Following a warning from the National Audit Office that the UK food supply chain may not withstand a catastrophic disruption, what does a truly resilient food factory look like?
A factory is shaped as much by the relationships between its parts as by the machinery within it. Energy, people, water, logistics, data and production do not operate independently: they form a system. And in an increasingly unpredictable world, the strength of British food manufacturing may depend upon how readily that system can adapt.
This month, the National Audit Office warned that Defra has not done enough to ensure the food supply chain is resilient to catastrophic disruption. While Britain’s ability to source food globally has helped the industry weather previous shocks, the NAO found that its ability to withstand catastrophic events causing severe disruption “has not been tested”.
This warning does not stand alone. New Food Standards Agency research identifies food production and international supply chains as particularly vulnerable to climate change, with flooding, drought, heat and extreme weather threatening infrastructure, food safety and price stability. Meanwhile, new ONS figures show 28% of businesses with 10 or more employees are concerned about international conflict disrupting supply chains over the coming year, compared with 11% a year earlier.
The question for food manufacturers, then, is not simply how efficiently can a factory operate today, but how effectively can it change tomorrow?
The answer begins with reconsidering the factory itself.
Food manufacturing has long rewarded optimisation. Yet efficiency without flexibility can create fragility. Interestingly, this is not an entirely new lesson. EMCCA's East Midlands Food & Drink Strategy identified the need for shared-use infrastructure, greater provision of food-grade premises and collaborative supply-chain initiatives nearly two decades ago.
At SmartParc, we believe the resilient factory should instead be understood as a living system, efficient, certainly, but also interconnected and capable of adaptation.
SmartParc SEGRO Derby demonstrates this principle physically. Manufacturers operate through shared infrastructure, including an energy centre which recycles waste heat between units, while more than a third of energy is produced from onsite green sources. Alongside this sits flexible space for SMEs and an Innovation Centre designed to bring research and new food businesses into the same manufacturing ecosystem.
The significance is in the relationship between these elements. Shared resources can reduce duplication. Flexible space allows businesses to grow and change. Collaboration allows knowledge to travel between manufacturers. Innovation creates the means to respond when circumstances change.
This is resilience not as stockpiling, but as adaptability.
The NAO is right to ask whether Britain is prepared for the next great disruption. But preparedness cannot exist only in government contingency documents. It must also be designed into the physical places where our food is made.
The food factory of the future should not simply be optimised for what we need today. It must be ready to become what we need tomorrow.
Bibliography
National Audit Office (2026) Resilience of the foodsupply chain to disruptions. 4 September 2026. Available at: National Audit Office – Resilience of the food supply chain todisruptions
Office for National Statistics (2026) Business insightsand impact on the UK economy: 3 September 2026. 3 September 2026. Availableat: Office for National Statistics – Business insights and impacton the UK economy
Food Standards Agency (2026) Annual science update to theFSA Board: September 2026. 3 September 2026. Available at: Food Standards Agency – Annual science update
Food Standards Agency (2026) Food Standards Agency Boardmeeting papers: September 2026. 3 September 2026. Available at: Food Standards Agency – September 2026 Board meeting
Food & Drink Federation (2026) FDF statement onimpacts of drought and heatwaves. 11 August 2026. Available at: Food & Drink Federation – Drought and heatwaves
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