"It looks all right to me"
London – Skills shortages, it seems, are seriously impacting the quality of products and services available from some companies in the UK, and their ability to compete with overseas companies.
I chatted recently to a senior engineer at a north of England metal castings manufacturer, who related his unhappy experiences when a piece of equipment failed to work at the plant.
When the local supplier came in to check and fix the problem his conclusion was “it looks all right to me.”
This sort of attitude is increasingly leading the metals company to source from overseas, said the engineer, citing how one important component is now being imported from a company in Bulgaria.
Asked if there might be long delays in resolving a problem with parts sourced from so far away, he replied that there simply were never any problems.
Indeed, he added, his engineers and technicians now actively insist on him using this overseas manufacturer rather than rely on local suppliers.
Readers' comments (4)
Anonymous | 12 Jan 2012 3:33 pm
I'm really saddened by this article but it is not an untypical British 'attitude'.
It may be the case that the supplier is unwilling to accept feedback but often it is the customer unwilling to give it because they don't want or know how to. I've dealt with suppliers who should not be allowed within 100miles of my projects but perform perfectly well with customers in different business sectors. With the smaller supply base it is quite possible that a local supplier might not be capable in any sense of the word of doing your work and you have to widen your pool. But, it is not always the suppliers fault that they don't work in the way you want. Select smarter not 'cheaper' - it may not always work.
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Anonymous | 12 Jan 2012 3:33 pm
Totally agree - just placed an order with a Malaysian supplier after a week of Design For Manufacture reviews. This did not affect the leadtime quoted.
The UK supplier had quoted (they were more expensive and quoted a longer leadtime) with no requests for change or recommendations.
I know which one I would (and do) trust to be correct.
I have heard that phrase "looks alright to me" too many times.
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Philip Roberts | 12 Jan 2012 3:45 pm
This attitude is all too common throughout the country. It is also the reason why so many employers report a much better work ethic in the non native UK employees. It is very important that, some how, we get this message across to the people in this country who think they have a right to jobs, and if not jobs then good benifits off the government and that we are competing in a global market. So it is not the fella down the road that we need to be worried about but the person in Bulgaria or China or which -ever country services and products can be sourced from.
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Richard Simpson | 3 Feb 2012 4:45 pm
This is quite typical. The other one I get is "What do you want me to do about it ??" It's seems endemic.
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