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Have rumours of manufacturing’s death been exaggerated?
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| View from a crane - development work at Colchester Institute, Sheepen Road, Colchester. Picture: NIGEL BROWN (76623-3) |
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The buzzword in world manufacturing is, apparently, Mandarin.
Such is the strength of the Chinese market when it comes to making things, western countries can't compete. Or so those sporting lucrative contracts with Beijing believe.
But it isn't just China. Many eastern European countries, with their lack of red tape and cheap labour, are also striking profitable deals with UK companies to take over the manufacturing side of their operations.
The latest north Essex firm to go east is Colchester-based Betts.
The company, which produces toothpaste tubes, is making jobs redundant because 75 per cent of its plastics moulding operation is being taken over by a company in Slovenia.
This diminishing of UK manufacturing has been gathering momentum for the past two decades. The overheads may be cheaper in eastern Europe and China, but that isn't the only reason why manufacturing is slowly disappearing in the UK.
"There is still a massive skills shortage in manufacturing and engineering in the UK," said Adam Ward, head of the centre for engineering at Colchester Institute. "Many people have been saying this for a long time, but it is only now that the Government has begun to understand the implications."
Those implications are quite stark. With manufacturing skills concentrated in an ageing workforce, these skills will be lost unless younger people take up the baton. It is only recently that that has started to happen.
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| Flakt Woods - offers class. Picture: ADRIAN RUSHTON (51779-3) |
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"Things are changing," said Mr Ward. "The Government has realised we must have people trained in manufacturing, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, engineering maintenance, fabrication, car mechanics, welding. That's why it has begun a big push for apprenticeship programmes."
Next September part of the newly-refurbished engineering department at Colchester Institute will open. It has places for 177 apprentices, split between engineering/manufacturing and motor vehicle engineering, and Mr Ward has no doubt all places will be filled.
"What we forget is that while mass-produced goods do tend to come out of China, eastern Europe and India, there is still a lot of manufacturing going on in the UK," he said. "The situation really is not as bleak as people think it is."
This is reflected in north Essex. While manufacturing on a big scale just doesn't happen any more, there are still many small, specialist manufacturing and engineering companies throughout Colchester, Tendring and mid-Essex. They are taking on apprentices. They may only come in ones and twos - Swan Engineering in Braintree has just announced it is taking on two - but those add up.
"I think one of the reasons why young people do not opt for manufacturing or electronic maintenance as careers is because those subjects just don't happen any more in schools," said Mr Ward.
"Schools used to teach metalwork and woodwork (which led to apprenticeships). Now, with the exception of workshops in some schools, they are rarely on the curriculum."
Then, an academic career did not overshadow the vocational. By the 1980s, working with your hands suddenly, and foolishly, meant not working with your brain.
In the late 1990s, a Government desire to get 18-year-olds into university sidelined even further manufacturing and engineering.
David Priest is confident this can be turned around. Mr Priest is former managing director of Colchester-based Woods - now Flakt Woods - which manufactures ventilation and air turbines.
When he was managing director in the 1990s, Woods employed 800 people, making it one of the town's biggest employers.
Now there are 250, but Mr Priest does not see this as a problem. Like Woods before it, Flakt Woods offers class. The amalgamation of two of the world's leading names in the ventilation industry in 2002 also gave the new company clout.
"I firmly believe that manufacturing in this country can still be good if companies offer the quality products customers want and have a competitive edge," he said. "Flakt Woods has those plus a reputation for performance and delivery."
But the workforce has dropped by two-thirds, even more at Man B&W Diesel, once the town's mighty Paxman Diesels, and another big manufacturer, Colchester Lathe, is no longer with us. Doesn't this indicate on-going decline?
"Not at all," insisted Mr Priest, former president of the Colchester Engineering Society. "UK manufacturing can be a thriving industry once more, but in a different form because we must accept times change.
"We may not be able to compete with overseas countries when it comes to manufacturing basic components, but there is a lot of innovation in the UK - and in north Essex."
So, downsizing and specialisation plus Government support can make a difference. So, too, can major players.
On the outskirts of Colchester, at Copford, Colchester Institute has its engineering training centre.
What is so remarkable about the centre is its provenance. This is not a Government initiative or education-driven. The centre was set up because Stansted Airport suddenly realised what people like Adam Ward have been saying for years - we don't know how to fix or make things any more.
The training centre was set up following a direct request from the airport maintenance company.
It has an important future. Just like manufacturing.
9:25am Thursday 17th April 2008
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