Manufacturing near me - What used to be made in your back yard

[Mick Annick]

My favorite experience of Birmingham trades are all the nice factories in the jewlerry quarter doing all the enamel car badges and trophies

Some of the jewellery workshops were a right rabbit warren, I had some cuff links made by a girl there, she rented a six foot square room, but if you only make small stuff I suppose that’s OK!

 

[Scalarocco]

We design and build high quality and specialised stuff, we are world leaders.

Yes that is true but when I think of the demise of British manufacturing it isn't the technical high quality niche stuff that employs a few hundred people, it is the companies that turned out all the mundane stuff that employed thousands and thousands of people. Hotpoint in North Wales making household appliances for instance. In the 70's all plugs and sockets, consumer units, fuses etc were all made here. Mundane stuff but employing a home grown workforce.

The company I work for is a very niche manufacturer of machine tools. Back in the 90's there were loads of subcontract machine shops that we could go to for making some of our parts. These places were staffed with lads who used to work for the big manufacturers who, due to reduced demand in their markets, were laid off and the small subbies gladly took them on as they were time served and competent. Fast forward a few years and those competent lads are retiring and the small subbies are faced with the problem that the big works that were previously letting skilled men go have now all disappeared completely and so they either get into the joys of finding apprentices, or shutting up shop and selling the land they're stood on to property developers. An awful lot went down the latter route and good subbies are now hard to find. High end niche manufacturing isn't going to keep the country afloat. They just serve small markets that keep a few people going. Diversity is what we need, but while mundane stuff is cheaper to buy from overseas it won't be made here any time soon.

 

[bourbon]

The car parts manufacturer that I worked for, for 36 years, Started as a Jewellers in Fredrick street in the quarter

 

[Brad93]

on the other hand here is another company who are on the forefront of manufacturing for the nuclear, medical and defence industries.

Stainless Metalcraft | Manufacturing Excellence | UK

Stainless Metalcraft provides specialist components for performance-critical sectors including nuclear, traditional and renewable energy and power generation, data centres, medical, big science, submersibles and marine applications.

www.metalcraft.co.uk

 

[Chippie]

Cramlington is just up the A19 from me……

Stanley Bridges power tools were made there until the late 70’s/early 80’s, after moving from London when the were originally called Bridges....

 

[tom2207]

It was ok when it left here.

 

[Parm]

on the other hand here is another company who are on the forefront of manufacturing for the nuclear, medical and defence industries.

Stainless Metalcraft | Manufacturing Excellence | UK

Stainless Metalcraft provides specialist components for performance-critical sectors including nuclear, traditional and renewable energy and power generation, data centres, medical, big science, submersibles and marine applications.

www.metalcraft.co.uk

Done a lot of work there in my time

 

[tom2207]

Yes that is true but when I think of the demise of British manufacturing it isn't the technical high quality niche stuff that employs a few hundred people, it is the companies that turned out all the mundane stuff that employed thousands and thousands of people. Hotpoint in North Wales making household appliances for instance. In the 70's all plugs and sockets, consumer units, fuses etc were all made here. Mundane stuff but employing a home grown workforce.

The company I work for is a very niche manufacturer of machine tools. Back in the 90's there were loads of subcontract machine shops that we could go to for making some of our parts. These places were staffed with lads who used to work for the big manufacturers who, due to reduced demand in their markets, were laid off and the small subbies gladly took them on as they were time served and competent. Fast forward a few years and those competent lads are retiring and the small subbies are faced with the problem that the big works that were previously letting skilled men go have now all disappeared completely and so they either get into the joys of finding apprentices, or shutting up shop and selling the land they're stood on to property developers. An awful lot went down the latter route and good subbies are now hard to find. High end niche manufacturing isn't going to keep the country afloat. They just serve small markets that keep a few people going. Diversity is what we need, but while mundane stuff is cheaper to buy from overseas it won't be made here any time soon.

the price of imported stuff is crazy , local high quality stuff has a tough battle to compete .

 

[Brad93]

Done a lot of work there in my time

World class company and in-house training

 

[minimutly]

View attachment 388602

It was ok when it left here.

Well it would have been if the bulkheads hadn’t been skimped on...

 

[Parm]

World class company and in-house training

Yep. I was involved with something that’s designed and built to last 100’s of years

 

[Brad93]

Yep. I was involved with something that’s designed and built to last 100’s of years

Containment vessels

 

[MickeyW]

Holbrook lathes in Stratford. Newall engineering. B Elliot are famous ones

Is that the same Newall that made jig borers? We had a few of them where I did my apprenticeship. Such machines must be obsolete these days.

 

[northwest]

The company I work for is a very niche manufacturer of machine tools. Back in the 90's there were loads of subcontract machine shops that we could go to for making some of our parts. These places were staffed with lads who used to work for the big manufacturers who, due to reduced demand in their markets, were laid off and the small subbies gladly took them on as they were time served and competent. Fast forward a few years and those competent lads are retiring and the small subbies are faced with the problem that the big works that were previously letting skilled men go have now all disappeared completely and so they either get into the joys of finding apprentices, or shutting up shop and selling the land they're stood on to property developers. An awful lot went down the latter route and good subbies are now hard to find. High end niche manufacturing isn't going to keep the country afloat. They just serve small markets that keep a few people going. Diversity is what we need, but while mundane stuff is cheaper to buy from overseas it won't be made here any time soon.

This^^^^^^ The problem is simple, any businessman will tell you and at the end of the day running a country is just like running a business, just on an epic scale. But any business person will tell you, you need your bread and butter, that is all the mundane stuff, it pays the bills and keeps you going, all the specialist stuff is all your cream, the bunz if you like that you can count on to pay for the extras. If you have only cream and no tea, well, you can see where that is going to go can't you.
Along with others, I would agree, we do a lot of very, very specialist stuff and lead the world, but we don't have any bread and butter stuff, it cannot last.

 

[MickeyW]

Used to have Multico machine tools and Monotype just up the road from me in Salfords, Surrey,

 

[pressbrake1]

No

Is that the same Newall that made jig borers? We had a few of them where I did my apprenticeship. Such machines must be obsolete these days.

Not obsolete if you need true geometric accuracy.
Mass use has ended for a long time due to the end of production jigs for drilling etc because of cnc
I have a newall and a sip and you can feel the difference in use and what comes off

 

[ampegboy1]

They took over Spring Steel Productions on Fulbourne Road and then, when the council made a land grab on the factory, relocated around Epping, I seem to recall.

I grew up just down the road from Spring Steel and Hawker Siddeley (my friend's dad used to work there), I remember seeing some seriously big stuff coming out of Hawker Siddeley! Somewhere I've got pictures I took of the site when it was all being knocked, a sad sight.

Michael

 

[Seadog]

 

[Brad93]

Brush Engineering another one don't believe they are still going?

Edit:
Over the next sixty years, the business grew by acquisitions, until in 1957, the Brush companies were incorporated into the Hawker Siddeley Group.[4]Within the group, the company manufactured a vast range of electrical products, including turbo generators, salient pole machines, induction motors, traction motors and generators, traction locomotives, switchgear, transformers and fuses.

 

[prepman]

I didn't know they had a place at Trafford Park. TBA had a huge factory in Rochdale which is derelict now. The site owners want to build houses but apparently the ground is rather contaminated with some weird substance...

I used to skiv off as an apprentice (always tired late nights). The white asbestos made a great mattress and the blue was nice for a pillow. I haven't got asbestosis apparently.