Abstract :
Throughout the manufacturing industry there appears to be a desire to focus on all manner of measures and results but despite all that, we see companies closing, performance lagging, people despondent, investment going overseas and so on. The same can be said of the service industry. However, it does not have to be this way! This paper will explore the core issues that every leader, and investor, within the manufacturing industry must consider and then present one possible way forward. When we compare performance in manufacturing within countries such as India and China with Western Europe, and the UK in particular, a number of things stand out. The first is that while we have great strengths, we discount them at our peril. We have failed to invest in the one thing that makes the UK special, our people. We have allowed ourselves to be lured away from what we should have been doing all along ?? winning the competitive race. The paper will try to explode a few myths, try to put forward one path that has already proven to be successful in other countries such as those mentioned above, and ask serious questions as to whether we have the will to fight back and enable manufacturing to take its rightful place as the only real wealth creator within any economy.
