**UK**: Tony Hague, CEO of PP Control & Automation, highlights how manufacturers are prioritising collaboration, outsourcing, and product innovation to tackle economic pressures, supply chain disruptions, and trade tariffs, fostering partnerships that enhance resilience and flexibility across industries including renewables and medical devices.
Tony Hague, CEO of PP Control & Automation, has highlighted the evolving landscape of manufacturing and the increasing emphasis on collaboration as a key factor in building resilience and maintaining competitiveness. Speaking to The Engineer, Hague outlined how manufacturers today are concentrating their efforts on strategic survival amid rising economic pressures, including cost increases, supply chain disruptions, and trade tariffs.
According to Hague, management teams across machine building and new product development are now prioritising product innovation to counteract price pressures and are favouring moderate investment in new opportunities over aggressive diversification strategies. A significant shift is occurring towards supply chain collaboration, with growing enquiries for outsourcing services that provide flexible production scalability and access to specialised capabilities which some customers find hard to maintain internally.
“At PP C&A, a robust supply chain is non-negotiable. Its importance is driven by the fact that our customer’s supply and stock risk is mitigated when we inherit, manage and optimise their supply chain,” said Hague. He emphasised that this approach has transformed supplier relationships from transactional to strategic partnerships that add technical value, enhancing the overall supply chain resilience.
Demand for PP Control & Automation’s services has surged in 2025 as companies seek to fortify their supply chains while avoiding heavy investments. Hague also noted a marked effort to shorten supply chains in response to recent global trade conflicts and disruptions experienced during the pandemic and challenges like those in the Red Sea shipping routes.
PP Control & Automation currently collaborates with twenty of the world’s largest machine builders, offering them advantages like accelerated time to market, production flexibility, and access to innovative technologies. These partnerships span sectors such as food and drink, renewables, medical devices and machine tools. The company has also extended support to start-ups and established manufacturers contending with limitations in skilled labour and manufacturing space.
Central to the company’s collaborative ethos is the recently launched PP Plus network, comprising 20 experts across manufacturing, technology, professional services, and marketing. In addition, PP Control & Automation has been instrumental in founding the Clean Energy Systems Partner Alliance (CESPA), designed to promote onshoring and support innovators in green technology development.
CESPA brings together six specialists from leading firms including Danfoss, Emerson, Glacier Energy, Phoenix Contact and Voltserve. This alliance combines expertise in electrical, civil and structural design, renewable energy software and automation, connection technology and electronics, as well as climate, drives and power solutions. Members have access to world-class machine building, control systems, and energy assets, providing comprehensive support to accelerate and optimise clean energy projects.
Hague reflected on the UK’s situation, stating, “Economic pressures have forced the UK’s hand a little, as firms strive to find solutions to issues often outside of their control. But let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth and look at how we can build supply chain resilience by pooling resources, expertise and bright ideas!”
This strategic focus on collaboration and supply chain optimisation, as described by Tony Hague, underscores a broader industry trend toward fostering partnerships that enhance innovation, flexibility and resilience in an unpredictable global marketplace.
Source: Noah Wire Services
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