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Potential impact of accelerated investment in Robotics in UK Manufacturing

Investing £1.2bn into manufacturing processes, to increase robotics and automation over the next decade could add as much as £60.5bn to the UK economy over the next decade, predicts new research undertaken by Development Economics on behalf of Barclays.

This is equivalent to nearly two fifths of the manufacturing sector’s value to the economy today.

The report reveals that investing in automation technology will increase the international competitiveness of the UK’s manufacturing sector. As a result of additional investment, the manufacturing sector will be worth £191bn in 2025, £8.6bn more than currently projected and a 19.6% increase on current levels.

Furthermore, increased investment in automation will help to ameliorate the expected long-term decline in manufacturing sector jobs by supporting 73,500 more workers in 2025, due to the creation of a larger, more productive and competitive UK manufacturing sector.

In addition, 32,300 more jobs will be supported elsewhere in the economy through the generation of more business in the supply chain, from raw materials through to logistics, as well as the effect of workers spending more widely in the economy. In 2025 alone this is forecast to represent an additional stimulus worth £3.9bn.