In the past 30 years, the UK's manufacturing sector has shrunk by two-thirds, the greatest de-industrialisation of any major nation. It was done in the name of economic modernisation – but what has replaced it?

Aditya Chakrabortty
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 November 2011 14.59 EST
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A ship being built at Swan Hunter, 1968; the abandoned MG Rover plant at Longbridge, 2005. Photograph: Alamy/Harry Starling
Before moving to Yale and becoming a bestselling historian, Paul Kennedy grew up on Tyneside in the 50s and 60s. "A world of great noise and much dirt," is how he remembers it, where the chief industry was building ships and his father and uncles were boilermakers in Wallsend. Last year the academic gave a lecture that reminisced a little about those days.

"There was a deep satisfaction about making things," he said. "A deep satisfaction among all of those that had supplied the services, whether it was the local bankers with credit; whether it was the local design firms. When a ship was launched at [Newcastle firm] Swan Hunter all the kids at the local school went to see the thing our fathers had put together and when we looked down from the cross-wired fence, tried to find Uncle Mick, Uncle Jim or your dad, this notion of an integrated, productive community was quite astonishing."

Wandering around Wallsend a couple of weeks ago, I didn't spot any ships being launched, or even built. The giant yard Kennedy mentioned, Swan Hunter, shut a few years back, leaving acres of muddy wasteland that still haven't lured a buyer.

You still find industrial estates, of course, and they look the part: overalled men milling about, passing lorries. Only up close does it become clear that there's not much actual industry going on.

The biggest unit on one estate is a dry cleaner; on another, a warehouse for loft insulation dwarfs all else. At a rare actual manufacturing firm, the director, Tom Clark, takes me out to the edge of the Tyne, centre of the industrial excitement remembered by Kennedy. "Get past us and there's nothing actually being made for miles," he says, and points down the still waterfront.

At his firm, Pearson Engineering, Clark introduces me to a plater called Billy Day. Now 51, he began at the firm at 16. His 23-year-old son William is still out of work, despite applying to dozens of small factories. As the local industry's gone, so too have the apprenticeships and jobs. "No wonder you get young kids hanging out doing whatever," says Day. "We've lost a whole generation."

You can see similar estates and hear similar tales across the country, from the north-west down to the Midlands and the old industrial parts of suburban London. But it's in the north-east, the former home of coal, steel, ships and not a lot else, that you see this unyielding decline at its most concentrated. It's a process I've come to think of as the de-industrial revolution, in which previously productive regions and classes are cast adrift.

It gets little airtime nowadays, but this story cuts across most of the key debates in British economics: from why the wealth gap has widened so dramatically to why the country remains stuck in a slump. The dismal unemployment figures that you saw on Nov 16 – they're part of it, too. And as David Cameron and Vince Cable this month tout their get-behind-British-manufacturing campaign, what they fail to mention is the bag of bones that the sector has become.


See the rest here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/nov/16/why-britain-doesnt-make-things-manufacturing/print

product life cycle economic theory in play

Well, it is what it is, kingdoms rise and fall, change is constant and very few countries remain as leaders for many years.

Our African leaders should start thinking about how to develop a Manufacturing base to compete with the emerging BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) economies. Alternatively, stimulate an African Industrial Revolution to grow our Manufacturing sector.

Interesting, but really long read, well done poster.

High standard of living come with a price- high cost. Britain cannot compete with emerging nations like china and india with cheap cost of production,resources,ample market and almost the same technological know-how. Price and necessity rules. America is in the shoes aswell, stall system that comes with the rise of the underdogs. When africa rise, asia might find herself in the same shoes. But the question is, will africa ever rise?

redsun:

High standard of living come with a price- high cost. Britain cannot compete with emerging nations like china and india with cheap cost of production,resources,ample market and almost the same technological know-how. Price and necessity rules. America is in the shoes aswell, stall system that comes with the rise of the underdogs. When africa rise, asia might find herself in the same shoes. But the question is, will africa ever rise?

