A health check for the manufacturing sector
If the factory is the beating heart of a manufacturing business, uptime is its oxygen.
The Rubix Uptime Index is a health check for the European manufacturing sector. Launched in June 2025, it is updated alongside a series of white papers exploring the key considerations when it comes to protecting and enhancing manufacturing uptime.
The Rubix Uptime Index: September 2026
Across Europe, manufacturers are operating in a supply chain that refuses to sit still. Costs keep climbing, critical parts can be delayed, and the geopolitical backdrop offers little sign of calming down. Uncertainty has become the norm.
The Uptime Index has climbed four points, from 75 to 79, continuing the steady upward trend.
This rise doesn’t reflect an improvement in conditions. It shows that businesses are getting better at absorbing shocks, securing the parts they need and protecting uptime in challenging conditions.
An introduction from our Group VP Key Accounts
Our Group VP of Key Accounts, David Cullern, gives an overview of the Rubix Uptime Index and sets out the headlines from our latest research.
In this wave of the Rubix Uptime Index, we turn to supply chain resilience and understanding what happens when the parts a factory depends on can’t be found.
The consequences rarely stop at the storeroom. A late part becomes a missed delivery. And a missed delivery puts at risk the hardest thing to rebuild: a manufacturer’s reputation.
Watch the short video to find out more.
The supply chain reaction: Protecting reputation against instability
The supply chain once ran quietly in the background, only noticed when something went wrong.
Now it has moved to the front row. Since the pandemic, leaders have seen that when the supply chain falters, everything falters. This report explores that shift.
It shows resilience as a source of competitive advantage and a protector of reputation, not just an operational detail.
We look into the forces shaping supply chains today, where they hit hardest, and the steps manufacturers are taking to protect operations.
Download the latest white paper
Previous whitepaper
Wired for instability: Meeting the skills challenge
We explore one of the most important and complex factors shaping uptime: the availability of skilled staff.
Attracting the right skills has become a structural capability problem that reflects the realities of a changing world.
The manufacturers pulling ahead are not those avoiding the problem, but those responding to it proactively.
More about the Rubix Uptime Index
The index score is designed to provide a clear, normalised indicator of confidence in the European Manufacturing Sector on a scale from 0 to 100.
The score provides a standardised way to interpret attitudes across various aspects of manufacturing strategy and readiness.
The Index is derived from responses to statements that evaluate perceptions of thought leadership within European manufacturing, including:
- Understanding of maintenance needs
- Willingness to make long-term investments
- Access to spare parts
- Availability of skilled staff
Together, these dimensions form a holistic view of how prepared and forward-looking the sector is in both strategic and operational terms.