Manufacturing in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom, where the Industrial Revolution began in the late 18th century, has a long history of manufacturing, which contributed to Britain's early economic growth.
Innovation in Britain led to revolutionary changes in manufacturing, the development of factory systems, and growth of transportation by railway and steam ship that spread around the world.
[4] Its growth was driven by international trading relationships Britain developed with Asia, Europe and the Americas, as well as entrepreneurialism, work ethic and the availability of natural resources such as coal.
[citation needed] However, manufacturing remains an important sector of the modern British economy and the UK is one of the most attractive countries in the world for direct foreign industrial investment in 2003.
[citation needed] More firms returning their production to the UK have also bucked the trend, which might continue as many companies reassess their investments in China, a process sometimes known as on-shoring.
These include British makers now owned by overseas companies such MINI (BMW), Rolls-Royce (BMW), Jaguar Land Rover (Tata), Bentley (Volkswagen) and Vauxhall Motors (Stellantis) and plants making vehicles under foreign ownership and branding such as Nissan (Sunderland) and Toyota (Burnaston) with a number of smaller, specialist manufacturers including Aston Martin, Lotus and Morgan, and commercial vehicle manufacturers including Leyland Trucks (a subsidiary of PACCAR), TEVVA, Alexander Dennis, JCB, Caterpillar, London Electric Vehicle Company and Case-New Holland also being present.
BAE Systems and Babcock International are also major builders of warships, operations which constitute a significant part of the UK's remaining marine industrial base.
The commercial maritime sector, meanwhile, still includes historic names such as Harland and Wolff, Cammell Laird, and A&P Group, whilst companies such as Princess, Fairline Boats and Sunseeker are large scale manufacturers of private motor yachts.
Another important component of engineering and allied industries is electronics, audio and optical equipment, with the UK having a broad base of domestic firms, alongside a number of foreign firms manufacturing a wide range of TV, radio and communications products, scientific and optical instruments, electrical machinery and office machinery and computers.
