u00a0chemicals<\/a>, especially\u00a0pharmaceutical preparations.<\/p>\n

Machinery\u00a0was the major export commodity for the UK in 2020, with a total value of\u00a0\u00a3114 billion in exported goods<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The European single market is also the\u00a0leading destination\u00a0for this sector. At the same time, in terms of individual countries, the\u00a0United States\u00a0continues to be the number one trading partner for UK manufacturing companies. In Europe,\u00a0Germany\u00a0remains an essential destination for general-purpose machinery manufacturers.<\/p>\n

The figures so far give an immediate idea of the centrality of the industry to the UK economy as a whole and, consequently, the critical role it could play in the coming months.<\/p>\n

The challenges for market players<\/h3>\n

There are also challenges for market players.<\/p>\n

In recent times, UK businesses have had to wrestle with a sharp\u00a0rise<\/strong> in commodity prices\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0domestic inflation<\/strong>, with the latter rising at the fastest rates recorded since July 2018. Supply difficulties compound this due to\u00a0disruptions along the supply chain\u00a0still affecting many sectors, causing increasingly complex stock management.<\/p>\n

\"General<\/p>\n

Demand exceeding supply<\/strong> has undoubtedly contributed to the\u00a0increase in input prices\u00a0and the\u00a0lengthening of average delivery times\u00a0by suppliers. In this context, companies are called upon to adopt a new philosophy to manage their supply chain; it is a necessity that requires effective solutions with which to identify new commercial partners.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0reorganisation of existing processes<\/strong>\u00a0also affects machine manufacturers.<\/p>\n

Increasingly, companies are being called upon to carefully analyse different countries, whether they are outlet markets<\/strong> or strategic areas for the supply of raw materials<\/strong>. In a changing scenario, technology could help.<\/p>\n

Artificial Intelligence<\/strong> can be used to quickly and accurately map markets of interest, providing a comprehensive overview of the environment. A resource that is also available to companies in the machinery sector to help them get off to a good start and deal with the operational difficulties of this period.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Do you want to learn more about the benefits of AI for your business?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Request a free pre-analysis!<\/p>\n

Contact us<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

General-purpose machinery\u00a0is one of the critical components of UK manufacturing. Recent signs of recovery suggest a\u00a0positive outlook\u00a0for the sector. According to forecasts by the\u00a0Confederation of British Industry\u00a0(CBI), the output of UK small and medium-sized businesses are to recover in the second quarter of 2021. UK general-purpose machinery: trends and figures The\u00a0rise in production levels\u00a0comes after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-portfolio-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matchplat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matchplat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matchplat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matchplat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matchplat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.matchplat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matchplat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matchplat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matchplat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}