Britain needs to redefine what it considers cutting-edge

The writer is a journalist and lecturer specialising in modern manufacturing

Adding “advanced” to “manufacturing” captures attention. But few people have thought through what advanced manufacturing means. Andy Burnham and his new business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, now have a chance to change that — and redefine this category in a way that promotes growth for a wider range of innovative UK companies.

The new prime minister has put re-industrialisation at the heart of his vision. Reynolds understands the ability of manufacturing to provide high-wage, high-productivity jobs.

The duo might start by visiting a gleaming factory in South Yorkshire. “We’re not so much a manufacturing company as a reliability company,” says Chris Rea, managing director and founder of AESSeal, a Rotherham-based maker of engineering seals. The devices prevent fluid leaking from rotating equipment used in a huge range of places, from chocolate plants to data centres. Rea’s company has built a commanding global position by mixing engineering skills with a tight focus on supplying spare parts and technical support to keep its customers’ plants operating with minimum downtime.

Yet AESSeal would struggle to fit into the category of advanced manufacturing as routinely classified. Officialdom tends to define this in narrow terms, restricted to clunky, technology-based concepts centred on better-known industrial sectors. The UK’s most recent document on advanced manufacturing focuses on just six “higher technology frontier industries”, an absurdly narrow list that includes automotive, batteries, aerospace, space, advanced materials and agritech. A more sensible definition would include technology but add more nebulous ideas based on management and company mindset, such as how businesses blend individual technologies to develop new ideas.

Yes, frontier technology is important but so are other factors. Take London-based Brompton Bicycle. Central to its success is an ingenious folding-bike design devised in the 1970s describing how to fit together more than 1,000 components, many of which are made in-house. Its most useful technology involves brazing — a way to join thin and light parts — that was invented 5,000 years ago by the ancient Sumerians.

Games Workshop, a manufacturer of miniature fantasy figures used in mock battles, is another company that should be regarded as an advanced manufacturer — though it is seldom considered as such. The company has become a stock market star by using the internet and a network of retail outlets to connect with games players globally.

There are dozens of often lesser-known UK companies that, by adding novel management thinking to technical expertise, have created a source of competitive advantage. If official pronouncements on the “brightest and best” manufacturers fail to include such businesses, lower-ranked entities tend to get pushed back in the queue for resources such as government grants.

A new corporate classification formulated by China’s National Bureau of Statistics may show a path forward. In a study of emerging growth mechanisms, the bureau has devised three key drivers: “new industries, new business formats and new business models”. While technology is a key factor behind all three, other “softer” elements include combining service thinking with product creation, using new ideas to reinvigorate old industries and finding new ways to reach customers. The US Center for Advanced Manufacturing has also hit on a better, more inclusive approach. It seeks to promote “manufacturing mavericks” — the “visionaries transforming manufacturing through bold ideas and advanced technologies”.

The new UK government should take on some of these ideas. Its current methodology is weak in describing the many excellent UK businesses that should be considered at the forefront of growth efforts. A new lens is required.