UK manufacturing continues to face a persistent and well-documented productivity challenge. According to our quarterly analysis of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Index of Production, productivity across the sector has remained largely flat for more than a decade, with only marginal quarter-to-quarter movement masking deeper structural issues.
While total manufacturing output fluctuates with market conditions, the underlying story is consistent: most manufacturers are not getting more from the assets they already have. Capacity utilisation remains stubbornly low, labour productivity growth has stalled, and many factories still rely on manual data collection, leaving large blind spots in day-to-day operations.
Our analysis shows that, despite pockets of excellence, the sector struggles to convert effort into measurable productivity gains. Downtime remains underreported, machine utilisation is often 20–30 percentage points below potential, and continuous improvement teams are frequently forced to operate with incomplete or outdated information.
In short, the UK manufacturing sector isn’t short on ambition; it’s short on visibility, and therefore short on productivity. And that lack of visibility has a direct economic consequence: when productivity stalls, so does the sector’s contribution to UK growth, competitiveness and supply chain resilience.
This context raises an important question: What would happen if manufacturers had the data and insight needed to increase productivity by even a modest amount? The answer, as our calculations show, is transformative, both for individual manufacturers and the UK economy as a whole.
What a productivity uplift looks like at a national scale
Proactive manufacturers using FourJaw’s plug-and-play analytics typically achieve a 30% output-capacity increase and a 10% productivity improvement in their first year.
To understand what that could mean at the national level, we analysed the latest ONS data.
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Total UK manufacturing output in 2024 was £617.95 billion.
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A 10% productivity uplift across the sector would be worth £62 billion in additional output generated without new factories, extra staff or further capital investment.
To put that into perspective, a £62 billion gain would rival entire UK industries in scale. And this is based on the conservative 10% uplift, not the higher capacity increase many manufacturers actually achieve when given real-time operational visibility.
(For context, a full 30% uplift applied across the sector would amount to a staggering £185.4 billion, which is why we focus on the more modest 10% figure in this article as well as our UK manufacturing productivity index.)
What this means for the “average” UK manufacturer
To make this more tangible, we calculated the impact for a single, typical UK manufacturer.
Using ONS data, dividing total output by the number of UK manufacturing businesses yields an average annual output of £4,627,981 per manufacturer in the 12 months to September 2025.
Applying the same uplift assumptions:
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30% output-capacity gain: +£1,388,394
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10% productivity improvement: +£462,798
In other words, a manufacturer currently producing around £4.6 million worth of goods could, with the right data and insight, unlock £1.4 million in additional output capacity and nearly £0.5 million in productivity gains, all from the machines, people and production lines they already have.
This isn’t hypothetical. These are the types of improvements proactive manufacturers are seeing right now under real factory conditions.
Why unlocking hidden capacity matters
A productivity uplift of this scale wouldn’t just boost top-line performance, it would reshape the sector’s long-term competitiveness.
1. Stronger international competitiveness
Even a moderate productivity gain helps UK manufacturers compete against lower-cost economies without resorting to price cuts.
2. Growth without additional capital investment
Manufacturers can scale output using existing assets, avoiding multi-year capex cycles and the risks that come with them.
3. Greater supply chain resilience
More efficient production means stronger margins, more investment headroom and greater agility during disruption.
4. Sustainability benefits
More output from the same inputs, energy, materials and labour, reduces the carbon footprint per unit produced.
In short, productivity is the lever that strengthens every other aspect of manufacturing performance, but to get started and make it happen, it requires two things:
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Visibility: Manufacturers must shift from manual, incomplete data collection to real-time, objective insight into fundamental production data, such as machine utilisation, downtime and performance.
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Action: Data must drive decisions, underpinning everything from daily stand-ups to strategic planning and continuous improvement projects.
Manufacturers who embrace this approach are already proving what’s possible; those who don’t risk falling further behind as productivity gaps widen.
Conclusion: Challenges remain, but opportunities for UK Manufacturing are within reach
The UK manufacturing sector has been stuck in a productivity holding pattern for years, not because of a lack of effort, but because of a lack of visibility.
Our analysis shows that even a modest 10% productivity uplift could add £62 billion of value to the UK economy. For a typical manufacturer, that translates to more than £1.8 million in combined output and productivity gains.
This is not an abstract opportunity. It is a real, measurable and achievable shift, already being realised by manufacturers who choose to operate with clarity, data and confidence.
With the right tools, the sector can break out of stagnation and enter a new era of resilience, competitiveness and sustainable growth, even with the headwinds that face them.
Challenges will always remain, but so will the opportunities to overcome them.
