Modernising Commercial Operations: The Next Productivity Frontier for UK Manufacturing

UK manufacturing productivity continues to trail our European peers by between 15 and 20 percent.  That gap is persistent. It has survived automation waves, lean programmes, robotics investment and successive rounds of digital transformation.  This is not a capability problem. UK manufacturers build world-class products, operate complex assets and compete globally. It is not a talent issue. Nor is it a lack of investment in technology.

The uncomfortable reality is this: the next manufacturing productivity wave is not on the shop floor.  It is in how commercial decisions are made, governed and executed.

The Friction We Don’t See

When we look beneath the productivity gap, what we consistently find is systemic business friction.  In many organisations:

• Operating models are still optimised around unit economics rather than lifecycle value.
• Profitability looks healthy at the point of sale but erodes quietly through service, rebates and exceptions.
• Forecasts and commitments drift apart over time.
• Knowledge sits in people, not platforms.
• Exception handling becomes normal rather than exceptional.

None of these issues present as a single catastrophic failure. But combined, they quietly drain productivity across the value chain.

Meanwhile, complexity in UK manufacturing continues to rise.

• Up to 50 percent more SKUs are being managed than a decade ago.
• Eighty-nine percent of UK manufacturers report rising cost pressures.
• Seventy-seven percent cite margin erosion from input volatility and pricing pressure.
• And up to 30 percent of revenue can be lost due to inefficient commercial processes. 

This is not a shop floor problem. It is a commercial execution problem.

Margin Expansion Is the Growth Strategy

In today’s economic climate, margin expansion is the growth strategy.  Revenue growth is constrained. Input volatility is structural. Supply chains remain fragile. Cost-out programmes have limits.

The most immediate lever available to many manufacturers is not volume. It is precision.

Precision in pricing.

Precision in commitments.

Precision in service monetisation.

Precision in forecasting.

And that precision depends on modernising commercial operations.

From Transactional Selling to Margin-Intelligent Growth

Modernising commercial operations is not about installing another sales tool. It is about shifting from transactional selling to margin-intelligent growth. That means:

1. Protecting margins through automated pricing guardrails and compliance tracking: Embedding pricing discipline directly into the deal lifecycle, so discounts, rebates and exceptions are governed in real time rather than reviewed after erosion has already occurred. Automated guardrails ensure commercial policy is applied consistently, while compliance tracking links agreed terms to actual performance, reducing leakage and strengthening accountability.

2. Unifying agreements and actuals to close the gap between commitments and realised revenue: Creating a single, reconciled view of what was promised, what was delivered and what was invoiced. When agreements, orders, fulfilment and billing data are connected, forecast variance becomes visible early. This enables proactive intervention, sharper commitment planning and more credible conversations with finance and operations.

3. Using installed base visibility to drive proactive aftermarket and white-space growth: Turning the installed base from a partial dataset into a strategic growth engine. With clear visibility of assets, entitlements and service history, teams can identify renewal risk, cross-sell adjacencies and proactive service opportunities. This shifts growth from opportunistic selling to data-driven lifecycle expansion.

4. Automating renewals and rebate management: Moving renewals and complex rebate structures out of spreadsheets and manual trackers into structured, rules-based workflows. Automation reduces administrative burden, shortens cycle times and ensures performance-based incentives are calculated accurately. The result is improved customer trust, reduced commercial friction and greater margin predictability.

5. Strengthening collaboration between global accounts and regional execution teams: Aligning global strategy with local delivery by centralising account intelligence, synchronising quotas with commitments and clarifying ownership across territories. When account data, pipeline and performance metrics are shared transparently, multi-region execution becomes coordinated rather than fragmented, protecting margin while accelerating growth.

When done well, this transforms the role of commercial operations from administrative support to strategic performance engine.  It turns predictable commitments into realised revenue 

Beyond the Shop Floor

Over the past two decades, UK manufacturers have invested heavily in automation, MES, robotics and lean capability. Those investments delivered real gains.  But many organisations now operate with extraordinary precision in the factory and surprising fragmentation in the front and middle office.  The factory runs on real-time data and tight control.  Commercial execution often runs on spreadsheets, manual approvals and siloed systems.

That imbalance is where productivity is now being lost.  The next wave of productivity is not about replacing the shop floor. It is about extending the same level of discipline, visibility and intelligence beyond it.

Where to Start

For many organisations, the entry point is straightforward:

• Can you see margin clearly at commitment, delivery and renewal?
• Are agreements and actuals reconciled in real time?
• Is your installed base a strategic asset or a partial view?
• Do partners scale you without obscuring performance?
• Can you explain forecast variance as execution gaps rather than surprises?

If the answer to these questions is inconsistent, the opportunity is significant.

Modernising commercial operations is not a technology project. It is an operating model decision.  And in a world where growth must increasingly come from precision rather than volume that decision is becoming central to competitiveness.

The next productivity frontier for UK manufacturing is not mechanical.

It is organisational.

And it begins with commercial execution.