Automation to survive the storm

摘要

Momentum is growing for greater capital investment by small and medium-sized food and drink manufacturers (SMEs) to improve their productivity. This is despite the harsh economic environment facing the sector and problems reported by some SMEs in obtaining finance from the banks. Investment in automation is "cruciaT'to the success of the UK's food industry, according to GO Chocolate Puds founder James Averdieck. Speaking at a recent debate on the future of UK manufacturing in Leeds, Averdieck said introducing automation at his manufacturing plant had caused productivity to "shoot up". "With the introduction of automation we went instantly from producing 50 desserts per minute to 150 desserts per minute,"said Averdieck."Critically, this gave us more money to invest in the company, which in turn enabled us to up our volume once again."