UK manufacturers need to be on a “level playing field” in order to continue to compete globally, a conference on the future of the Northern Powerhouse was told on this week.
And that includes creating long-term investment strategies and addressing the challenges they face around issues such as energy costs that put them at a disadvantage.
The Government also needs to work to create an environment that makes it easier for manufacturers in sectors like car making to keep their operations in Britain, delegates at the UK Northern Powerhouse International Conference heard.
British Steel Commercial Director Peter Hogg said the fact his business was expected to pay twice as much for its electricity as overseas competitors was “quite a challenge”.
He told a session on manufacturing at the conference in Manchester: “We are happy to compete on a level playing field, but we need the right environment.”
Phil Davies, General Manager at Tata Chemicals Europe, said no company would turn down a government grant or incentive but added: “Fundamentally if the playing field is level, if the infrastructure is there, companies will have the confidence to make their own investments, their own business case decisions.
“At the moment the issue is without some of those infrastructure policies in place businesses lack that confidence.”
The government was also urged to create a long-term R&D investment strategy for the biotechnology sector as part of its support for manufacturing.
Steve Bagshaw, CEO of Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, said the UK was a world leader in a sector which was “desperate” to see that strategy emerge.
Mark Parsons, Chief Customer Officer of DHL Supply Chain, said the UK needed to get rid of its “sepia tinged view” of manufacturing with thousands of workers coming out of the factory gates at the end of a shift.
He said: “The most thriving part of manufacturing are SMEs. It’s where it is at its most innovative, where it has got the most drive and also where most of the R&D takes place.”
And he added: “If we are having an industrial strategy that is about manufacturing, it’s a bit like a dog, it is for life not just for Christmas. It is a sustained policy we need to maintain.”
