Manufacturing firms in Northern Ireland must embrace resilience and innovation to thrive in today's challenging economic landscape, according to Alan Lowry, Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) NI Policy Board.

Speaking ahead of the upcoming Manufacturing and Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition on September 12, Lowry emphasised the need for businesses to adapt to a changing environment.

Bringing learning, development and networking opportunities to the Titanic Exhibition Centre in Belfast this week, the forthcoming event will see sector leaders from across the UK, Ireland and wider world for the 5th annual instalment of the conference.

With only days to go before the TEC opens its doors to attendees at 9am, FSB Policy Chair Alan Lowry has offered business owners and industry professionals a rare glance at his tips on how companies can better themselves in the current climate.

Speaking on the difficulty that the manufacturing sector has faced recently, Alan said: "There's no doubt about it that the last few years have been very challenging for manufacturing businesses in Northern Ireland, particularly small businesses.

"All of the issues around Brexit, followed by Covid and a number of other issues about the cost of doing business have really made it very difficult.

"Northern Ireland businesses are very resilient, so the good thing is that most of them have looked for workarounds to make them still be able to perform in the way they should be, but there's definitely challenges for them all that we need to work through."

Arguably one of the biggest challenges that has needed to be overcome in the last few years is that of the Windsor Framework, which caters largely to companies that are bringing up to £2 million worth of goods in, but the FSB are actively working to rectify the discrepancies so that the majority of businesses can benefit.

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Alan said: "One of the biggest problems with the Windsor Framework and the Northern Ireland protocol is it has made it much easier for micro sized manufacturing businesses to do what they need to do to them and put them out again.

"The problem is, most of our businesses are between two to 10 million in the manufacturing sector, and it's been made more difficult for them.

"All of our goods have to come through the railing, which means there's additional paperwork, and it all gets held up.

"What we're doing at the FSB is really trying to lobby hard for these members of ours and other small and medium sized manufacturing businesses to make it easier for them to do this business.

"I think it's really important that all the manufacturers make us aware of what the issues are.

"We've been lobbying hard now for a number of years on the issues that have been brought to our attention, and we've had some really good success and without the rigorous implementation of the Windsor framework, yet we still have an opportunity to speak to the EU and see if we can change some of that mindset, some of that thinking, just to make it easier for non-manufacturers to thrive and many of them to survive as well in this current environment."

September 12's Manufacturing and Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition programme boasts five stages, one of which centres on Sustainable and Renewable Energy plus ClimateTech.

One of Alan's many passions, both related to and outside of work, is slowing down the effects of climate change, something he believes is possible despite the small scale that Northern Ireland has to work with.

Outlining how NI can be more climate conscious, he said: "There's a real push to try and get people into more sustainable vehicles, electric vehicles, but we don't have the infrastructure for it in Northern Ireland in the same way there would be in the Republic of Ireland or in mainland UK.

"There's also massive opportunities in wind technology, not just in wind farms, but even in smaller scale wind technology.

"We don't get a lot of sunshine in Northern Ireland, but we do get a lot of wind, and that definitely needs to be something we need to be looking at to make sure we can work that alongside the action plan."

As well as sharing his industry insights, Alan also expressed his delight at joining the prestige list of speakers for the Manufacturing Expo, saying: "I think one of the really good things about the show later this week is that it's going to allow people to see how technology and working together in partnership can really unlock this.

"Bringing manufacturers along with technology and supply chain experts together is really going to unlock the opportunities for Northern manufacturers.

"I think this week's going to be a great open forum where a lot of people are going to learn things that they didn't even know existed."

Registration for the 2024 Northern Ireland Manufacturing & Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition on September 12 at TEC Belfast is free and tickets are available from northernirelandmanufacturing.co.uk/register