The scale of Britain’s transition to low-carbon electricity is creating a significant opportunity for UK manufacturers to play a greater role in the infrastructure and supply chains that will underpin the country’s future energy system, according to Brigham Pressings.
A new Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) briefing examining supply chains for low-carbon electricity infrastructure highlights the scale of the industrial requirement ahead. The UK’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan targets 43–50GW of offshore wind, 27–29GW of onshore wind, 45–47GW of solar and 23–27GW of battery storage, alongside around 80 major transmission projects by 2030.
For Brigham Pressings Managing Director Allan Murray, those ambitions place Britain’s established manufacturing base firmly within the energy transition conversation.
“When we talk about the energy transition, attention naturally goes to wind turbines, battery storage, electricity networks and major infrastructure projects,” said Murray. “Behind every one of those technologies sits an extensive manufacturing supply chain involving materials, precision components, tooling, engineering expertise and highly repeatable production processes.
“Britain already has a deep engineering heritage and a network of specialist manufacturers capable of supporting sophisticated, high-volume programmes. The opportunity now is to connect that capability with the industries that are scaling to deliver the next generation of energy infrastructure.”
From Energy Ambition to Manufactured Components
The POST briefing divides low-carbon electricity supply chains into upstream mining, midstream processing, downstream manufacturing and reverse supply chains covering reuse, repair, remanufacturing, recycling and recovery. Importantly for Britain’s engineering sector, downstream manufacturing encompasses the industrial processes that transform materials into components, subassemblies and finished technologies.
It is within this manufacturing environment that Brigham Pressings’ capabilities in precision metal pressings, presswork, metal stampings, tooling and toolmaking and assemblies can support manufacturers developing products for increasingly sophisticated supply chains.
Operating from Birmingham, Brigham provides an integrated manufacturing route from early engineering and tooling through to repeatable high-volume production and assembled components.
Its high-speed presswork capability includes Bruderer progression presses capable of operating at up to 800 strokes per minute, providing the productivity and repeatability required for substantial production volumes.
The Parliamentary briefing identifies an expanding UK manufacturing presence across wind energy, nuclear, hydrogen, heat pumps and electricity networks. It also points towards opportunities in battery technologies and digital infrastructure, while highlighting targeted domestic manufacturing as one of the routes through which Britain can strengthen supply-chain resilience.
“Large infrastructure programmes ultimately translate into thousands of individual manufactured requirements,” Murray continued. “Some are major assemblies and others are comparatively small precision stampings produced in very high volumes. Each has an important place within a strong industrial supply chain.
“Our role at Brigham is centred on taking a component requirement and developing an efficient route into repeatable manufacture. We can bring together tooling, presswork, secondary operations and assemblies within a coordinated production programme, giving customers access to manufacturing expertise from the early stages of a project.”
Tooling the Transition for Scalable UK Production
The opportunity extends beyond manufacturing individual components. Brigham’s in-house tooling and toolmaking capability enables its engineers to work with customers during product development, considering component geometry, material utilisation, tolerances, tooling strategy and production volumes alongside the manufacturing process itself.
Once industrialised, components can progress into Brigham’s high-volume presswork capability, with secondary operations and assemblies providing the potential for more complete manufacturing solutions.
For customers anticipating significant production volumes, that design-for-manufacture approach can help establish an efficient production strategy from the outset.
“Design-for-manufacture can have a major influence on the commercial performance of a programme,” Murray said. “When manufacturing expertise is introduced early, the component, tooling and production process can be developed together.
“That becomes particularly valuable when customers are planning substantial future volumes. The objective is to create a manufacturing process that delivers quality, repeatability and productivity from the outset, with the capacity to support the programme as demand develops.”
Aerospace Quality Disciplines Supporting Advanced Manufacturing
Brigham’s experience in highly controlled manufacturing environments is reinforced by its AS9100 aerospace quality accreditation, providing a quality-management framework developed around the demanding requirements of aerospace, space and defence manufacturing.
While the energy sector encompasses its own range of standards and customer-specific requirements, Brigham’s experience operating within an AS9100 environment demonstrates established disciplines around quality management, process control, traceability and repeatable manufacture.
That crossover becomes increasingly relevant as low-carbon infrastructure develops into a sophisticated advanced-manufacturing market in its own right.
The POST briefing highlights the breadth of UK capability already supporting the transition. Britain has one of Europe’s most established nuclear manufacturing supply chains, while domestic capabilities are also developing in electrolysers, fuel cells and hydrogen equipment. The UK additionally has a growing electricity networks manufacturing base.
For Murray, these are industries where the wider UK manufacturing ecosystem can increasingly contribute its expertise.
“The disciplines associated with sectors such as aerospace have created an exceptional manufacturing knowledge base in the UK,” he said. “Quality systems, controlled processes, traceability, precision tooling and repeatable high-volume production are transferable capabilities.
“As energy technologies mature and volumes increase, manufacturers that already understand how to industrialise demanding components can become an important part of building those supply chains.”
Long-Term Visibility Can Unlock Manufacturing Investment
The Parliamentary research places particular emphasis on creating confidence in future demand. It argues that consistent project pipelines, stable contract volumes and credible procurement signals can help manufacturers invest and scale domestic capability. The potential pipeline is substantial.
The interim Electricity Networks Sector Growth Plan cited in the POST briefing anticipates investment of up to £50 billion in distribution networks and £70 billion in transmission networks. The report also identifies a series of government financing mechanisms supporting clean-energy infrastructure and manufacturing, including the £300 million Great British Energy Supply Chain Fund for offshore wind and networks.
Murray believes greater visibility over these long-term programmes can provide manufacturers with the confidence to invest alongside their customers.
“Manufacturing investment works particularly well when businesses can see a clear market developing ahead of them,” he said. “Long-term programmes create the conditions for companies to invest in equipment, tooling, automation, people and skills.
“For Brigham, that visibility also creates opportunities to work collaboratively with customers, developing manufacturing solutions around the volumes they expect to require over several years and establishing the tooling and production capacity to support that growth.”
Building More Value into the UK Supply Chain
The POST briefing ultimately points towards a targeted approach to domestic capability, identifying areas where Britain possesses industrial strengths and where UK manufacturing can contribute most effectively to resilience, security and economic growth.
For Brigham Pressings, that means recognising the potential contribution of the country’s existing precision engineering base as investment flows into electricity networks, renewable generation, storage and associated technologies.
From precision metal pressings and high-volume presswork to metal stampings, tooling and assemblies, the company believes established manufacturing capability can help translate the scale of the energy transition into sustained industrial activity.
“The UK has an enormous amount of manufacturing knowledge that can be applied to the energy transition,” Murray concluded.
“As investment in electricity networks, renewable generation, storage and associated technologies accelerates, there is an opportunity to bring more British engineering businesses into these supply chains.
“Brigham’s contribution is precision manufacturing: combining tooling, presswork, engineering, assemblies and high-volume production to help customers industrialise components efficiently. Connecting capabilities like ours with the emerging requirements of the energy sector can help turn the UK’s low-carbon ambitions into long-term manufacturing activity, investment and skilled employment.”