I have just seen the BBC documentary ‘Requiem
for Detroit’, a hard-hitting indictment of how a once great industrial
city has been turned into almost a ghost town by the inexorable decline
of the US automotive industry which, apart from the music business,
Detroit depended on almost exclusively for its economy.
The programme had a powerful impact on me because I grew up in, and still live close to Birmingham, the nearest kind of place in Britain that we have to Detroit.
Birmingham
was once home to the colossus of the UK auto industry, British Leyland,
with famous brands such as Austin, Morris, Rover, MG and the rest. This
once great institution was brought to its knees back in the 1970s by a
combination of the oil crisis, the recession, poor quality standards and
trade union militancy.
Fast
forward forty years and Ford, General Motors and Chrysler seem to have
followed the same predictable route. Global competition, inflexibility,
arrogance, out of date working practices and the fallout from the
banking crisis have all contributed to a catalogue of woe. Almost like a
car crash in slow motion.
Of course, as we know in the finishing industry, it is not just the primary vehicle producers that suffer. Detroit, just like Birmingham, is home to thousands of sub-contractors that depend on the monolithic car companies for their bread and butter.
But despite all of its problems, Birmingham
has re-invented itself as a city with a much more diverse range of
industries and services. Anyone entering the city now on the old
elevated M6 can see Fort Dunlop, once a cathedral of tyre production and now home to scores of small business units, retail outlets, hotels and apartments.
Birmingham
city centre has now been transformed and is the UK capital of
conferences, exhibitions, live entertainment and waterside leisure
developments. Even the old jewellery quarter has become a major visitor
attraction.
And beneath the glossy veneer of new enterprises the old manufacturing skills still remain. Birmingham
may not have such large plating and finishing houses as it did in its
heyday, but there are still large numbers of specialist coating,
polishing, blasting, peening and cleaning companies that are beavering
away and serving the new industries that are filling the gap left by the
decline of the motor industry. At Riley Surface World we know this is
the case because those same companies are constantly knocking on our
door to buy used equipment.
So if we think we have problems in the UK finishing business, they pale into insignificance when you look at the shocking decline of Detroit and other American cities. With USA
unemployment at double the level that it is here, we can be proud that
our enterprise and diversification has so far staved off the worst
effects of the global downturn.
Manufacturing
is about to make a comeback. Suddenly politicians are starting to talk
about elevating engineering back to its rightful place as a high
priority occupation for the new generation.
Yes,
there are still many problem areas. The recent mothballing of Corus in
Middlesbrough has parallels with what has happened to Detroit,
albeit on a smaller scale. Nevertheless, our company is seeing constant
evidence of a UK-led revival in manufacturing and its associated
industries.
I am confident that, in the years ahead, Birmingham and other British cities will once again become major players in the global economy.
