yay...David Cameron Saves Britain.

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by Biker Biggles

Thats kind of my point.They make good watch mechanisms as well,but not very many these days
We still make the best F1 cars in the world but not very many.None of that will ever create the several million jobs that we require,and to be solvent we need many of those jobs to be in productive exporting industry.I still dont see the leadership we will need to get there and dont tell me it cant be done because if the Germans can so can we.

Agreed, what we need is a way of stopping all our factories being shut down and the jobs being moved to places like Poland or the Far East. Or stop selling our companies to overseas owners

Avon cosmetics is an example of jobs being moved overseas.

Kraft buying Cadbury's

A lot of this down to the wages bill, so not easy to fix

Unfortunately many of the tariff quotas that used to restrict the import of cheap far east imports were abolished by the last Tory government.

The quotas were there to protect UK manufacturing from the very thing that has happened to them since the quotas were taken away.

To protect your manufacturing base you need to have a level playing field, if the wages in China were similar to our costs then it'd be a different story, but its very hard to compete with them at the moment.

We need their stuff, but they don't need that much of our stuff

[Biker Biggles]

How do the Germans do it?VW Audi is one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world,and they also have Mercedes Porsche and BMW all German owned and doing well.They still build ships trains and all manner of heavy machinary on a grand scale and turn a profit.Their balance of trade figures are hugely in surplus just like ours used to be when I was a kid.They pay good wages too with standards of living much higher than here.We could maybe have the humility to take a few lessons instead of harping back to thrashing them in WW2 and pretending we are fighting them on the beaches again.
(We didnt thrash them anyway,the Yanks and Ruskys did.)

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by Biker Biggles

How do the Germans do it?VW Audi is one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world,and they also have Mercedes Porsche and BMW all German owned and doing well.They still build ships trains and all manner of heavy machinary on a grand scale and turn a profit.Their balance of trade figures are hugely in surplus just like ours used to be when I was a kid.They pay good wages too with standards of living much higher than here.We could maybe have the humility to take a few lessons instead of harping back to thrashing them in WW2 and pretending we are fighting them on the beaches again.
(We didnt thrash them anyway,the Yanks and Ruskys did.)

Probably building quality stuff that people wanted, like VW Golf, Porsche 911, Merc C class, Audi A class, BMW 3 series

Running trains on time.

Maintaining a shipping industry and to some extent having ships that still sail under the German flag, unlike ours which were sold out by their shareholders (P&O,Cunard).

[Bri w]

I work for a successful German manufacturering company. It has clear goals and strong mgt. Get something wrong and you'll soon find out about it. Kick against the stream, especially since 2008, and you're heading towards the door. Its about producing a quality product, selling it, supporting it and making sure you deal with any issues the customer has as quickly as possible. Build the reputation of reliability and you won't have to price your product cheaply - you don't have to be cheap but you do have to show value for money.

We look after our staff, and they look after the company. People don't clock watch, and at times I have to tell them to slow down, cut back, go on leave. I add leave to the their leave record and o/t to their worksheets, and because I value them I get a first class work ethic in return... no I'm not German.

[Biker Biggles]

Absolutely.Maybe our illustrious leaders could address those issues instead of posing on the European stage achieving naff all that will be of any long term use to us.I am sure Cameron et al and their Labour precursers would agree what is needed,but none of them has the first clue about how to get there.Dealing with the Derby train industry fiasco would be a good start if only the tip of the iceberg.

[punyXpress]

To quote maviczap:
" Probably building quality stuff that people wanted, like VW Golf, Porsche 911, Merc C class, Audi A class, BMW 3 series "
and derestricted autobahns to play on.

[Biker Biggles]

"Maintaining a shipping industry"
Thats what I was in when I left school.We traded all round the world in ships built in the UK bringing in huge amounts of foriegn money.Over a relatively short time we allowed the owners to missmanage things so badly that they almost gave it all away to foriegn interests,and all that income dried up.Now we pay others to do it for us in ships built anywhere but here.Im sure its the same story in other industries.

[maviczap]

But in my line of work the Germans are still using systems of control that we got rid of with electronic systems ages ago. They have hundreds of staff dealing with paperwork in an age where electronic documents rule.

When I've visited their offices its like going back 20years, but from my perspective I like it like that.

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by Biker Biggles

"Maintaining a shipping industry"
Thats what I was in when I left school.We traded all round the world in ships built in the UK bringing in huge amounts of foriegn money.Over a relatively short time we allowed the owners to missmanage things so badly that they almost gave it all away to foriegn interests,and all that income dried up.Now we pay others to do it for us in ships built anywhere but here.Im sure its the same story in other industries.

Yes, Harrison line was sold for £1!

But strangely enough there are still a lot of BIG ship management companies based in the UK.

But we prefer to manage ships, rather than own & operate them.

We still manufacture in the UK and we have to major on quality. We cannot even begin to compete on price with Eastern Europe and Turkey, let alone China. A few years back we were offered an "equivalent" product by a Chinese manufacturer for us to badge and sell as our own. They were cheaper than we could buy just the components to build something here.