Hopefully your Sheffield Steel, Wedgewood China or Dartington Crystal ball is ready and working and it’s told you how to prepare for whatever kind of Brexit is coming?
No? Well it’s probably the same story for practically every business in the UK at the moment!
As the Brexit bus continues to trundle forwards (with or without an appropriate slogan emblazoned across it) we’re trying to take sensible measures to prepare ourselves.
Like always, our aim is to be able to be resilient and support whatever our customers need. Our 100% on demand manufacturing model already puts us at a significant advantage. We won’t run out of finished products as we don’t hold any in stock. If customer demand changes, we’ll make what is required direct from raw materials.
We don’t have limited stock of these raw materials tied up in finished products or even work in progress, like many of our competitors. We can put our cash into key, flexible stockholding - which will allow us to continue to operate when others might be forced to stop.
Many of our raw materials are imported, most of them from the EU. Most draw from UK based stockholding, the supply into which might be affected in the medium term. We’re planning for this with some increased stock and alternative supply routes.
If supplies or more likely logistic routes, are blocked or disrupted for a prolonged period some materials may become limited and this will affect choice. We’re confident in this extreme (but potential) scenario that we’ll still be able to offer viable, if reduced choices which keep the wheels turning.
We’re also prepared for legislative changes affecting manufacturers. The main one being the adoption by the UK of a replacement to the current CE marking requirements. This is called UKCA (United Kingdom Conformity Assured) scheme which has a new mark replacing or in addition to the current CE mark.
Manufactures will need to determine is this is required on products sold in the UK market post Brexit - but if you need it, we’re ready to provide labels and rating plates including this mark right now.
Good luck to all our fellow UK businesses bracing themselves for potential disruption and delays over the coming months. Rest assured if you need signs or labels - we’ll be here for you no matter what!