Spot on. Britian & America need to adjust their political & business climates in order to make their countries more attractive. The more and more they revolve towards consumerist societies . . . well we're seeing the result. Its now even going beyond just the manufacturing sector, its now begining to seep and eat into research & development.

For young folks lamenting this development, might I adivse on trade/contractor jobs like carpentry, plumbing etc . . . some may laugh at first blush, but those trades are gradually becoming scarce that workers are making relatively good livings these days.

cheap labour in china,africa and the far east = outsourcing - the western manufacturers just want to make loads of money - they cant do it if they have to comply with western labour legislation

all the jobs are now being done by slave laboureres in china, africa and other so called third world nations.

^the Asian continent is certainly reaping the benefit . . . unfortunately Africa has not yet cashed in economically like the others. How much manufacturing does say a country like Naija even do? no be so so 'import' we sabi? We don't place high value on locally produced goods - I'm not sure whether its the chicken or the egg . . . we don't place high value because we don't create good quality OR we don't create good quality hence don't place high value.

^^^^^^^

no, you are  under estimating the ability of your people - the reason you do this is because you have been brainwashed by western racists who depict black africans as primitive and incapabale of producing anything of value - i have lived in aba and i know that igbo people are very intelligent and productive people - this is one of the reasons biafra was smashed by the british govt - they fear intelligent black people - igbos are very intelligent and inventive - wherever igbos go in the world they replicate their productive nature - this is why igbos have never been allowed to rule nigeria.

^re-read my post again Cap, this time calmly. I didn't say we cannot produce things of value - I said right now we do not. Very clear difference. Unless we've been exporting cars, clothes, computers and machinery I am unaware of? Our movie industry is our only creative export that has us on the worldwide map.

Every now and then an ingenious creation from a naija youth makes the front page and we all recognize it for the truly amazing thing that it is. If the govt can pump money into these brilliant people in the right industries we can see a boom unlike any other.

Igbos - along with yorubas & hausa have incredible genuises amongst them. If we had a society that ¹values, ²nutures and ³invests in these people and industries, we would be talking about Nigeria's economic spring along with the Chinese.

UK government manages to collect revenue in excess of $1 trillion. This means that it's people and corporation are productive in their own way. American government collected over $4 trillion in taxes which means that they are also productive in their own way. Last year the Chinese government with its large working population and many corporations managed to collect the same revenue as Britain, the difference is that the Chinese are spending most of their revenue on improving and expanding infrastructure so that they make more money in the following years and the UK spends most of their revenue keeping their population alive and comfortable.

Where the UK government gets money from

Everything on earth is made of things that come from the earth. Black people must just learn how to manipulate these earthly resources and create things with them. That's where research and development comes in, for as long as whites research and develop new products and concepts they will be ahead. Black people lack scientific knowledge, we all have too much political knowledge but that wont help us as much as scientific knowledge would.

Many centuries ago white people figured out that if you take sand, stones and cement(lime at that time) and mix it with water you get a compound equal to and even stronger to a rock once cued. Throughout the many centuries they used these four free earth resources to create structures which still stand today. Over the years they have researched and developed new ways of using these four ingredients to create bigger and stronger structures and through that research they figured out that if they put iron bars in the mixture it makes the concrete even stronger which allows them to go very high and big. Why couldn't black people figure that out? You go to New York and you see many skycsrapers everywhere but you never know that those buildings are made of a mixture of sand, stone, cement and water with steel bars for reinforcement. Earthly resources found almost everywhere in the world.

