UK manufacturing - why is it disappearing?

[Doggy Styles]

The Germans still make stuff and they aren't cheap so it can't all be about far east sweatshops.

Assuming we'd like to make things again, what are the other reasons for the loss of manufacturing and what can we do about it?

[DiscoStu]

The Germans still make stuff and they aren't cheap so it can't all be about far east sweatshops.

Assuming we'd like to make things again, what are the other reasons for the loss of manufacturing and what can we do about it?

Trade unions. It's too late to do anything about it.

HTH

[wobbegong]

The Germans still make stuff and they aren't cheap so it can't all be about far east sweatshops.

Assuming we'd like to make things again, what are the other reasons for the loss of manufacturing and what can we do about it?

As a nation, we're lazy. It's easier to pay someone a subsistance level wage in the third world than get of our collective arses and make it ourselves.

All part of the "instant gratification" culture we've allowed ourselves to descend into.

[Sysman]

Monetarism, high interest rates, strong pound, Thatcher's mission to move everyone into the service sector. Thatcher specifically used high interest rates to keep the pound strong.

Not too sure about the effect of the strong pound out of that lot as Germany seemed to manage with a strong DM.

[Doggy Styles]

Do our kids aspire to be engineers any more?

[Addanc]

Monetarism, high interest rates, strong pound, Thatcher's mission to move everyone into the service sector. Thatcher specifically used high interest rates to keep the pound strong.

Not too sure about the effect of the strong pound out of that lot as Germany seemed to manage with a strong DM.

Fnck-wit it's twenty years since Thatcher was in power and twelve years since the Tories were last in power, try playing a different tune.

[darmstadt]

Trade unions. It's too late to do anything about it.

HTH

Possibly but Germany has a pretty strong union movement, in fact I believe the DGB (German equivalent of the TUC) is the largest in the world. Sometimes I think the unions here are damn stupid in some of things they do but in a lot of cases they do quite a bit of good work. I was a member of IGM for a few years and sat on a Betriebsrat (Works Council) and saw first hand either how idiotic or how supportive they were.

I think it all really started back in Thatchers day when everyone was encouraged to be their own boss or entrepenaur or just make as much money as possible. People left their jobs, started small buisiness or worked in white collar industries to make money and never went back to industry. Britain used to be world renowed for their products, and still is in some cases but only in those products which tend towards a certain market. Blame the media for making everyone want to be a star and not actually work anymore.

[Doggy Styles]

Hmmm. Well if the good bergers of CUK can't explain it, it is obviously an insoluble problem.

I must admit that, if I were an impressionable teenager looking for role models, union leaders, drawing boards, and people with spanners and soldering irons wouldn't do it for me in the same way as champaigne-swilling bankers, buy-to-letters and Big Brother contestants.

[Sysman]

Fnck-wit it's twenty years since Thatcher was in power and twelve years since the Tories were last in power, try playing a different tune.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

link

[scooterscot]

Groups should not always be blamed, individuals have to take some responsibility.

I've looked for support in my business, engineering support requiring a good technical knowledge - it's a desert out there.

I'd agree also that there is a real chance the skills that belonged to the last generation are at risk of being lost forever as students take on ever more elaborate courses that contribute little to society and apprenticeships are lost forever.

I also believe that at the top it was believed quality of manufacturing could be duplicated around the world - not true IMO

We've taken two steps back