What do the following have in common? The head of M16, the boss of Rangers Football Club, turkey magnate Bernard Matthews and James Dyson.
The answer is that all the above received various types of official recognition in the New Year Honours List, joining luminaries such as Rod Stewart and Coronation Street’s Mike Baldwin in being deemed contributors to the national good.
Of course, for those with an interest in engineering and technology it was heartening to see Dyson’s name on the list, along with that of GKN chief executive Kevin Smith, as newly-created Knights of the realm.
Of the two, the ubiquitous Dyson inevitably attracted most attention confirming his status as the
Not all this attention, however, was entirely positive. The knighting of Dyson was condemned by some union leaders, who regard the entrepreneur’s outsourcing of assembly jobs to Asia as an act so unpatriotic that he should be sent to the
Because of his high profile Dyson has faced particular criticism over his decision to move the assembly component of his business to
The union leaders concerned could hardly be expected to heap praise on a business leader who, in their view, has sold their members down the river when he should have been backing the British worker.
But whatever they say, an objective look at the situation suggests that Dyson’s strategy is rather more aligned with the realities of the global economy, love them or hate them.
Until you visit the region, it is hard to appreciate how the development of Asia in particular has ripped up the rule book for mature economies such as
Take a journey from the country’s major towns, and roads that 20 years ago would have been surrounded by rice fields are now lined by factory after factory, above which flutter the flags of their home nations – Japan, Korea, Australia, Sweden and, yes, the occasional Union Jack.
The sense of dynamism is inescapable, and its labour costs – a doctor, for example earns US$150 per month – staggeringly low by Western standards.
Dyson moved the lower skilled element of his business to Asia to remain competitive, allowing him to invest in the skilled, innovative and technologically advanced operation that is currently thriving in the
However much it may upset his remaining critics, technology’s newest Knight has shown a shrewd business judgement to match his prowess as an engineer.
Andrew Lee
Editor
The Engineer & The Engineer Online
Andrew, I think it is worth noting that Dyson only started looking out side the UK once the local authority refused to let him expand in Malmesbury. What the bureaucrats (national & local) failed to appreciate is that once you start looking to relocate, you are not going to stop at the UK and there are lots of opportunities elsewhere.
A nice UK own goal!
It goes without saying that Dyson’s achievements are second to none, but it sticks in the throat to someone who saw thousands of fellow employees walk out the gate and not return because of profit and efficiency and government induced recession.
Living in northern England, it is now easy to see that we are no longer in the “Industrial North”, simply because manufacturing has ceased except for small unit sized jobbing shops.
In my opinion, Great Britain is fast becoming a service provider with the only ‘fat cats’ being the financial marketeers.
How long will it be before the standard of living improves in the Far East and their commodity prices rise above our own? Equally, how long will it take before we become a third world country? Not long at this rate I suspect.
If Dyson has earned an award let it be in Malaysia and not here. In the UK, too many industries are selling Britain short instead of using real ingenuity to keep work here.
It is worth noting that 800 jobs went in 2002. Had Dyson not moved the manufacturing it is unlikely they would still be here due to the huge costs associated with shipping the components from the Far East. When they first started all of their suppliers were up the road; by the time they moved, none of their components could be purchased in the UK. As it stands, Dyson now employs 420 highly skilled engineers – many more than they were able to in 2002 before they moved.