^^^^

africans had a civilisation which was far more advanced than anything that the europeans could ever muster - stop exhibiting your ignorance and read about ancient nubia - we were far ahead of the europeans in terms of civilisation.

who invented writing, irrigation the europeans or the ancient egyptians?

for your information - the so called skyscrapers you see in the western world today are all modelled after the pyramids which were built by black africans in egypt thousands of years ago - an engineering feat which europeans remain baffled by to date.

cap28:


^^^^^^^

no, you are  under estimating the ability of your people - the reason you do this is because you have been brainwashed by western racists who depict black africans as primitive and incapabale of producing anything of value - i have lived in aba and i know that igbo people are very intelligent and productive people - this is one of the reasons biafra was smashed by the british govt - they fear intelligent black people - igbos are very intelligent and inventive - wherever igbos go in the world they replicate their productive nature - this is why igbos have never been allowed to rule nigeria.

So you are Igbo. figures!!

Don't worry you will be free from the tyranny of the white man all in good time.

something to console you while you wait. FREE CAP@*!!

[flash=400,200]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_T2Fx77QbM&feature=related[/flash]

At one time the UK had a large empire. They were larger than the united states so they forced their colonies to use their products, in return their colonies provided cheap resources to them.

Now the united states is larger, it uses free trade agreements and the WTO to force countries to buy its products.

There is no free market in Nigeria, that is why Nigeria does not make things.

cap28:

^^^^

africans had a civilisation which was far more advanced than anything that the europeans could ever muster - stop exhibiting your ignorance and read about ancient nubia - we were far ahead of the europeans in terms of civilisation.

who invented writing, irrigation the europeans or the ancient egyptians?

for your information - the so called skyscrapers you see in the western world today are all modelled after the pyramids which were built by black africans in egypt thousands of years ago - an engineering feat which europeans remain baffled by to date.

Do you have scientific knowledge of any kind? It doesn't seem so. You prefer to brag about ancient Egypt. Whites have managed to put skyscrapers all over the world including Africa, why have Africans failed to put pyrimads anywhere outside Egypt? As I said, black people have too much political knowledge and very little scientific knowledge.

How many ''Made in America'' products do you use? You don't need to make things to be powerful, you just need to develop new things and then manufacture them at a cheap place like China. Apple develops the iphone in America and then they manufacture in Taiwan, it makes the Taiwanese people a little productive but most of the value belongs to America where the product is developed.

cap28:

^^^^
africans had a civilisation which was far more advanced than anything that the europeans could ever muster - stop exhibiting your ignorance and read about ancient nubia - we were far ahead of the europeans in terms of civilisation.
who invented writing, irrigation the europeans or the ancient egyptians?
for your information - the so called skyscrapers you see in the western world today are all modelled after the pyramids which were built by black africans in egypt thousands of years ago - an engineering feat which europeans remain baffled by to date.

True, but no point living on past glory, we need to think about the future.

paniki:

How many ''Made in America'' products do you use? You don't need to make things to be powerful, you just need to develop new things and then manufacture them at a cheap place like China. Apple develops the iphone in America and then they manufacture in Taiwan, it makes the Taiwanese people a little productive but most of the value belongs to America where the product is developed.

I totally agree with you on this, the UK government know they can no longer compete on just Manufacturing, so they are trying to create a culture of innovation as well as maintain their strong financial services sector. They see creating a culture of Innovation as key to achieving global competitive advantage through collaboration between Industries and Universities.

My question is, when will our African leaders start to see the bigger picture, when will they realise that building a strong Manufacturing base will guarantee better lives for the common man? Will this ever happen in my lifetime or am I blindly optimistic?

paniki:

Do you have scientific knowledge of any kind? It doesn't seem so. You prefer to brag about ancient Egypt. Whites have managed to put skyscrapers all over the world including Africa, why have Africans failed to put pyrimads anywhere outside Egypt? As I said, black people have too much political knowledge and very little scientific knowledge.

here is your earlier statement:

paniki:

Everything on earth is made of things that come from the earth. Black people must just learn how to manipulate these earthly resources and create things with them. That's where research and development comes in, for as long as whites research and develop new products and concepts they will be ahead. Black people lack scientific knowledge, we all have too much political knowledge but that wont help us as much as scientific knowledge would

.

the above statement is borne out of pure ignorance and self hatred, you clearly have not researched your own history but have come on here bowing at the feet of white people as if they have a monopoly on knowledge and innovation.  I gave you clear example of how africans have always been innovative pace setters and instead of accepting this truth you decided to get defensive.

as a matter of fact africans did build pyramids outside of egypt - ever heard of nubia (present day sudan) ?  africans built pyramids there.

you appear to have no knowledge whatsoever - be it political or scientific.

