"Lean" manufacturers shape up in the recession

Date: 7th October 2009

Hope has been offered to manufacturing small businesses, with many reporting an increase in orders and customer sales.

New analysis from The Manufacturing Institute has indicated that many bosses have made modifications to their businesses in order to leave them better-placed to ride out the tough economic conditions.

These include changes to payrolls, with many staff working fewer hours than before as an alternative to job losses.

Meanwhile, according to research from the Forum of Private Business, one in five manufacturing firms is experiencing an increase in either orders or sales.

However, data from the Markit Purchasing Managers Index, published last week, showed that overall UK manufacturing output fell in August.

Adam Buckley, head of programmes for The Manufacturing Institute, commented: "What a lot of manufacturers have done is they've used a lot of different working opportunities to get through, such as idealised hours."

He added: "Manufacturers have seen a lot of recessions and so they've created quite lean companies."