The Chinese are coming. This is the mantra
that is being repeated everywhere you look at the moment, on our TV
screens, internet and in conversations in the workplace.
A recent television documentary about the Chinese in Africa
came to the conclusion that they were a threat to every indigenous
industry and to every walk of life, from railroad builders to diamond
miners and even chicken farmers. The decimation of much of American
industry is largely attributed to China, whilst here in my home city of
Birmingham, the monolith that once was Rover is now firmly in Chinese
ownership.
I seem to recall similar alarm being expressed in the 1970s when Japan
was on the rise. Everything from screws to aircraft carriers were going
to be made in Japan, with a corresponding decline in home manufacturing
and a marked loss of quality in the goods that were produced. Remember
the Datsun Sunny? Outdone in shabbiness only by the Austin Allegro!
The
reality is that Japanese engineering excellence, quality controls and
manufacturing facilities have become deeply embedded in the UK industrial landscape. There are the major car plants at Nissan on Wearside, Toyota in Derbyshire and Honda in Swindon,
all employing thousands in their direct workforces and generating work
for thousands more sub-contractors, including many in our own industry.
Meanwhile,
the perception of Japanese goods has evolved from cheap, basic and
reliable to competitively priced, ultra-reliable and highly desirable,
all in a generation. Indeed, brands such as Lexus, Sony and Toshiba have
now become aspirational in their respective fields.
This cycle is now being repeated for China
and it must be embraced, for the domination of Chinese products in
every walk of life is an inescapable fact. Most of the technology,
processes and machinery that our surface finishing industry employs,
both in the UK and Europe, already have Chinese-made equivalents that
are available at vastly reduced prices in comparison to their European,
American or even Japanese counterparts. This equipment is no longer
simply for production in South-East Asia. It is set to become the technology of choice in nearly all industrialised countries.
Chinese
industrial plant and machinery is mainly produced by vast,
state-sponsored enterprises that benefit from being part of a command
economy. But unlike the grossly inefficient industries of the old Soviet
empire, these companies are run on capitalist principles.
By
contrast, British manufacturing is undergoing an SME-led private sector
rebirth. Where once there was British Steel, British Leyland and
British Rubber, now there are hundreds more specialist manufacturers
producing everything from farmers’ tyres to non-standard socket sets,
and from bullets to balustrades. Just as there is no limit to the
relentless rise of Chinese production and control, there are also no
barriers to British design, innovation and enterprise.
And as China
creates so much wealth, so the affluent Chinese consumer is
criss-crossing the world absorbing new cultures, enjoying new
experiences and acquiring designer clothes, handbags and sunglasses.
Remember the news reports about Selfridges on Boxing Day?
We cannot compete with China
on its own terms, but we can take full advantage of its low-cost,
high-value technology to forge our own future based on specialist
products and services that, with help from government and the banks, we
can sell on to the whole world – including China itself!