I totally agree with you on this, the UK government know they can no longer compete on just Manufacturing, so they are trying to create a culture of innovation as well as maintain their strong financial services sector. They see creating a culture of Innovation as key to achieving global competitive advantage through collaboration between Industries and Universities.

The UK manufactures destabilization and weapons to keep its former colonies in check. This provides it with a continous stream of cheap highly educated labor with which to stock its universities and corporations.

paniki:

How many ''Made in America'' products do you use? You don't need to make things to be powerful, you just need to develop new things and then manufacture them at a cheap place like China. Apple develops the iphone in America and then they manufacture in Taiwan, it makes the Taiwanese people a little productive but most of the value belongs to America where the product is developed.

more supposed "knowledge" from the font of wisdom.

america remains powerful only because it has the most advanced and powerful military in the world - (which it uses to invade and hijack the resources of weaker nations), it is madness to say that  you dont have to manufacture anything to be powerful.

how did countries like america, britain, germany and japan  become wealthy? wasnt it due to the fact that they were leaders in the manufacture of finished products?

america has outsourced a huge chunk of its manufacturing jobs to the far east and the american people are paying for this in the form of rising unemployment.

is high uemployment a positive thing for any economy?

BlackLibya:

The UK manufactures destabilization and weapons to keep its former colonies in check. This provides it with a continous stream of cheap highly educated labor with which to stock its universities and corporations.

your point is …?

Remember, included in the title of this thread is ‘why doesn't Britain make things any more’ NOT ‘Britain doesn’t make things’. I happen to work as an Engineer in Britain’s Manufacturing Sector, so my comment in no way assumed Britain had stopped Manufacturing, but had rather experienced a decline in Manufacturing as a whole, also confirmed by the article.

BlackLibya:

This provides it with a continous stream of cheap highly educated labor with which to stock its universities and corporations.

I’m flattered by the 'highly educated', but are you saying my salary is cheap?

Remember, included in the title of this thread is ‘why doesn't Britain make things any more’ NOT ‘Britain doesn’t make things’. I happen to work as an Engineer in Britain’s Manufacturing Sector, so my comment in no way assumed Britain had stopped Manufacturing, but had rather experienced a decline in Manufacturing as a whole, also confirmed by the article.

Exactly, the reason you work there is because Britain has assisted in the destabilization of your country through its arms which it does manufacture. This leads people like you into Britain to work in its skilled sector for cheap, when you say they dont manufacture, are u talking about in terms of output or employment? Britain manufactures high end products, they dont need to manufacture the cheaper products of less value. That's what their former colony, China, is for.

BlackLibya:

Exactly, the reason you work there is because Britain has assisted in the destabilization of your country through its arms which it does manufacture.

Assumptions, assumptions, assumptions, unfortunately, all wrong. First of all, my country is not destabilized.

BlackLibya:
This leads people like you into Britain to work in its skilled sector for cheap

Correction, I am not working for cheap, I schooled here, didn’t just wake up and leave my Country for greener pastures. Rather, to gain experience, then apply my knowledge when I get back home. (Learn from the best)

BlackLibya:
when you say they dont manufacture, are u talking about in terms of output or employment?

#
I was being sarcastic at your comment, which had nothing to do with the Topic. Apparently, you still don’t get the point.

BlackLibya:
Britain manufactures high end products, they dont need to manufacture the cheaper products of less value. That's what their former colony, China, is for.

