Major manufacturing players remains relatively upbeat about their respective sector outlooks, a new report finds. Key concerns remain however, around the development of key capital expenditure projects, as changing trends, from increased demand for flexibility and sustainability to a war for talent, take hold of the industries more widely.

The manufacturing industry faces a host of new challenges from new technologies and models, such as digitalisation, additive techniques and Industry 4.0; a scarcity in talent; and sometimes unpredictable changing, and radically different, consumer and client sentiment across global markets. Environmental and wider supply chain concerns too are becoming increasingly prominent factors to consider for the industry.

The global manufacturing industry is expected to have seen growth of 2.8% in 2016. Manufacturing production is likely to risen by 1.3% in industrialised countries and by 4.7% in developing economies. To meet the increasing demand, in the face of market uncertainties, manufacturers across a range of sectors face key strategic capital expenditure (capex) decisions that meet the various, and sometimes complex, market challenges. In a new report from Arcadis, titled ‘Industrial Capital Investment Survey 2017’, the firm interviewed 73 manufacturing industry executives to get a better picture of key current trends affecting their capex decision making.