The UK public is firmly behind the manufacturing sector with almost three in four believing that industrial businesses stepped up to meet the challenge of supporting the nation and the NHS as Covid-19 took hold.
The same number of respondents believe that a strategic long-term plan for helping manufacturing to become more productive and competitive will help provide insulation from future pandemics and go some way to protect the UK economy, of which manufacturing contributes almost 20%.
The research, conducted among 2,000 adults and commissioned by industrial communications firm Cadence Innovation Marketing, also found that nearly eight in ten people (76%) are concerned about cheap imported goods in the wake of Covid-19.
The pandemic has disrupted global supply chains and resulted in many UK factories switching production to medical devices and products in a bid to help the NHS cope.
Manufacturing has taken a central role in the unfolding drama and rarely in recent times has it been the subject of so much media and public attention.
More than two in three of those questioned believe that the UK manufacturing sector has risen to the challenge of Covid-19, with just 6% disagreeing with them.
“This huge public vote of confidence in our often beleaguered and under-supported sector is just one of several remarkable statistics thrown up by our research” noted Tom Spencer, managing director of Cadence.
The study, which was carried out in early May 2020, clearly shows that the UK public has swung behind UK industry at a time when many manufacturers have stepped up to support the nation and its much-loved health service.
Steve Brambley, CEO of UK trade association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation and Laboratory Technology – GAMBICA, commented: ““The result shows that there is a genuine opportunity for the UK to open a new page in its history as it embarks on the era of digital transformation that will define it for generations to come.
“It remains to be seen if the pandemic itself, resultant global economic turmoil, and Brexit will distract or divert resources away from an environment that will support the regeneration of UK industry, but this poll makes one thing abundantly clear: the people of the UK stand firmly behind our industry and believe strongly in its future”.
*Infographics courtesy of Cadence Innovation Marketing