Did you even read the article above? Do you classify ship manufacturing in the original post as ‘a cheap product of less value’?

FYI, they still do, to provide employment, as mentioned in this post below

cap28:

america has outsourced a huge chunk of its manufacturing jobs to the far east and the american people are paying for this in the form of rising unemployment.
is high uemployment a positive thing for any economy?

cap28:

here is your earlier statement:
.

the above statement is borne out of pure ignorance and self hatred, you clearly have not researched your own history but have come on here bowing at the feet of white people as if they have a monopoly on knowledge and innovation.  I gave you clear example of how africans have always been innovative pace setters and instead of accepting this truth you decided to get defensive.

as a matter of fact africans did build pyramids outside of egypt - ever heard of nubia (present day sudan) ?  africans built pyramids there.

you appear to have no knowledge whatsoever - be it political or scientific.

Asians who have been historically as poor as Africans can now brag about things they are doing right now in modern times and here you are stuck in ancient Egypt where they built useless tombstone structures. Black people are not building useful things, making useful things, developing useful things because they don't know how to. We must first accept that as a race we don't have enough knowledge thereafter work on correcting that. But sitting back and claiming that black people where clever in ancient times does not mean that we are clever now in modern times. Which do you prefer: "I was rich and famous" or "I am rich and famous" or better "My forefathers who lived in ancient Egypt where clever, they built big buildings" or "My family members are clever, they are building high speed trains in Beijing"

cap28:

more supposed "knowledge" from the font of wisdom.

america remains powerful only because it has the most advanced and powerful military in the world - (which it uses to invade and hijack the resources of weaker nations), it is madness to say that  you dont have to manufacture anything to be powerful.

how did countries like america, britain, germany and japan  become wealthy? wasnt it due to the fact that they were leaders in the manufacture of finished products?

america has outsourced a huge chunk of its manufacturing jobs to the far east and the american people are paying for this in the form of rising unemployment.

is high uemployment a positive thing for any economy?

People who think like you are what keep Africa from developing. Lets stop being stuck in the past and accept that development will come once our people are educated across the board and engage in innovation. Countries that invest in research and development are generally successful countries

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_research_and_development_spending

ekt_bear

but what has replaced it

@^^  Finance industry and other services
Actually they still make a lot things which may not be too obvious to us. Besides, smoke stack industries are no longer in "vogue" and the market place have shifted to other producers whereas the Finance capital have moved into the London square mile as the centre- about Thirty(30)percent of British National revenue.

cap28:

^^^^

africans had a civilisation which was far more advanced than anything that the europeans could ever muster - stop exhibiting your ignorance and read about ancient nubia - we were far ahead of the europeans in terms of civilisation. 

who invented writing, irrigation the europeans or the ancient egyptians?

for your information - the so called skyscrapers you see in the western world today are all modelled after the pyramids which were built by black africans in egypt thousands of years ago - an engineering feat which europeans remain baffled by to date.

[flash=400,400]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkOsFr6R3uw&feature=related[/flash]

@op,

The reason is partly what everyone has mentioned but there is a factor that we all should equally attend to.

First, the industrialization of Europe was subsisted on resources exploited in places outside of Europe. Without iron ore the steel industry of Europe will have no meaning; without rubber sap, there will be no tires to mount on automobiles; without gum arabic, there will be o preservatives to prolong shelf life of canned and bottled goods; without cocoa there will be no cocoa beverage and chocolates, . . . so the need to produce and market these finished products generated plants and production lines and storage and retailing, massive outlets for job creations in Europe and America.

As industries grew, corporations exploded and became greedy. The world was a market and to maximize profit efficiency was introduced. Time studies were done to calibrate productivity and output levels. . .technology was introduced and the mechanization of work process and task activities led to improved outputs.

