World Wide Technology

Productivity statistics from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) have shown that the manufacturing sector improved its output per hour in the first quarter of this year. This contrasts with a slump in service sector productivity over the same period. The figures, which show a 0.2% improvement, do not spell an end to concern around productivity, which still lags behind other G7 nations.

With an uncertain start to the year for the UK economy, manufacturing figures from the UK that were released last week will be closely examined. As the UK manufacturing sector continues to be affected by currency fluctuations and a changing relationship with the EU, companies must search for comparative advantages in order to compete on a global scale. Predictive maintenance will make waves in the global market as it is set to grow to $4.9bn by 2021.