Need to be more competitive? How mezzanines can increase throughput
More throughput means more profit, but the costs and inconvenience of taking on new premises can be prohibitive.
Installing a mezzanine helps manufacturing businesses become more efficient, increase production and minimise energy spend without needing to shift location.
It’s a very competitive world, and any advantage you can gain by maximising capacity can be decisive in international markets.
Whether your sector is automotive, electronics, aerospace, food processing or pharmaceuticals, to highlight just a few, mezzanines can transform efficiency.
Manufacturing provides 2.6 million jobs in the UK and contributes £217 billion in output to the national economy.
The North West of England is the leading manufacturing region with output worth £29.5 billion, closely followed by the South East at £26.1 billion.
What’s more, manufacturers are investing £38.8 billion into the economy every year.
There are, of course, significant challenges.
However, whether these are space, geopolitics, energy or labour, mezzanines can be an important part of the answer.
You’re outgrowing your current space but unable to expand outwards
Ambitious companies can be constricted by the difficulty of finding the right new premises at the right price, or the daunting disruption of moving staff and equipment to a fresh location.
How mezzanines solve the challenge
With one or more mezzanines you can double, triple or even quadruple your usable space, making full use of your existing vertical capacity. Fitting mezzanines is cheaper and easier than renting additional premises and they are flexible for production, storage or office use. You can use mezzanines for assembly, quality control, stock or equipment areas to streamline production flow.
Geopolitics are escalating uncertainty
President Trump’s erratic policy on tariffs, following energy-market instability caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine, have increased global turbulence and made supply-chain resilience critical.
How mezzanines solve the challenge
Mezzanines are crucial to optimising capacity. Take-up of warehouse space for manufacturing is on the rise, accounting for c. 25% of deals in early 2025. The trend is driven by companies responding to geopolitical risks by manufacturing more at home than overseas, with a Capgemini Research Institute study forecasting an almost 10% drop in overseas manufacturing over the next three years.
Mezzanines allow you to store both more materials for manufacturing and finished products for onward distribution. Extra storage space is vital to preventing supply-chain crises, providing invaluable resilience and the reassurance that you will always be able to meet customer demand.
You’re falling behind on automation
The UK has a poor record of adopting robotics and automation compared to other countries such as the US, China, Germany and Japan. According to figures from the International Federation of Robotics the UK’s robot density in factories is 101 units per 10,000 employees, compared to a worldwide average of 162.
How mezzanines can solve the challenge
Mezzanines are perfect for conveyor systems, and our unique robot-ready flooring can withstand the weight and wear-and-tear of demanding robotics.
Some manufacturers are falling behind because they fear that bringing in robotics or automation more widely (including AI and the Industrial Internet of Things) will be disruptive to operations. The advantage of installing mezzanines is that they can be part of a holistic approach to fitting automation infrastructure, with all the work carefully scheduled together.
At Hi-Level Mezzanines our expertise and three decades of experience mean we can minimise the disruption to your workflow with our seven-point plan.
Expanding into new premises will mean extra energy bills
High energy bills are a major headache for every business – but installing a mezzanine floor can help mitigate costs for growing companies.
How mezzanines solve the challenge
Because mezzanines can double, triple or quadruple your usable area, you can expand into space you are already heating.
Rather than renting additional premises that will need to be heated in winter (and cooled with air-conditioning in the summer), installing a mezzanine means you gain maximum value from your existing building.
Fitting a mezzanine is an option that allows your company to expand without taking on prohibitive energy costs from additional premises.
Labour shortages and soaring labour costs are undermining productivity
With staff hard to recruit and retain, coupled with higher National Insurance and minimum wage rates, installing mezzanines to make room for automation and robotics can offer significant savings.
How mezzanines solve the challenge
Mezzanines help ambitious companies create space for fully automated systems that can reduce labour costs by 50%, and there are many more benefits. Technology frees up your employees to work in roles that are more strategic and add greater value to the business. They can gain new tools as well as data insights that increase their abilities. Instead of focusing on monotonous tasks, they can improve your business development capabilities and provide the data for better decision making.
You have a tight footprint that limits your scope for expansion
Existing structures, columns and the strength of your floor slab all seem to make expansion problematic …
How mezzanines solve the challenge
All our mezzanines are designed by our structural engineers for optimum safety and efficiency. They are carefully planned to maximise vertical space by providing extra room above and below, and can be built free of existing structures.
Our installations are always value-engineered for best value for money, and are bespoke to your space and needs. Our team will calculate how much weight your ground slab can bear as well as devising a column grid to fit in the manufacturing equipment, storage racking or workstations you require.
We are here to solve these problems. Whatever your space challenge, talk to us to explore how a mezzanine could be part of the solution.
