New research from OFS suggests UK manufacturers are still losing large amounts of productive time every day to manual reporting, disconnected systems and delayed operational visibility, despite years of investment in digital transformation.

The study of 500 UK manufacturing professionals, published in the report Same factory, different reality – the growing divide between manufacturing leadership and operators found operators spend an average of 21 minutes per shift manually logging information, transcribing data and preparing reports. Across a typical three-shift operation, that equates to more than an hour every day spent moving information around rather than solving problems on the factory floor.

While 21 minutes may not sound significant in isolation, the cumulative impact across multiple production lines, sites and shifts quickly becomes substantial, multiplying up to 380 hours a year. The research suggests many manufacturers are still running highly manual operational models beneath the surface of supposedly digitised environments.

Fewer than 1 in 10 (8%) of manufacturers said their reporting processes are fully automated. Nearly 7 in 10 (68%) manufacturers spend up to 30 minutes per shift on manual reporting and admin tasks, while 14% spend more than 30 minutes every shift.

The findings point to a wider operational problem around how manufacturing data is captured, accessed and used. Frontline teams currently use less than 40% of the operational data manufacturers collect, while nearly a third of businesses say operators use just 0-25% of available data when making decisions during shifts.

Access to operational insight also remains heavily restricted. Only 26% of operators have full real-time access to production performance data, while almost a third rely on managers or supervisors to access information on their behalf.

The knock-on effect is slower issue detection, delayed responses and rising operational costs. Only a third of production issues become visible to senior management immediately through real-time data. More than 20% take longer than a shift to surface, including some that take several days.

Nearly half (46%) of manufacturers say they have already experienced production downtime linked to delayed visibility and unresolved issues. 41% report increased operational costs, while a third say delays have caused missed delivery deadlines and lost revenue.

James Magee, CEO at OFS says: “Manufacturers often think they have digitised because the data eventually ends up in a dashboard somewhere. But if operators are still manually transferring information between systems, escalating issues through supervisors and spending nearly half an hour every shift on admin, the reality on the ground is still highly manual.

“21 minutes does not sound dramatic until you scale it. Across a factory running multiple lines and multiple shifts, manufacturers are effectively losing hours of productive time every single day to reporting overhead alone. Across larger operations, that quickly becomes millions of pounds in lost productivity over time. That’s a lot of lost revenue.

“The bigger issue is that people are spending time feeding systems instead of using insight to improve output, reduce waste or solve problems earlier. Manufacturers do not necessarily have a data problem anymore. They increasingly have a usability and visibility problem.

“A huge amount of operational data is being collected but never properly used by the people closest to production. And when visibility is delayed, the financial impact shows up quickly through downtime, missed deadlines, rising costs and firefighting.”

To see the full report visit – www.ofsystems.com/blog/blog-uk-manufacturing-research-report-2026.