Technological blueprints were scalable and reproducible. Then political intervention in market deregulation and trade treaties installed anti-trust laws to control monopoly in global trading. Aggressive tariffs by these countries that were traditional suppliers of iron ore, cocoa, rubber, coffee, copper and other stuffs to the European industries opened doors for them to enter into local production and competition. India, Brazil, China, Thailand, and so on . . . .entered these markets and reduced Europe's monopoly.

Now we see same countries coming to Africa to continue the same exploitation where England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain left
off.

Africa has failed to use trade regulations to curtail exploitation. This is part reason why these countries donate moneyand aid funds - as a way to keep us out of competing with them. If we did, their access to our resources will be severely diminished and our entry into global market will be noticed acutely.

Negro_Ntns:

@op,

The reason is partly what everyone has mentioned but there is a factor that we all should equally attend to.

First, the industrialization of Europe was subsisted on resources exploited in places outside of Europe. Without iron ore the steel industry of Europe will have no meaning; without rubber sap, there will be no tires to mount on automobiles; without gum arabic, there will be o preservatives to prolong shelf life of canned and bottled goods; without cocoa there will be no cocoa beverage and chocolates, . . . so the need to produce and market these finished products generated plants and production lines and storage and retailing, massive outlets for job creations in Europe and America.

As industries grew, corporations exploded and became greedy. The world was a market and to maximize profit efficiency was introduced. Time studies were done to calibrate productivity and output levels. . .technology was introduced and the mechanization of work process and task activities led to improved outputs.

Technological blueprints were scalable and reproducible. Then political intervention in market deregulation and trade treaties installed anti-trust laws to control monopoly in global trading. Aggressive tariffs by these countries that were traditional suppliers of iron ore, cocoa, rubber, coffee, copper and other stuffs to the European industries opened doors for them to enter into local production and competition. India, Brazil, China, Thailand, and so on . . . .entered these markets and reduced Europe's monopoly.

Now we see same countries coming to Africa to continue the same exploitation where England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain left
off.

Africa has failed to use trade regulations to curtail exploitation. This is part reason why these countries donate moneyand aid funds - as a way to keep us out of competing with them. If we did, their access to our resources will be severely diminished and our entry into global market will be noticed acutely.

Excellent analysis. i would add that if these African countries are to deal with these new entities, the second time around should make us weary of what thier intentions are and we need to learn to "negotiate' outcomes that will be beneficial for the populous.

This will prove decisive if we are to comeout ahead in this second wave of the world's focus on African resources. We are yet to maximize the human capital potentials that build progress which is translated into value vis a vis Capital

Sun of god:

[flash=400,400]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkOsFr6R3uw&feature=related[/flash]

this man is an excellent speaker and an authority on racism.

i sometimes wonder whether it is possible for blacks anywhere in the world to defeat white supremacy - blacks in america and some other western countries are economically better off than most blacks anywhere else in the world but they remain powerless because total political and economic control remains in the hands of the whites, we blacks in africa live in our own countries but again we remain powerless as our countries are run and controlled by foreign interests in both situations whites exert control over the lives of black people. this is one of the reasons why i automatically rooted for the libyan jamahiriyah of muammar qadaffi because this was the only country in africa in which the indigenous people remained outside the control of the white supremacists.

the second time around should make us weary of what thier intentions are and we need to learn to "negotiate' outcomes that will be beneficial for the populous.

This just sounds like fantasy to me. The people in charge of African countries do not care about them and are willing to sell them cheap for their own personal gain.

Why would u negotiate about something u dont care about?

ekt_bear:

In the past 30 years, the UK's manufacturing sector has shrunk by two-thirds, the greatest de-industrialisation of any major nation. It was done in the name of economic modernisation – but what has replaced it?

What has replaced it is lying ( twisting the facts on purpose) to invade foreign countries such as Iraq and Lybia and steal the wealth of those countries in  the name of DEMOCRACY.
That is why the pie graph below should also take into account the billions of euros stolen by somebody from Iraq and Lybia.     

paniki:

UK government manages to collect revenue in excess of $1 trillion.
Where the UK government gets money from