Investment in pharma manufacturing ‘key to driving UK economy’
pharmafile | December 1, 2015 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | economy, investment, manufacturing, production, robotics
Investing an additional £1.2 billion in UK manufacturing processes to increase robotics and automation could add as much as £60.5bn to the UK economy over the next decade. research suggests.
The ‘Future-proofing UK manufacturing’ report, from Barclays Bank, indicates that investing in automation technology will help to increase the international competitiveness of the UK’s manufacturing sector – including pharma manufacturing – through increased productivity and efficiency.
The UK’s pharmaceutical and food industries are best-placed to capitalise on the automation opportunity, as the report shows a more than 10% increase in output between 2016 and 2020, and close to a 25% rise between 2020 and 2025 for both sectors. “This will be driven by the two sectors’ comparatively large existing base in terms of size and take up of automation technology, and by the relative ease of application of automation technology to both sectors,”, it finds.
Mike Rigby, head of manufacturing at, Barclays says: “This report highlights the importance of investing in robotics and automation for manufacturers as a potential solution to the on-going ‘productivity puzzle’. By investing an additional £1.2bn in automation technologies over the next decade, the UK manufacturing sector is forecast to create an additional £60.5bn of economic output and safeguard more than 105,800 jobs throughout the wider economy.”
As a result of additional investment, the manufacturing sector will be worth £191billion in 2025, £8.6bn more than currently projected and a 19.6% increase on 2015. Furthermore, increased investment in automation will help to soften the expected long-term decline in manufacturing sector jobs by safeguarding 73,500 additional workers in 2025, due to the creation of a larger, more productive and competitive UK manufacturing sector.
In addition, 32,300 more jobs will be supported elsewhere in the economy through the generation of more business in the supply chain, from raw materials through to logistics.
Rigby added that driving growth in the manufacturing sector risks being hampered by a jobs crisis – echoing calls from the ABPI and the Office for Life Sciences.
“To reap these rewards we need to address some of the barriers to investment including the need for more user-friendly and flexible technology, addressing skills barriers within the sector and supporting manufacturers to access the funding and information already available to them for robotics investment.”
Yasmita Kumar
Related Content
Apiary invests in life sciences SEO pioneer PIO to support global expansion
Private equity firm Apiary Capital has invested in performance-io (PIO), a specialist life sciences performance …
CARBOGEN AMCIS manufacturing license advances services in China
Swiss pharma manufacturing company, CARBOGEN AMCIS, has announced that its facility in Shanghai, China, has …
Meribel Pharma Solutions launches to take pharma services to new heights
Meribel Pharma Solutions, a new mid-sized contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), has officially launched …
