David Cullern, group vice president key accounts at RubixRubix, a leading European distributor of industrial products and services, has announced the launch of the
Uptime Index — a new indicator assessing the health of European manufacturing. The
Uptime Index was developed in response to ongoing conversations with customers across Europe, who expressed a growing need for greater visibility into the factors affecting factory uptime and long-term performance. Understanding these pressures is essential to improving resilience, boosting productivity and staying competitive in a fast-changing industrial landscape.
David Cullern, group vice president key accounts at Rubix, said: “Within any manufacturing business — the factory is the heart and uptime is its oxygen — so the new index is the industry’s health check. The success of the European manufacturing industry is a priority we share with both customers and suppliers, and the
Uptime Index provides a collective focus on what matters most, keeping European industry running reliably and resiliently.”
As of June 2025, the overall
Uptime Index score stands at 74 out of 100, indicating a relatively high level of confidence among Rubix customers. Across Europe, the most positively-rated area was a strong understanding of maintenance requirements, suggesting businesses are well equipped to manage downtime and keep sites running at peak efficiency. In contrast, the findings showed that confidence in predictive maintenance was slightly lower among participants despite its growing importance in boosting resilience and avoiding unplanned outages.
Acute skills challengeLocal findings from the UK and Ireland, based on responses from 395 manufacturing businesses, closely reflected the wider European picture. A strong understanding of maintenance needs emerged as a key strength across the region. However, confidence in accessing skilled staff was notably lower, underscoring a particularly acute skills challenge in the UK and Ireland.
These results are not a cause for concern but a clear call to action — and a demonstration of the importance of regularly measuring performance. They also reinforce the vital role trusted partners, such as Rubix, can play in helping manufacturers address capability gaps and drive meaningful progress.
Mr Cullern continued: “It is encouraging to see real momentum in some areas, but there is more to do to ensure progress is shared across the board. By identifying where support is most needed, we can help strengthen resilience and drive positive change across the industry. Results from our research show that the majority of European manufacturers agree on the need to improve systems integration between functions like procurement, inventory and maintenance. True resilience comes from joined-up thinking across the value chain — and that is where the right partnerships and technical expertise can make all the difference.”
The
Uptime Index marks the beginning of a continuing initiative to monitor and understand shifts in performance, confidence and capability across European manufacturing. To support the Uptime Index, Rubix will publish a series of whitepapers. Informed by further insight, including in-depth customer interviews, these provide deeper analysis of industry needs and opportunities concerning uptime and manufacturing performance.
The first white paper in this series:
Moving in sync: How seamless coordination drives Uptime, highlights how greater alignment of decisions taken by central teams and actions carried out at the site level can improve a business’s health. It offers a perspective on why this alignment is often hard to find and what it takes to put it right.
The full findings can be viewed at the website
here.