British engineering is renowned throughout the world for its high quality and its levels of innovation. However, in recent years the manufacturing industry within Britain has consistently declined to a point where British manufacturing is a very small proportion of the gross domestic product. Although many products are still designed and prototyped within Britain the majority of these products then go on to be manufactured overseas. There are many compelling reasons as to why a business would choose to manufacture its products overseas with many of them relating to the costs incurred by businesses operating within Britain.
First and foremost, the cost of constructing manufacturing facilities overseas tends to be significantly less than constructing similar facilities within the UK. With the UK having a relatively small land area and a relatively large population suitable building land can be hard to come by. Moreover, when such land is available it can come at great expense. Other countries with lower population densities do not experience this problem to the same extent. Moreover, if they have not experienced similar levels of economic growth land prices tend be much lower anyway. This makes the construction of large production facilities complete with welding and profile cutting equipment much more practical overseas.
Secondly, the cost of labour tends to be much lower overseas. The standard of living within the UK and other Western countries is relatively high and this is reflected in the minimum wage that is required to be paid to employees by law. The same is not true of the emerging economies in the Far East where the standard of living is generally lower and therefore money tends to go further. Moreover, the governments of these nations do not tend to impose a high minimum wage by law. As the wages of labourers represent a significant cost to many manufacturing businesses, overseas production makes financial sense.
Thirdly, the labour forces of overseas countries tend to be highly skilled and well trained within the manufacturing industries. The same cannot be said of the labour force within the UK. Due to the decline in the domestic manufacturing industry many of the skills essential for domestic manufacturing have been lost and therefore UK employees would require significant training to be able to fulfil manufacturing roles. However, in many Far East countries there are many labourers trained in the use of plasma cutters, in welding and in profile cutting and in many other manufacturing skills that are in high demand. This is due to the prevalence of the manufacturing industry in such lands. Therefore, establishing a manufacturing facility in the Far East can reduce the significant expense of training the labour force considerably for any company.
While British engineering could be said to be second to none the same cannot be said of the British manufacturing industry. The decline in domestic manufacturing capability as well as a high standard of living makes manufacturing within the UK an expensive endeavour. Countries such as China offer lower land prices, cheaper labour and a ready skilled workforce.
This post was written on behalf of Westermans International who always have plasma cutters for sale.
