British manufacturers give a patchy picture of their ability to ramp up output should the government need to mobilise key industries, a survey showed on Monday.
Britain is redoubling efforts to restore domestic industrial capacity in sectors deemed strategically critical – from defence to energy – as it seeks to reduce dependence on foreign supply chains laid bare by the war in Iran.
The survey from the Manufacturing Technologies Association, a trade body, showed many manufacturers would face financial and capacity constrains, as well as long lead times, in any government push to raise sovereign capacity quickly.
• 38 per cent of manufacturers surveyed said they could ramp up capacity within 0-3 months, and a further 18 per cent said it would take 3-6 months
• More than a quarter of respondents said they had no desire to support a need to boost sovereign manufacturing capacity
• 29 per cent said they would be unable to add capacity if asked, and 24 per cent said they could add up to 15 per cent, while 12 per cent said they could add more than 50 per cent of capacity
• Access to funding was the top-ranked barrier to raising capacity, followed by lack of space
• 55 per cent of companies said the government’s industrial strategy had made no impact on their company and they could not see any way that it could in future
• The survey of 358 manufacturers – comprising 50 per cent small, 28 per cent and medium and 22 per cent large companies – took place between March 11 and April 6
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