Editor’s Note

This issue we are most definitely focussing on all things British – or more to the point – British manufacturing. Over the past twelve months I have seen quite a turnaround in the area of manufacturing and where once companies were moving all of their manufacturing abroad to take advantage of cheap parts and labour, in the electrical industry, things appear to be changing.

There seem to be a number of reasons for this; not least that manufacturing abroad is not seen as a cheap option any more. But that isn’t the only reason because many companies are now realising that manufacturing on their home turf can give them a unique proposition in research and development.

We do have a lot of manufacturing talent in the UK and it is this which is the main driver for bringing manufacturing back home because it allows companies to develop new products and get them to market much quicker. I don’t need to tell you that where there is a market need it is the companies who fill the gap the quickest who take the market share and by manufacturing in the UK many companies are seeing this as a way to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

But at the same time I think we are starting to see a far more patriotic spirit, with many companies taking the view that they want to support manufacturing in the UK and do their bit to help the economy to grow.

Ultimately it is the companies with the strongest product range, best customer service and the ones who show reliability that will come out on top but if you had two companies who are equal in all of this then the general feeling is that we would like to show support for home grown talent.

This is something of an epic year for this country, with the Queen’s Jubilee and the Olympics just two of the many events which we can boast about. Maybe then it is also time to show support for UK manufacturing and the British economy – it would be great to show that once again we are a nation to be reckoned with.

See you next month

Tracey