Thu, 7 Aug 2008 12:35

Manufacturers from all sectors including the promotional clothing industry are being urged to use the current economic climate to find ways of performing better in the long-term future.A spokesman for The Manufacturing Institute has said that new survival methods have had to be adopted by manufacturing companies to negotiate sustained "ferocious global competition".Following a recent survey on regional trends by the CBI and Experian, Peter Rogers, practitioner team manager at the Manufacturing Institute said: "We are in danger of talking manufacturing down yet again which is dangerous in that it can become a self fulfilling prophecy."It is important to remember that manufacturing remains the lifeblood of a forward thinking, successful UK economy."The CBI/Experian Regional Trends survey has shown that business confidence has declined in almost all UK regions and has predicted a slowing down of manufacturing activity.Only in Northern Ireland did the survey note that orders for manufactured goods showed a marked upturn as it did in a previous similar survey.