In a global economy, logistics are a life or death issue for manufacturers. This article discusses the effect of the supply chain on manufacturing. It covers such issues as radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, supply chain management (SCM) and distributed resources planning (DRP) software and electronic data interchange (EDI). An emphasis is placed on the limited usage of these within a context of UK manufacturing. Also examined is the current trend of moving production to low-wage Far East facilities.