production management
WHILE they have to co-exist, there’s
no reason why the financial and
manufacturing sectors should be locked
into each other’s difficulties. But how
dangerous is the general public’s reaction
television and tabloid statements
concerning the economy?
Graham Dewhurst puts things into
perspective: ‘If Mervyn King is
predicting 1% growth whilst financial
services are in recession, that means
manufacturing is still growing. Exports
are strong, and what he said was that if
you’re not working in financial services,
you’ll do much better. But the national
press don’t get it quite right, so the
general public get wrong idea. If business
leaders lose confidence, that becomes a
danger, but in our sector we’re not yet
seeing that confidence dissipated.’
‘In our experience, manufacturers are
going it alone, whatever the government
does’ says Geoff Llloyd. ‘And the
government needs to realise that the
manufacturers we have now are
predominantly very good and will
continue to grow in the world economy.
A lot of our members - Heller and Mazak
for example - have large expansion
programmes, and we can see, two, three,
four years ahead that the market will
remain strong. The governor of the Bank
of England has to take into account the
whole economy. But when statements are
issued they should reflect on the good
news from their representatives that go
around industry.’
This seems to be part of a continuing
communication and image problem,
perhaps reflected at MACH by the usual
absence of cabinet heavyweights. ‘We
wanted a minister to attend’ says Lloyd;
‘but the government didn’t want to
associate with anything other than what’s
going on in the press today.’ He’s
concerned about this shortsighted
attitude, and asks how the government
plans to cope with a predicted population
growth to 70 million: ‘If manufacturing
is buoyant, why isn’t the government
developing and building on it, for wealth
MTA president Geoff Lloyd and director general Graham Dewhurst
explain to Mike Excell how the government could build an economy
based on wealth creation
Double vision
Geoff Lloyd
(left) and Graham
Dewhurst take
take time to reflect
on a successful
MACH - the
fruition of an
energetic and
highly focused
team effort
creation and jobs? That’s the worrying
thing; they don’t see that manufacturing
can provide a foundation for our future.
‘And there isn’t one government
policy that doesn’t depend on a
supportive manufacturing base. If we
continue, for example, to buy fuel from
abroad, history shows us that one day the
supply will be turned off, and unless
we’ve got the engineering and
manufacturing base to look after us,
where do we go? The government has got
to realise that we are in a critical position.’
Any support that is in place is often
misdirected, suggests Dewhurst:
‘Government skills funding is directed at
NVQ2. That’s not the level to help us
improve the manufacturing base beyond
the fantastic position we’re in now, it’s
aimed at teaching people to read and
write. The lowest level for our sector is
NVQ3, and it goes through to PhDs and
beyond; yet the government continues to
look at Level 2 as the way to improve the
overall economic viability of this country.
They’ve not set the bar high enough; but
manufacturing companies - effectively
self-help societies - are moving the bar
out of necessity.’
He points out the disparity with
government’s attitude towards the
financial services sector, bailed out with
loans to the tune of £50 billion. ‘Unless as
a nation we can build things and sell the
things we build, all we are doing is
moving money around. If they placed
loans of that order at reasonable rates
into the industrial sector - 5 year, 7 year
mezzanine finance for growing
companies to invest in machinery and
trained people - just think how that
would revolutionise the whole of the
industrial base of the UK.
‘There’s been a huge shift in our
economy from large corporations to
“micro-businesses”. Many are now at a
critical point with say £1-2 million
turnover; they need to employ more
people, grow, and take advantage of the
export opportunities; they need
mentoring, to understand how they can
34 MWP july 2008
run the business beyond their own
personal way of working.
‘BERR has brought out its business
support system, and is trying to reduce
3000 different initiatives down to a 100.
But what’s missing is overall mentoring
of a business; you can’t tinker with one
aspect, such as helping them on sales,
without affecting manufacturing,
production, marketing. The business
must be viewed holistically, and you need
to use your wits before your wallet, and
understand your business processes. It’s
what small business entrepreneurs
struggle with, and where help is needed.’
But how capable are the consultants
who might be part of this process? In
some regions there’s useful support, but
it’s inconsistent. ‘We need more
industrialists to be involved’ says Graham
Dewhurst, ‘but it’s a postcode lottery, and
not only is it regional it’s also clustered.
For example if you operate in the
NorthWest, but aren’t in aerospace, you’re
really not going to get much business
support.’ He points to the obvious flaw in
regionalising what is a huge industry -
and for which the supply chain is global.
Picking up this theme, Geoff Lloyd
suggests that the government needs to
develop a 5 and 10 year plan, first for
Europe, then the global economy. ‘The
job of government is to give clear
direction. But what is our policy on
manufacturing, and on energy? For
training? For investment in industry’
And are we going to sell worldwide?
Should our government be gearing up to
support worldwide, UK-manufactured,
nuclear energy provision? Those
questions aren’t being answered.
‘The government makes a big mistake
in not having at the top of every agenda
the manufacturing capability for the
country, because it’s fundamental to
wealth creation, to solving issues, and to
delivering the governments’s policies.
Whatever department you look at -
health, defence, home affairs, policing,
hospitals - all depend on a strong
manufacturing base.’
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