Northern Ireland: Manufacturing companies should ‘show resilience’

Manufacturing companies in Northern Ireland must demonstrate resilience and innovation to survive in today's difficult economic environment, according to Alan Lowry, Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) NI Policy Board.

Speaking ahead of the upcoming Manufacturing and Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition on September 12, Lowry stressed that companies must adapt to a changing environment.

The upcoming event will provide learning, development and networking opportunities at the Titanic Exhibition Centre in Belfast this week and will bring together industry leaders from across the UK, Ireland and around the world for the fifth annual conference.

Just days before the TEC opens its doors to visitors at 9am, FSB Policy Chairman Alan Lowry gave entrepreneurs and industry experts a rare insight into his tips on how businesses can improve in the current climate.

Commenting on the difficulties the manufacturing sector has faced recently, Alan said: “There is no doubt that the last few years have been very challenging for manufacturing businesses in Northern Ireland, particularly small businesses.

“All the issues around Brexit, followed by Covid and a number of other issues around the cost of doing business have made it very difficult indeed.

“Businesses in Northern Ireland are very resilient. The good thing is that most of them have looked for workarounds to continue to deliver the performance they want. But there are definitely challenges for all of them that we need to address.”

Arguably one of the biggest challenges to be overcome in recent years is the Windsor framework, which is primarily aimed at businesses importing goods valued at up to £2 million. However, the FSB is actively working to resolve the discrepancies so that the majority of businesses can benefit.

Alan said: “One of the biggest problems with the Windsor Framework and the Northern Ireland Protocol is that it has made it much easier for small manufacturing businesses to do what they need to do to them and then throw them out.”

“The problem is that most of our manufacturing companies employ between two and ten million people and things have become more difficult for them.

“All our goods have to go by rail, which means extra paperwork and causes delays.”

“We at the FSB really try to lobby intensively for our members and other small and medium-sized manufacturing companies to make it easier for them to do this business.

“I think it is really important that all manufacturers make us aware of the problems.

“We have been lobbying intensively for a number of years now on the issues that have been brought to our attention and we have had some really good successes and without the strict implementation of the Windsor framework, we still have an opportunity to talk to the EU and see if we can partially change that mindset and mentality to make it easier for non-manufacturers to succeed and enable many of them to survive in the current environment.”

The Manufacturing and Supply Chain Conference and Exhibition programme on 12 September includes five stages, one of which focuses on sustainable and renewable energy and ClimateTech.

One of Alan's many passions, both work-related and personal, is slowing the impacts of climate change, and he believes this is possible despite the limited opportunities Northern Ireland offers.

He explained how Northern Ireland can become more climate conscious: “There is a big push to get people to switch to more sustainable vehicles, electric vehicles, but in Northern Ireland we don't have the same infrastructure to do that as we do in the Republic of Ireland or mainland Britain.”

“There are also enormous opportunities in wind technology, not only in wind farms but also in smaller-scale wind technology.

“There is not much sun in Northern Ireland, but there is a lot of wind. We really need to keep an eye on that to make sure we can implement it in parallel with the action plan.”

As well as sharing his industry knowledge, Alan also expressed his delight at being included in Manufacturing Expo's prestigious list of speakers, saying: “I think one of the really good things about the show later this week is that it will show people how technology and working in partnership can really take this forward.”

“Bringing together manufacturers with technology and supply chain experts will create real opportunities for manufacturers in the North.”

“I think this week is going to be a great open forum where a lot of people are going to learn things they didn't even know existed.”

Registration for the Northern Ireland Manufacturing & Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition 2024 on 12 September at TEC Belfast is free and tickets are available at northernirelandmanufacturing.co.uk/register.