UK manufacturing output rose 1.2% in August as pharmaceutical production jumped 5.1%

UK factory output rose in August, but the three-month picture is flat

UK manufacturing output rose 1.2% in August, the Office for National Statistics said on 15 October. Nine of the 13 manufacturing subsectors grew in the month. The biggest contribution came from basic pharmaceutical products, up 5.1%, which accounted for more than half of manufacturing's monthly growth on its own. Total production, which also counts mining, energy and water, rose 0.8% in August after a 0.3% rise in July. Over the three months to August the picture is much flatter. Manufacturing grew 0.1% against the three months to May, and total production fell 0.2%. Computer, electronic and optical products grew 3.5% over the three months, while basic metals fell 2.7%. The release also carries revisions back to 1997 to bring the series into line with Blue Book 2026, so earlier monthly figures have moved. For anyone planning on UK demand, one strong month that leans on a single sector is not yet a recovery, and the basic metals figure is the one steel and alloy buyers will notice. The next release is due on 12 November. (Office for National Statistics, Index of Production, UK: August 2026, 15 October.)

Eight robotics adoption hubs share £40m to help firms that don't know where to start

The government named the eight winners of its £40m Robotics Adoption Hubs competition on 9 October. The hubs are in England and Wales. Two are aimed specifically at manufacturers. The Yorkshire hub will give local manufacturers vendor-neutral help, from feasibility work and investment cases to demonstrations, deployment and staff training, and the Robotics Pathway Hub in Wales will help Welsh manufacturers with practical guidance, investment readiness and finance. A second Welsh hub, in South Wales, offers businesses independent advice, feasibility work, test-before-invest and deployment support. The Greater South West hub is led by Bristol Robotics Laboratory with UWE Bristol and the National Composites Centre, with £7.2m from Innovate UK and £2.6m from its 23 partners. The others cover agri-food, including food manufacturing, from Lincoln; waste and recycling; surgical robotics in Newcastle; and drones, service robots and self-driving vehicles in Milton Keynes. A further £1.7m funds a body to link the hubs, run by The Welding Institute with Anglia Ruskin University, and £2.5m backs 12 skills projects. These include leadership training from Automate UK and Cranfield University, and a study by the National Robotarium into a robotics technician apprenticeship. The hubs were first promised in the June 2025 Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan, with an initial £40m. The government opened a £52m competition for around five hubs in January 2026, and Innovate UK received 76 applications. For a plant director or engineering head who has been put off robots by cost and integration risk, this is impartial, publicly funded help with the business case. (GOV.UK, Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, 9 October; University of Bristol, 10 October; National Composites Centre, 9 October; GOV.UK, 16 January 2026; Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan, June 2025.)

Schaeffler's job cuts are running a year ahead of plan

Schaeffler said on 12 October that it had cut 3,715 jobs by 30 September under the programme it announced in November 2024. That is about 79% of the planned 4,700 gross job cuts. Contracts are already in place for the remaining 985, and the German bearings and drivetrain supplier now expects to finish by the end of 2028, a year earlier than planned. It expects to beat the programme's target of €290m of savings in 2029 by more than 20%, and because the cuts have cost less than budgeted, it is writing back about €84m of restructuring provisions. Separately, 1,768 staff signed partial retirement agreements by 5 October, against the roughly 1,300 Schaeffler had expected. The company linked the take-up to the expected end of existing partial retirement schemes under Germany's planned pension reforms. It expects those agreements to add about €55m to earnings in 2029, and it will set aside about €70m more for one-off payments up to 2030. When it announced the programme on 5 November 2024, Schaeffler said about 2,800 of the 4,700 gross job cuts would be in Germany. For buyers of bearings and drivetrain parts, the update shows a major European supplier ahead of schedule on its cost cuts and spending less on them than it budgeted. (Schaeffler AG, 12 October 2026 and 5 November 2024.)

Kongsberg will build a counter-drone factory in northern Poland

Kongsberg said on 13 October that it will build a plant in Poland to make and support its counter-drone systems. The site is in the Pomeranian region near the Tricity area of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot, though the exact location has not been disclosed. The Norwegian group is investing more than 200 million zlotys, about €45m, and expects more than 100 long-term jobs once the plant is at full capacity. It plans to sign a construction contract by the end of the year and says serial production can start in the first half of 2028. The plant will first serve Poland's SAN programme, for which Kongsberg and Polish state defence group PGZ signed a contract with the Polish Armaments Agency in January, and Kongsberg says it will also supply other European customers. For European defence buyers, this is counter-drone capacity being built inside the customer country, with serial production possible from the first half of 2028. (Kongsberg, 13 October.)

Rheinmetall opens a medium-calibre ammunition line in Albacete

Rheinmetall said on 16 October that its Spanish subsidiary, Rheinmetall Expal Munitions, is commissioning a new medium-calibre production line at Albacete this month. The company has invested about €20m at the site. A modernised and extended building of about 5,700 square metres houses the new line, and a second building of 5,200 square metres, put up in less than a year, expands mortar production. Annual capacity will be about 1.2 million projectiles and about 1.8 million cartridge cases in calibres from 20mm to 35mm. These parts go on to other Rheinmetall plants, including Burgos, to be made into finished rounds. Mortar capacity rises to 40 81mm Dual-Eimos systems and more than 650 mortars a year. The workforce is due to grow from about 210 to about 300. Rheinmetall says the line is part of its target of 4 million medium-calibre rounds a year by 2030. For defence procurement teams, the capacity figures are now public, and Rheinmetall says Albacete will draw on a local supplier network. (Rheinmetall, 16 October.)

VDL will spend about $77m expanding its Georgia plant for chip-making equipment

Dutch engineering group VDL Groep will invest an estimated $77m over the next several years to expand in Hall County, Georgia, and create about 120 jobs, the state governor's office said on 13 October. VDL will buy and expand the building it now leases in Oakwood, where it has made equipment for eight years. The expansion adds large-milling capability and a bigger cleanroom for making semiconductor capital equipment. Hiring starts in the fourth quarter of 2026, for machining, welding, sheet metal, engineering and maintenance roles, and construction is due to finish in 2028. For semiconductor equipment companies building out a US supply chain, this adds US contract capacity for large precision parts made in cleanroom conditions. (Office of the Governor of Georgia, 13 October.)

Corvid Technologies will add 423 jobs making launch systems in North Carolina

Corvid Technologies, an employee-owned defence contractor, will invest $95m and add 423 jobs at its Mooresville campus in North Carolina, the state governor announced on 13 October. The expansion includes a new 400,000 sq ft manufacturing building for the engineering and manufacture of vehicle launch systems. The company's chief executive, David Robinson, said Corvid has grown from 8,000 sq ft of manufacturing space to 800,000 sq ft in two and a half years. The new roles include assemblers, electricians, engineers, production managers, technicians and testers, at an average salary of $81,550. The state has approved a performance-based grant worth up to $4.45m over 12 years. Corvid started in 2004 as a modelling and simulation firm. The average salary of $81,550 compares with an Iredell County average wage of $64,895. (North Carolina Department of Commerce, 13 October.)

Sources: Office for National Statistics, 15 October 2026; GOV.UK (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade), 9 October 2026; University of Bristol, 10 October 2026; National Composites Centre, 9 October 2026; GOV.UK (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology), 16 January 2026; Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan, June 2025; Schaeffler AG, 12 October 2026 and 5 November 2024; Kongsberg, 13 October 2026; Rheinmetall, 16 October 2026; Office of the Governor of Georgia, 13 October 2026; North Carolina Department of Commerce, 13 October 2026.