The Productivity Problem is Not Simply a Machinery Problem

For manufacturers under pressure to increase output, reduce costs and improve quality, the most visible solution is often investment in new equipment. A faster machine, another robot or a more capable production cell can look like the clearest route to more capacity. Sometimes it is. In many factories, however, the real constraint lies elsewhere in the system.

It might be changeover time, inspection, material flow, maintenance, a shortage of skilled operators or the difficulty of connecting newer technology with equipment that still has years of useful life left. A machine can only deliver its promised productivity if the surrounding process allows it to do so. That is why the question facing manufacturers is increasingly not simply what to buy, but what is actually preventing the operation from performing better.

Brian Holliday, Managing Director of Siemens Digital Industries, argues that one barrier to investment is a lack of visibility around what modern manufacturing technology can already do. He says that manufacturers can be held back by a “lack of knowledge of what’s possible,” particularly as automation, robotics and artificial intelligence continue to move quickly.

That matters because the technology available to manufacturers is changing at the same time as the production environment in which it must operate. Few businesses have the luxury of replacing an entire factory. Investment usually occurs incrementally, meaning new machinery, software, inspection systems, and automation must work together with established processes and legacy assets.

Dave Sutton, Product Marketing Manager at Schneider Electric, describes industrial automation as being “quite stuck in the legacy proprietary days of old technology.” Schneider Electric’s response is software-defined automation, but the wider point is relevant far beyond one technology provider. The next phase of manufacturing improvement is as much about flexibility and interoperability as it is about individual machine capability.

That changes the productivity conversation. If equipment data cannot be shared, if inspection takes place too late to influence the process, or if a production line has been automated around an inefficient workflow, adding more technology can simply make the underlying problem more expensive. Manufacturers need to understand the constraint first, then decide whether the right answer is machinery, automation, metrology, software, process redesign, or a combination of several interventions.

There is also value in looking beyond a company’s own sector. Daniel Parvaz, Membership Manager at Make UK Defence, points to the sudden requirement for higher-volume production of smaller components within defence. It is a challenge that may feel new to some defence manufacturers but is familiar elsewhere. As he explains, sectors such as automotive are already accustomed to high production rates, creating an opportunity to transfer knowledge rather than develop every answer from scratch.

Cross-sector learning may be especially important in high-mix, low-volume manufacturing, where the economics of automation have traditionally been more difficult. Developments in flexible robotics, machine vision, digital work instructions, rapid fixturing and software-driven manufacturing are changing that equation, but the strongest results still come from matching technology to the process rather than automating for its own sake.

The same principle applies across the supply chain. Alex Champion, Lead Engineer at the Ministry of Defence, values settings in which vehicle manufacturers, equipment suppliers and lower-tier manufacturers can discuss problems together, because issues that appear to belong to one organisation are often symptoms of a wider production or supply chain constraint. Productivity does not stop at the factory gate.

This is the thinking behind the Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Machinery track at Advanced Engineering 2026. The programme will bring together machinery, automation, tooling, inspection, process and manufacturing expertise, but the more important conversation is how those technologies are combined to improve real operations. Visitors will be able to compare approaches to capacity, reliability, OEE, quality, high-mix production and factory modernisation rather than viewing individual technologies in isolation.

For manufacturing leaders making investment decisions, that distinction matters. The objective is not to build the factory with the most technology. It is to build a factory that performs better, adapts more quickly, and makes the best use of the people, equipment, and data already available.

Advanced Engineering takes place at the NEC Birmingham on 4-5 November 2026. Registration is free for qualified engineering and manufacturing professionals.