Two approaches for UK manufacturers in value-added process Abstract: Nowadays economy globalization and information integration are the main trends of development. Manufacturing activities become dispersed across geographical and organizational boundaries. However, UK manufacturing performance has been weaker than it used to be in recent years. It is essential for UK manufacturers to broaden their perception of manufacturing beyond production and deliver high value to countries, stakeholders and themselves. This essay mainly discusses about the problem emerges in UK manufacturing and provides two approaches with several examples for UK manufacturers in order to increase their financial, strategic and social value. It can also provide reasonable guidance for UK manufacturers in creating and capturing value in global business networks effectively through outcome driven supply chain. Keywords: high value-added manufacturing; offshoring & reshoring; additive manufacturing 1. Introduction As the birthplace of the world industrial revolution, UK has been a traditional and global manufacturing power. The value of output in UK every year is more than£150 billion, which accounts to 13% of GDP. Furthermore, UK manufacturing ranks first in Europe in attracting foreign direct investment, which is next only to the United States in western countries (He, 2011). However, according to the data from The World Bank (Figure 1), UK manufacturing performance has been weaker than its
England had accomplished a manufacturing nation in 100 years – America did it in half of the time
As a result of the Industrial Revolution, Great Britain experienced significant wealth improvement. Technological innovation and scientific progress lead to advancement in industrial and agricultural production, enabled economic expansion, and the standards of living changed. The most apparent changes could be seen in rural areas, where the urban landscape frequently became industrialized with the developments in industry, agriculture and shipping. As wealth was accumulated in these regions, there was a need for country banking. The most profitable and exportable goods were in the metal industry during the late 18th century, and thus exported goods brought capital flow into Great Britain’s economy. Britain’s infrastructure and growth of
Supply chains are networks of organisations, information, technologies, activities and resources involved in the movement and conversion of physical goods or services from suppliers to end consumers. These different organisations are interlinked by physical, information and monetary flows. Organisations create value by transforming raw products into finished goods or repositioning of resources thru space and time, which is based on networks of supply chains. Both ways, it involves the movement and conversion of physical goods and information throughout supply chains across the world. Therefore organisations and supply chains are closely interlinked in the creation of value for its customers. Manufacturing firms produce goods for
In the late 1700s, Britain began to move its manufacturing from small, in-home operations, to large-scale factories. First, modern inventions, like the spinning machine, created opportunities for factory-based production. (history.com) Once this began to take hold, jobs appeared en masse and
Fierce competition, fluctuating market demand and rising customer requirements has led to customers becoming more demanding with increased preferences (Zhang and Cheng, 2006). In, the 21 st century, participating largely in globalization has created significant opportunities, and at the same time, put pressure on the automotive industry manufacturers to enhance quality, improve styling, increase organizational efficiencies and drive innovative features into their products in an effort to attract customers and expand into new markets (BCC, 2005). This paper explores the concept of supply chain management with a case study of one of the greatest motor brands BMW. We will look at the supply chain strategy of the company and how successfully it
Although modern day economic conditions are vastly different when compared to the economic conditions that the British had while they were industrializing, China most closely resembles Britain as it entered into the industrial revolution. Today, China is one of the fastest growing industrializing economies in the world (GDP growth rate ~8%) and can credit this to their shift from an agrarian economy to an industrial economy, their abundance of natural resources, cheap labor, and rapid urbanization.
According to Michael Porter’s concept about value chain, “activities within the business companies add value to the product and service that the business organization or companies produces”. The idea of the value chain is based on the process view of organization, the idea of seeing a manufacturing firm as a system, made up of subsystems each with inputs transformation process and output. Inputs, transformation processes, and outputs involve the acquisition and consumption of resources – money, labour, materials, equipment, buildings, land, administration and
The supply chain process for Riordan is critical for its success. This process essentially entails the transformation of materials into semi-finished and finished products, the flow of material from suppliers, and the distribution of products to customers (Chase, Jacobs, & Aquilano, 2005). In today’s marketplace, companies like Riordan are competitive and seeking new and innovative ways to transform their supply chain and make it into a competitive or strategic advantage. Companies are continuously seeking supply chain services which will enhance its overall efficiency, which in turn, will drive in more revenue while gaining a competitive advantage (Chase et al., 2005).
Currently, Great Britain is ranked the fourth largest economy in the world with the sterling pound as their currency. In 2015, Great Britain's GDP was estimated at 2.66 trillion dollars and a per capita at 41,200. This means that the value of all the goods and services produced in Great Britain
In the 1700’s, before the Industrial revolution, production was limited to how much a certain person wanted to work in a single day and by the tools that they had access to in their homes. After the revolution factories ruled the manufacturing market while ideas and inventions spread throughout the country. While many other countries are thought to be a perfect place for something like the industrial revolution to begin, Great Britain was the first place where it established itself. Britain was the first country to industrialize because of Britain's good inclusive institutions and inventions like the steam engine.
Manufacturing was also a positive result of the Industrial Revolution. Since customers were spending less money on agriculture, they were spending more on manufactured goods. The new technological advantages that created Britain’s largest cotton textile mill led to new productions and social relationships among customers. Therefore, people were easily making the transitions to the new factory systems that were being provided.
Many reasons contributed to Britain’s role as the origin of the Industrial Revolution. For one, it had great deposits of coal and iron ore, which proved necessary for industrialization. Additionally, Britain was the world’s leading colonial power, which meant its colonies could serve as a source for raw materials, as well as a market for manufactured goods. As demand for British goods increased, merchants needed more economical methods of production, which led to the growth of streamlining and the factory system.
New and improved ways of production led to Great Britain becoming the world’s powerhouse in cotton cloth and iron and coal manufacturing. By modernizing technology and finding advanced ways of production the Industrial Revolution strengthened Great Britain’s economic status and had a positive impact in our society.
A higher supply of labour is likely to be followed in long run allowing the firms to cut off their cost of production. With the improvements in the competitiveness of the UK firms, goods and services can be exported internationally at lower price levels. This would generate a huge amount of income from the trade with international markets. This can be of instrumental help in creating a positive balance of payments in the current account. However, income from foreign countries would depend solely on the performance of the global
This is a fund worth £125 million to be awarded to firms or groups of firms in the UK in order to help expand already operating suppliers and to encourage the development new suppliers. Awards will be made to applications from firms or groups of firms that want to invest in the purchase of capital equipment, research and development which improves manufacturing equipment and processes, and related skills projects