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A Chap called Alex Singleton, in the DT posed the following question – “Is China overtaking the UK in manufacturing quality ?” This was based apparently on him visiting a UK store to buy stuff like suitcases, luggage and was confronted with a cheap version made in the UK and a more expensive version made in China, I think.

To be honest I found his approach all rather odd, he seemed to be writing about Britain and other similar Western countries having to concentrate on “designing stuff and intellectual property” which rather reminded me of being at Art School and studying Fine Art. “How will you make a living ?” To which the answer was to get a job teaching Fine Art in an Art School whilst you built a reputation as an Artist. It never seemed a credible career path so I didn’t finish the course.

Living in Rockford

Actually and on a serious note, in 2000 and 2001, I was living and working in the US and 90 miles due West of Chicago in a ‘City’ called Rockford. Having had to set up home in a rented apartment, I went out to buy stuff to make it ‘liveable’, all main furniture being provided.

On each trip to my new home, I unpacked my purchases and peeled off the labels, 95% of which said “Made in China”. I still have to this day, the high quality kitchen knives and pots n’ pans made in China for American brands that I bought home with me. My one regret was that I didn’t buy and bring home more American manufactured hand tools (DIY), they still produce some great stuff, just like Boeing !

China and Manufacturing

The reality is that manufacturing moved to China because it offered low wages, less rigorous environmental rules and a capable workforce. Just as in Taiwan where local businesses provide tailored products to customers like Dell and so on, mainland China offers the same ‘service’ for other Western Brand Leaders. Whilst the quality and the tooling to deliver that quality consistently has been invested in, thus far China is not creating unique “Chinese Goods” for export, it is manufacturing well to Western standards and requirements.

The interesting thing will be see whether China will follow Japan and ‘transition’ to becoming a great technical innovator or, whether the sheer size of its domestic market will keep Chinese Companies busy for decades without having to attempt “original technical solutions and products, I guess that time will tell.

And for those who have forgotten, post WWII Japan started out “copying” Western manufactures and often badly but then came a change with great brands like Sony and to a keen photographer like me, Canon, Nikon and so on…

Western Manufacturing

In our “tomorrow”, Western manufacturing will not just be about price, it will not even be about volume, it will be about quality, ‘bespoke personal purchases’ and that will have an impact on prices and expectations concerning durability, servicing and upgrades to existing products all of which will be kinder on the environment.

Some 5 years ago I moved to Somerset from London the City of my birth to look after my Parents who were already in their 80′s. I gave away my own car and took over my Father’s Honda Civic which is now 7 years old and only has 30,000 miles on the clock. I would love to support our ‘local’ car manufacturer Honda at Swindon and buy another but from my personal perspective, ‘credit crunch’ or not, why or rather, why should I this car will last another 5/10 years, won’t it ?

The ‘answer’ in the consumer age which just seems to have died would be to have bought a new one because “spangle shining new” is sooo important, I suspect the future will concentrate on function over new. Have the changes that have taken place, a consequence of the economic crisis or then again, were those changes under way anyway and the “crisis” is just a symptom of all that ?

The Market

Basically, there are only two markets, the mass produced and the hand made. For UK manufacturing, hand made in terms of Saville Row suits and high quality clothing is obvious. In terms of industries like car production, there is a need for “technology tie-ups” but the emphasis should always be on the “bespoke” within the UK or any relatively “high wage” economy.

In fact, rather than say Toyota spawning the “Lexus Brand”, a better example may come from F1 Racing and the “same engine” concept to which could be added in terms of normal car production, the “same floor pan” etc. It was the Japanese who borrowing heavily from the Americans and adding a twist of their own genius came up with the concept of “Car Companies” being car designers and assemblers and not manufacturers of engine blocks etc.

The concept being, what is the “Intellectual Knowledge” of any business ? Making things or knowing what needs to be made, at what price and commanding the routes to market which in the case of a motor business may be your Dealer Chain…people don’t visit car factories to buy cars do they ?

Focus On the Issue

Staying with motor cars although with variations, the same principles could apply to all manufacturing. There are some areas that require very heavy capital investment via tooling and R&D to produce a high quality product and I will pick on the engine, transmission and floor pan as examples. The problem under the past business model, a company developed these then had to produce “X numbers” to recover their development costs.

Now suppose that they did all of that but instead supplied 100s maybe 1,000s of small manufacturers that in the UK produced bespoke hand made cars using these components but in Africa, the same components went into building rugged all-terrain trucks.

In actual fact and technically, none of this is new, shared components, floor pans, electrical systems and so forth are common practice with global companies such as Ford, GM, Toyota, Uncle Tom Cobbley and all but only to produce branded products for that company, this approach just takes the same thing and removes the branding. But this does something else, it provides local employment on a relatively low overhead but high quality technology basis.

Putting it All Together

For China which grew on consumer demand in the West and a low wage economy, whilst the high quality mass produced manufactured economy may have a long way to go domestically given the size of their population, in the West, we have probably reached saturation and indeed, that may be a factor in the current downturn.

To talk/write about the UK economy in isolation is silly – “Send not to ask for whom the bell tolls…” we are part of a broader economy, a global one. What we are looking at is creating a new and different structure where the key elements of production are ‘sourced’ from common suppliers. The difficulty will be to ensure that there is genuine competition and heavy penalties for “cartel building”.

If you believe in a ‘greener globe’, this recession is the best way to reduce ‘green house gasses’ through reduced volume and increased ‘specialisation’ in supply would be better all round. The world has changed, let’s change with it, imaginatively.