UK Disruption Index – Manufacturing Reasonably Resilient
Professional services company GHD has launched its inaugural UK Disruption Index which reveals the industries most susceptible to disruption.
The past few years have been anything but easy for most UK industries with the pandemic, Brexit, shipping issues, labour shortages and now increases to energy prices and the cost of living. Some sectors have dealt with the blows better than others and proved themselves more adaptable and resilient.
Considering the recent chaos, GHD analysed 11 key sectors to evaluate which UK industries have established resilience, and which are most susceptible to future shock and disruption in today’s unpredictable climate.
The sectors analysed were Manufacturing, Rail, Energy, Construction, Highways, Water, Chemical & Pharmaceuticals, Real Estate, Retail, Financial Services, and Information & Communication – with Water coming out on top and Retail the least resilient to future disruption.
For businesses in the fastener industry, it is good to know that the Energy, Manufacturing and Rail sectors all performed well, ranked third, fifth and sixth overall, although there is room for improvement in the Construction sector which neared the end of the table at tenth.
"The past few years have been anything but easy for most UK industries with the pandemic, Brexit, shipping issues, labour shortages and now increases to energy prices and the cost of living."
DISRUPTION INDEX RANKINGS:
This research looked at four key areas that enable a business or industry to be truly resilient in the long term. By prioritising each of these areas, businesses should ensure they are better prepared for future uncertainty and shocks.
GHD considered...
CUSTOMERS
Understanding and planning for changing behaviours and expectations
BUSINESS
Ensuring business models are robust, investable and sustainable
ASSETS
Using fully optimised assets that minimise waste
INNOVATION
Investing in technology and piloting new solutions; testing how to meet changing consumer demands
Key findings include:
80% of business leaders believe their company has proved more resilient than expected, given the challenges of the past two years
63% of business leaders believe their industry adapted quickly to Covid-19 and changing customer demands over the past two years
Business leaders see economic uncertainty as the factor that will cause the biggest disruption to their organisation in the next 10 years
Commenting on the UK Disruption Index’s findings, Jonathan Edwards, EMEA Market Development Leader at GHD, said: “We see crisis and disruption management becoming a key part of sustainable business. Our research has confirmed that the changing behaviours and expectations of consumers presents the biggest risk to resilience across industries. If businesses don’t start designing for the user first and foremost, they will get left behind at best and fail at worst.
The need to innovate is also clear. The Internet of Things can be rolled out in a whole new way. However, innovation isn’t just about technology, but about changing ways of working and how businesses engage with employees and consumers.
There is an opportunity for industries to rethink every facet of their being. UK industry needs to take that step forward to create greater balance of connectivity, resilience, productivity and investability to ensure a strong future for the British economy.”
"We see crisis and disruption management becoming a key part of sustainable business. The changing behaviours and expectations of consumers presents the biggest risk to resilience across industries."
GHD’s Disruption Index and whitepaper, “Recovery, Resilience and Reconnection: Designing business for an ever-present state of disruption”, can be found here.