Britain’s family-owned manufacturers have spent generations building businesses, developing skills and creating the specialist industrial capability that keeps the country moving.
For Banelec, that heritage is worth celebrating, protecting and building upon.
A new report from Make UK and Bishop Fleming has placed family manufacturing firmly in the spotlight, revealing that family-owned manufacturers contribute an estimated £94 billion to the UK economy and support around one million jobs.
They also account for 65% of manufacturing businesses, making their continued investment central to Britain’s ambitions for greater industrial capacity, productivity and resilience.
For family-owned Banelec, the figures reinforce something the Staffordshire engineering specialist sees every day: British manufacturing continues to possess the expertise, ingenuity and ambition required to compete on the world stage.
Proud to manufacture, engineer and innovate in Britain
Banelec Managing Director Dean Banner believes family businesses bring a particular long-term perspective to manufacturing.
“Family manufacturing businesses are built around generations rather than quarters,” said Banner. “You invest in people, equipment, knowledge and relationships because you are building something that you want to be here for many years to come.
“We are immensely proud to be a British family business and immensely proud of the engineering capability that exists in this country. Manufacturing has always evolved, and British manufacturers have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to evolve with it.”
That evolution is evident throughout Banelec’s own operations.
The company designs, manufactures, installs and commissions bespoke electrical control systems for demanding industrial applications, combining electrical engineering expertise with PLC control, software development, variable speed drives, instrumentation, safety systems and industrial automation.
Its engineers work across sectors ranging from automotive and food processing to steel, aerospace, energy and heavy industry, delivering complete control solutions designed around each customer’s application.
Banelec has also developed extensive expertise in crane control systems, crane servicing and crane repair, supporting equipment where reliability, safety and operational availability are fundamental to production.
Dean continued: “British industry has extraordinary depth. We see it through the customers we work with and the projects our engineers deliver.
“Our response is to keep moving forward. Keep investing. Keep developing engineers. Keep solving difficult industrial problems. There is a huge amount of capability here and every reason to be ambitious about what British manufacturing can achieve.”
Automation as an investment in British capability
The Make UK report highlights manufacturers’ continued commitment to skills, innovation, resilience and growth, with 63% planning moderate to significant investment in training.
For Banelec, investment in automation can play an equally important role in strengthening that future.
The company works with manufacturers to identify processes where industrial automation, robotics and modern electrical control systems can increase productivity, improve repeatability, enhance safety and give skilled employees better tools with which to perform their roles.
Operations Director Jennie Banner said the opportunity extends far beyond simply introducing new machinery.
“Automation is about giving British manufacturers greater capability,” she said. “A well-designed control or automation system can transform how a process operates. It can increase output, improve consistency, provide much better production information and allow skilled people to concentrate on the areas where their experience creates the greatest value.
“That is incredibly important when we talk about the future of manufacturing. We have outstanding engineering businesses across the UK, and technology gives them another route to become even more productive and internationally competitive.”
Banelec’s experience ranges from individual machine control upgrades through to complete automated manufacturing cells.
In one project, the company designed, constructed, programmed, installed and commissioned an entire robot and conveyor system for an ejection-seat manufacturer moving into robotic production for the first time.
Elsewhere, Banelec developed the control solution for British Steel’s £10 million rail stocking facility in Scunthorpe, synchronising 11 hoist units capable of handling multiple 108-metre lengths of rail using PLC control, absolute encoders and variable speed drive technology.
Its specialist crane engineering capability has also taken the business into some of the most demanding operating environments, including the development of a double-redundancy fail-safe crane control system for the Johan Sverdrup offshore platform.
Keeping industrial assets productive
Alongside new automation projects, Banelec sees considerable opportunity in helping manufacturers extract greater value from the industrial equipment they already own.
Obsolescence management, electrical upgrades, control panel replacement, PLC modernisation and crane repair and servicing can extend the productive life of valuable machinery while introducing contemporary control, monitoring and safety technology.
Jennie Banner added: “British factories contain an enormous amount of valuable machinery and engineering infrastructure. Modern controls can give established equipment a new generation of capability.
“Our engineers can look at a machine, crane or production process and understand how the electrical and control architecture can be developed. Sometimes that means a completely new automated system. Sometimes it means upgrading an existing asset. The objective is the same: create a reliable, productive solution that helps the customer move forward.”
That philosophy places engineering expertise at the centre of the productivity debate.
A generation worth backing
The Make UK findings arrive as the Government places renewed emphasis on reindustrialisation and the role of domestic manufacturing capacity.
For Banelec, the scale of the family-owned manufacturing economy represents an opportunity. Thousands of businesses already possess the specialist knowledge, customer relationships, facilities and engineering experience upon which further industrial growth can be built.
Dean Banner believes that capability deserves confidence from industry, policymakers and manufacturers themselves.
“Family manufacturers have helped build Britain’s industrial reputation and we intend to play our part in its next chapter,” he said.
“We want young engineers to look at manufacturing and see a career filled with robotics, automation, software, electrical engineering and advanced technology. We want manufacturers to invest with confidence. We want British businesses winning projects here and around the world.
“There is a tremendous amount to be proud of in UK manufacturing. Banelec has built its reputation by engineering solutions, adapting and getting the job done. That same determination exists throughout family manufacturing businesses across Britain.
“The future of British manufacturing is something worth fighting for, investing in and building together.”
For Banelec, that future remains firmly rooted in engineering: British-designed electrical control systems, smarter automation, dependable crane engineering and the skilled people capable of turning complex industrial challenges into working solutions.