New Business

I remember as a child growing up in the 60's in the UK we would occasionally be given cheap Japanese and Taiwanese toys. Invariably they were plastic, of poor quality, and frequently withdrawn from the shelves because of concerns about lead paint or the potential harm they could cause an infant.

Then of course Japan and Taiwan really got their  acts together and by protectionism and adopting numerous other "unfair" trading practices started to decimate whole sectors of  UK industry - shipping building and the auto industry being two prime examples.

This was a prime example of how Britain and other countries tried to play by the rules but got well and truly shafted, and this scenario has been repeated in recent times by China offering anything and everything at a fraction of the price of traditional suppliers.

I don't blame any manager for chasing the cheapest suppliers, but it doesn't seem that anyone really cares anymore about the bigger picture.

Does it really matter that say two thirds of the British economy is now the "service sector"?

Does it matter that if you buy a New York souvenir (and frankly this could be most cities) it will have a Made in China label on it. From postcards to T shirts to caps ... "Made in China."

Not long ago I  absolutely would have expected the items to have been made in New York - or at least in the USA.  Their Chinese origin puts me off from buying them. Not because I have anything against the Chinese, but purely because the trinket no longer feels like a genuine reminder of New York.

So if we allow factories to close and huge swathes of manufacturing to shift overseas what are the risks associated with this?

History shows that as manufacturing needs change there is a high human price to be paid.Unemployment, rising social welfare costs ,an increase in ill health for the jobless, disfunctional family life..

Once affluent areas can swiftly become impoverished. If they are lucky they can be regenerated with Government grants and incentives - but that takes years and even decades.

Of course new manufacturing areas spring to life too, such as Silicon Valley, which can help to mitigate the problems in other sectors and provide huge numbers of jobs and dynamic wealth

These days too the switch to mass production of anything and everything can also have devastating results. Salmonella in eggs can hospitalize hundreds of people across a country, where as not so long ago this might have been far less likely as supplies would have far more localized.

Look at the baby milk scandal in China and how it impacted across Asia.

But let me briefly return to those caps and T shirts and trinkets.

I believe that politicians at all levels should display a genuine interest in ensuring that true manufacturing should be preserved and promoted. Each town/region/state/ and country should take measures to ensure that there is a proper and fair balance of local industry.

I can't ever imagine a scenario of buying a souvenir Beijing T shirt and finding a "Made in the USA" label in it. The Chinese would simply never allow this to happen - there would be too much loss of pride at stake. And yet we in the west no longer seem bothered about national pride of this nature.

Yes we like our flags, traditions, and military prowess,  but when it comes to buying anything we usually don't give a damn who made it as long as it represents good value for money and we like it. And I think that's a real shame.

Nigel Bellis is a seasoned British TV Producer, Director, Journalist and Soundtrack Composer, currently living in New York.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Remember When We Used to Make Things?