Insider Media has published a report on how West Midlands' manufacturers are planning on growing through innovation. The article can be found here but for those who can't access, it is also below.
More than eight in ten manufacturers across the West Midlands are focused on driving up distribution and improving products through innovation, a new study has revealed.
The EEF/Vodafone 2015 Innovation Monitor revealed that 92 per cent of production companies across the region are engaged in innovation, with the majority (86 per cent) focused on boosting marketing and distribution.
These were closely followed by group's aiming to improve products (82 per cent), while eight in ten have improved their organisational processes in the past 12 months.
Richard Halstead, Midlands and East Region director at EEF, said: "Manufacturers continue to forge ahead into new markets at home and abroad, with investment in innovation playing a starring role."
The biggest driver for innovation in the West Midlands was to satisfy clients (46 per cent), although almost a third said they had updated their processes in the past three years to comply with environmental standards.
But Halstead warned that innovation can be a "resource-hungry process" with results not always matching the ambitions of the business.
"Shortages of expertise, equipment and finance are holding companies back," he added.
"This matters for manufacturing and for the UK because manufacturers are increasingly concerned about falling behind competitors.
"We've seen year after year that manufacturers want to do more and every additional pound invested in developing the products and services of tomorrow can help get the UK closer to its goal of having a more productive economy. This ambition should be matched by government to ensure the UK continues to compete on the global stage."
Tim Hancock, head of manufacturing at Vodafone UK, added: "It's essential that we create the right environment for continuous innovation in manufacturing, which is the backbone of UK industry.
"The good news is that almost all manufacturers are innovating in one form or another and with a variety of business goals, but they are doing so with decreasing diversity. This seems to be down to an organisations size and access to resources, which can impact the level of innovation that can be taken on without disrupting day-to-day operations."