2022: Another historical year!
Published: 14 December, 2022
2022 will not go down in the history books as the most celebrated of years in British history but will almost certainly be the most notorious to look back on - not least for having three Prime Ministers! We all expected 2022 to be relatively calm and focused around recovering from the pandemic, and the impact of Britain’s decision to leave the EU on manufacturers. However, the awful war in Ukraine inevitably diverted our attention to the horrors unfolding and the significant consequences to the world economy. By the end of March, it was clear that things were not going to be straight forward and the return to normality after Covid was very much a long way off.
The unprecedented period we are all living through has highlighted the importance of UK manufacturing to not only the economic prosperity of our country but also the societal significance of the sector. Having gone through decades of being told that we don’t make anything in the UK anymore and that we don’t need a manufacturing sector you’d be hard pressed to find any commentator arguing that now, with high levels of reshoring taking place to ensure supply chain stability and resilience.
Covid-19, the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, supply chain issues, and of course Brexit, have all ensured a significant shift in the importance of developing new digital skills and focusing on specific areas that engineers will need to help to prepare manufacturing businesses for the recovery that will come over the next 12 months.
We must all ensure that this unprecedented period is not wasted and that we invest wherever possible in new technologies and developing and nurturing the skills required for a potentially very different manufacturing landscape.
Ultimately UK businesses are pivoting and seeking growth opportunities in new markets as they seek ways of overcoming the various obstacles, and it is clear that automation and digitalisation, both of production and of business processes, can no longer be regarded as ‘nice to have’ innovations, they will be central to many firms’ survival. Digitalisation is at the heart of all these strategies as it will make the impossible affordable and ensure the prosperity and future of UK manufacturing and consequently the UK economy.
On behalf of the PWE team, I would like to wish all our readers, advertisers, and supporters a healthy and happy 2023.
Aaron Blutstein, editor
