The reality of productivity in the metalworking industry

Over the past few years, the metalworking industry has experienced some difficulties, including the pandemic, inflation and soaring energy costs. Though not unique to our sector, this has greatly impacted productivity.

The metalworking sector is resilient but it is in a period of transition as it looks to adapt to future ways of working. As we extend on our own initiatives to support our end-users and distributors, we wanted to understand the extent to which current industry challenges are affecting productivity in the metalworking sector.

We surveyed metalworking decision makers in the UK, asking them a range of questions to understand their opinions on current productivity levels within the industry, the challenges to productivity they face and how the industry is combatting productivity issues.

Current productivity

Our research revealed that only half (50%) of those working in the metal industry say productivity levels in the industry are increasing. Whilst research suggests that this divided opinion is generally held across the industry, it seems that those at smaller companies have a more positive experience of productivity levels. Over four fifths (83%) of metalworkers working for businesses with turnovers of £100,000 -£999,999 said productivity levels are increasing, whilst less than two fifths (38%) of those at organisations which turn over £50 Million - £99.99 Million said the same.

The challenges

Our research also revealed several factors that are presenting challenges to productivity in the industry. Almost half (47%) of respondents highlighted that one of the key issues negatively impacting productivity is that the industry has not embraced new technology. Of those surveyed, fabrication supervisors (58%) and welding supervisors (56%) were most likely to think that productivity is being stunted by an unwillingness to adapt to new technology, which may be because they are the ones witnessing dated technology in practice or that they’re more aware of the advancement in tools in their field. In the same vein, a lack of innovation was also cited as a challenge by almost as many respondents (45%), further suggesting that the industry isn’t doing enough to move with the times.

Whilst technology is important, factors challenging the workforce have also been identified as affecting productivity. Metalworking professionals highlighted staff retention as a particular issue, with more than two fifths (45%) citing the industry's inability to keep staff as a barrier to productivity. On top of this, over a third (34%) of metalworkers also said that an unskilled workforce is impacting productivity within the sector.

Opportunities to increase productivity

Whilst an unskilled workforce is proving a challenge, our research revealed that the industry is already taking strides to combat this. More than two in five (44%) metalworkers told us that investing in training over the past 12 months has helped to increase productivity in their business. This sentiment was felt across the sector, regardless of time served and age, suggesting that investing in ongoing training at any stage of an employee’s career could see real benefits for organisations.

Supply chain collaboration was also highlighted as an opportunity for progress, with two-fifths (40%) of respondents telling us that it is helping increase productivity in the industry. This was particularly the case for smaller businesses, with turnovers of £100,000 -£999,999 (50%). When compared with only a sixth of those working for organisations with turnovers of £500 Million or over, it seems that smaller businesses are more reliant on supply chain collaboration to boost productivity.

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