How UK manufacturers can achieve their growth goals in 2026

The latest Make UK Executive Survey found that manufacturers are “doubling down on innovation – developing new products, investing in marketing, and embedding technology to drive growth”. Longstanding challenges, including rising costs and economic uncertainty, haven’t gone away. However, the government’s Industrial Strategy has given them confidence, and nearly two-thirds (63%) say they’ll increase investment as a result of it. 

But before investing in people, product development, machinery or new technology, it’s important to look back at the past year. What went well? What took too much effort? Where were the bottlenecks?

By reflecting on what went well (and what didn’t), you’ll spot trends and ongoing frustrations among your team, as well as new opportunities. It’s a chance to think beyond tasks and projects in isolation and instead look at where you could make the biggest improvements across your business. 

While every manufacturer is different, it’s likely you’re working towards common goals, including:

• Gain more visibility and control over planning.
• Be more proactive – not just react to ad-hoc disruptions.
• Better collaboration between departments.
• Innovate, win new customers, expand teams, grow the business. 

Technology, particularly enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, is critical in helping you achieve these goals. Automation frees up your team to concentrate on areas like innovation, while shared dashboards enable better decision-making. 

But technology without a strategy can create more work for your teams, rather than reducing it. This sometimes happens when businesses rush towards implementation, rather than thinking about the specific challenges they want to solve. As a result, they might end up with large volumes of data (and struggle to make sense of it) – which impacts decision-making, including planning and coordination.

Manufacturers who use technology to drive innovation don’t necessarily have the biggest budgets. The difference is their approach. They don't start with an ERP implementation and work backwards – they frame it in the context of their business challenges, asking questions such as:

• How do we make day-to-day decisions?
• Who needs which insights?
• Where is the friction/delay?

This way of thinking – which starts with what you can control first before scaling – means your ERP investment is more likely to deliver strong returns. You ensure that your organisation is ready for implementation first, rather than hoping it will adapt afterwards. 

Answering the questions above means your ERP will be configured in the right way from the start, supporting your decision-making by:

• Connecting departments and processes
• Delivering a single version of the truth
• Making the impact of changes visible
• Supporting both daily operations and strategic choices

For some manufacturing companies, this means gaining visibility of all their processes for the first time. For others, it’s about further professionalising their operations and preparing for future investments and technologies including AI. 

Taking on new orders is great news but only if you can deliver on time and to the standard expected. Scaling up often exposes weaknesses in your operations – and no matter how good your intentions are at the start of the year, performance will inevitably suffer.

To scale up successfully you’ll need:

• Good processes
• Shared insight as the basis for decisions
• Systems that move with change
• ECI Ridder iQ promotes all of these, creating a structure that supports people and other resources like machinery, both now and in the future.