Confidence rising among industrial manufacturers as sales and inventories increase

UK industrial manufacturers are riding high on a wave of newfound confidence, figures from a Manufacturing Health Index survey from software provider Unleashed suggest. 

A report from the UK owned inventory management software specialist shows an uplift in sales revenue and purchasing in Australia and New Zealand as well as the UK, with small and mid-sized firms seeing their average sales jump by 7% in the third quarter of this year, and the number of purchase orders (POs) placed with suppliers also up by 101%. 

The survey is based on some 1,300 manufacturers in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, drawing on data from every purchase, sale and stock movement made by each business in the study between Q1 2018 and Q3 2024.

Industrial manufacturers – a category including machinery, raw materials and equipment – saw the tenth biggest jump in sales out of all the 12 manufacturing categories analysed. It also saw the tenth biggest rise in POs. Revenue and POs were both up by 88% across the manufacturing sector, said to signal high confidence among consumers, retailers and other businesses. 

The report also shows that industrial manufacturers are buying more inventory in anticipation of further orders. It follows the government announcement in its Autumn Budget an investment of £13 billion next year to ‘rebuild Britain,’ which includes 1.5m new homes and infrastructure projects. Funding for existing multi million pound schemes like the Innovation Accelerator have also been extended in the West Midlands. 

Ted Bromley-Hall, Managing Director at UK landscaping products manufacturer IBRAN, is quoted in the report, saying he has seen a 200% annual demand increase:”Customers are becoming ever more price focussed but don’t want to sacrifice quality in pursuit of it. We’ve made a concerted effort to highlight the fact that all our products are made here in the Midlands, using raw materials sourced locally. The benefits of this to the customer are that they are able to work on an assured margin, knowing that layers of handling aren’t inflating their price point.”

Joe Llewellyn, GM of Cloud ERP at the UK’s Access Group, the parent company of Unleashed, said: “This uptick in sales revenue and purchasing bodes well for the manufacturing industry. Firms are buying more inventory – and while this might bring back bad memories of post-Covid disruption, when manufacturers were forced to adopt a ‘just in case’ strategy – it’s actually a positive sign in the current climate.

“Lead times remain low, so the orders we currently see flowing through the supply chain look like genuinely robust business confidence. It will also be interesting to see what impact the recent Autumn Budget will have on the wider manufacturing industry. On the one hand business leaders have warned that rises in National Insurance, minimum wages and business rates will hit them hard. 

“However, the government has pledged to invest in housing, public infrastructure, clean energy and technology, which could provide a welcome boost to manufacturers in the construction, energy and electronics sectors.” 

View the full Unleashed Manufacturing Health Index