Chain reaction

How UK manufacturers are tackling supply chain challenges.

Our research reveals the sheer number of solutions being used by businesses to reconfigure supply chains in ways that enable them to survive and thrive.

Lee Collinson

Managing Director, UK Head of Manufacturing, Transport and Logistics, Barclays Corporate Banking

Chain reaction report

Unfinished business

UK manufacturers have unfinished items to a value of £23.6bn suspended in storage because of supply chain issues, our research reveals.

72% of manufacturers are experiencing this kind of logjam. Each on average is unable to realise the value of unsold goods worth over £1m.

Complex forces

Besides the unfinished goods, firms are having to hold more stock to lock in prices or increase supply. Rising costs and the onset of a recession compound supply chain pressures.

Switch of model

The low-inventory, just-in-time model that has been standard for decades has now been replaced by just-in-case strategies, putting warehousing space at a premium.

Responses to crisis

39% of manufacturers with supply chain difficulties have increased storage, 37% have widened the number of suppliers, and a third have moved to near-shore suppliers.

Fresh thinking for survival

Creative thinking is enabling manufacturers to survive and thrive. Significant numbers of businesses in some sectors are embracing alternative materials or manufacturing methods to get round their supply problems. Half of chemicals & pharmaceuticals producers are exploring new market sectors to help them adapt.