That's Lyndon Davies declared long term aim: lifetime in the diecast toy business, owner of Oxford Diecast, and now MD at Hornby. To make ths work, assembly worker pay rates in China and other currently low cost manufacturing locations have to approach UK minimum wage. Then the question will be whether the workforce can be found, trained to a suitable standard, and retained for long enough, to make it economic.Firefly16 wrote:Why stop at changing the designs? Why not change the makers? In other words, bring production back to the UK...
I was engaged in very high added value physical goods manufacturing in the UK and Western Europe into the 1990s, and it was tough going. It was largely an ageing experienced manual skills workforce that allowed us to go on that long; because recruiting from the young was dire. They could see that the same money could be got for less effort in an office, with a carpet on the floor, wear your smart duds, flexible working hours including options for home working and strolling out for a two hour lunch easily negotiable, take personal phone calls any time, no shift rotations, etc. Those that joined and were good performers quickly enough made comparisons with their contemporaries, and went off for the better working conditions available elsewhere. The workforce disciplines involved in making a manufacturing plant investment pay, by keeping it fully loaded making product, is not that appealing to most; even to the Germans!
