All the financial experts are saying that the small amount of manufacturing we still have is picking up and no one can be more pleased to hear that than me. But with this welcome successes comes other problems.
In my business and I dare say many other similar businesses are now suffering long delivery or poor quality issues. I would go even further and say that 90% of the orders we place with suppliers we are either told the parts are no longer available, have long delivery times or just comes in wrong!
These days many components are not made in the Uk and we are reliant on overseas manufacturers. Anything we need from Germany and I’ll bet it will be as difficult to get as hen’s teeth and a big price tag to boot. When the world’s economies pick up it is not surprising that manufacturers look after their home markets first. Although we can now get some of those important orders we craved, it is the delivery issues that are letting us down and disappointing our customers.
What I find most frustrating is when orders come in wrong either due to poor workmanship or simply the sales guy has not paid proper attention to my needs. Recently, after waiting 3 weeks for my supplier to deliver some urgent parts and continuous chasing by phone and email he admitted that he had forgotten to place the order on his factory floor.
If we are to get serious again about Manufacturing we must get it right. Saying sorry is just not good enough and does not excuse sloppy service and it will certainly not get us back as a serious world competitor. We also need to be more self sufficient in obtaining simple parts to prevent hold ups, improve our cash flow and make us more price competitive.
To do that of course we must also have stability and continued commitment from our Government to ensure we get the investment in skills and equipment for the long term, and then hopefully this resurgence will not be just a flash in the pan.
Cheers
Bob
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