The threat to companies in Honda’s supply chain could turn into opportunity for them.

Following the announcement of Honda’s intention to close its Swindon operation with the loss of 3500 jobs and potentially another 4,000 in their supply chain, Amelia Bishop who is a change consultant who specialises in Brexit change may have good news for some of the supply chain companies.

“As with most change comes opportunities,” said Amelia.

“Here in the UK we have had two and a half years to revive our manufacturing capability, although there isn’t much evidence that we’ve exploited that huge opportunity yet.

“Without visibility of Honda’s supply chain, it stands to reason that some in the supply chain will be manufacturers and having a manufacturing capability can be a huge advantage when looking to reconsider what you produce.

“When we leave the EU, imports may potentially see a price increase, some sizeable due to tariffs and additional cost and the overhead burden of customs administration needed to support the import of goods.

“By bringing together a manufacturing capability and the potential cost and difficulty of importing there is a need for British manufacturing companies to review their product range and align it to similar products or diversify their product range to produce items that may be too costly to import, therefore enabling these manufactures to supply the UK market.

“Therefore, if the manufacturers in Honda’s supply chain review their production capability against the imported products most at risk of high import tariffs and assess their capability in producing these items there could be a whole new future open to them.

“Naturally this requires thorough research, with effort and cost of design and manufacture but for any business that wishes to explore opportunities for continued growth this could prove to be a real option.”