Should Scotland be an independent country?

[sasguru]

7. Lots of Germans especially the CDU types are expecting that policy to be quietly dumped after Mrs Merkel's re-elected, assuming she is.
.

Strangely enough at the dinner last night I was placed next to a German, a bit of a clichéd dry and serious one, but a nice enough chap. He owns his own small business in Dusseldorf making parts for one of the large machine tool firms. A typical Mittelstander in other words.
He was very scathing of Merkel and her energy policy, he reckoned his costs had gone up hugely in the last 2 years and his family business, started by his grandfather, might have to look to moving abroad if this continued.*

*Forgot to say, the UK was one of his options, since he wanted to keep it in Europe.

[Dominic Connor]

1. The demise of UK manufacturing is much exaggerated. here are some figures aimed at job-seekers
Overview of the engineering and manufacturing sector in the UK | Prospects.ac.uk
8. Meanwhile the cost of energy in the US is falling due to fracking.

9. 3-D printing will probably impact manufacturing in a significant way

Fracking is a quite expensive process, we've known this stuff is there for a very long time but only the prospect of long term high energy prices make it viable, it won't lower energy prices but might stop them going up so fast.

3D printing does seem to play to the UK's strengths and Sasguru points out we are one of the largest economies in the world. A big problem with making stuff in China for the UK or European markets is that it takes so long for stuff to get here.

For iPhones that doesn't matter since their price/weight is so high that you can fly them in.

It hurts for cars, clothes and other stuff, when the retailer has to guess what will sell, so if (say) BHS buys 100,000 red and 100,000 blue shirts but the blue ones sell better, it takes weeks for the new blue stock to get there, typically too late to catch the fashion and of course the red ones are paid for but not selling. You also get pissed off customers who can't get the shirt they wanted.

Same with cars, books etc.

"Build then sell" imposes risks and costs on the retailer, the ideal is where the customer says what they want and within an acceptable time they get it, Dell made billions that way and they also get the chance to upsell extras, easy to do when the stuff is built for you, impossible if you have to sea freight from China.

"extras" like RAM in PCs, alloy wheels on cars etc have great margins denied to those who make things far from their customers, which is one reason iPads et al have no expansion capability because there is no way for Apple to make money on Chinese sourced extras.

So 3d and other advanced manufacturing means you can build to order with better margins and lower risk, albeit as higher unit prices. If you know you're going to ship 50,000 Star Wars 7 figurines of a geriatric Han Solo, then bulk make wherever's cheap.

[Dominic Connor]

1. The demise of UK manufacturing is much exaggerated. here are some figures aimed at job-seekers
Overview of the engineering and manufacturing sector in the UK | Prospects.ac.uk
8. Meanwhile the cost of energy in the US is falling due to fracking.

9. 3-D printing will probably impact manufacturing in a significant way

Fracking is a quite expensive process, we've known this stuff is there for a very long time but only the prospect of long term high energy prices make it viable, it won't lower energy prices but might stop them going up so fast.

3D printing does seem to play to the UK's strengths and Sasguru points out we are one of the largest economies in the world. A big problem with making stuff in China for the UK or European markets is that it takes so long for stuff to get here.

For iPhones that doesn't matter since their price/weight is so high that you can fly them in.

It hurts for cars, clothes and other stuff, when the retailer has to guess what will sell, so if (say) BHS buys 100,000 red and 100,000 blue shirts but the blue ones sell better, it takes weeks for the new blue stock to get there, typically too late to catch the fashion and of course the red ones are paid for but not selling. You also get pissed off customers who can't get the shirt they wanted.

Same with cars, books etc.

"Build then sell" imposes risks and costs on the retailer, the ideal is where the customer says what they want and within an acceptable time they get it, Dell made billions that way and they also get the chance to upsell extras, easy to do when the stuff is built for you, impossible if you have to sea freight from China.

"extras" like RAM in PCs, alloy wheels on cars etc have great margins denied to those who make things far from their customers, which is one reason iPads et al have no expansion capability because there is no way for Apple to make money on Chinese sourced extras.

So 3d and other advanced manufacturing means you can build to order with better margins and lower risk, albeit as higher unit prices. If you know you're going to ship 50,000 Star Wars 7 figurines of a geriatric Han Solo, then bulk make wherever's cheap.

[cojak]

Where are the ones that grounded Quantas and had to be recalled made? Serious question?

There's much more to RR than aerospace.

Gibbon's spot on. Serious stuff is going up in Derby atm.

http://www.rolls-royce.com/news/pres..._programme.jsp

[vetran]

I agree 'Make to order' is likely to be the method that 3D printing is most likely to affect.

Now many large companies are moving this to cheaper European countries. Shipping is down to days not weeks.

Will we be able to capitalise on this shift and convince manufacturers to stay in the UK?

I suspect we need cheap power, less environmental protection, low tax, highly skilled programmers and engineers.

oops off to Romania it goes.

Volume & semi volume will still be in cheap countries with lax labour & green laws.

Even if you automate everything its still difficult to beat cheap Russian gas and low taxes.

we might be able to build highly customised products, ordered online but why build & ship them from the UK?

Now if we get a shift on and turn it into a thing the UK does best we might have a chance....

Now what if we weren't in the EU?

[scooterscot]

England has a crippled sense of nationality, I find it quite funny that they are handing out lectures in patriotism now.

It seems self inflicted too. Flying into London on the rare occasion I honestly don't recognise the country. The accents, the languages, the sense of Britishness is only to be found in remote pockets these days.

[scooterscot]

For starters England has no parliament of its own, and has a liberal establishment hell bent on destroying any last vestige of English identity

I can only see independence being good for everyone...

Scotland has one less excuse to whinge about, and England might think about trying to regenrate the poorer regions of England rather than spending a fortune trying to bribe the rest of the union to stay together

Likewise, I think independence would be the kick up the backside England needs to get for government to serve people and not self interests.

[scooterscot]

Weapons, satellite components, aerospace engines, control software for everything from satellites to formula one cars, yes, quite a lot actually.

aerospace engines? Derby you're no doubt thinking, but not very many engines compared to Rolls Royce Germany..

http://www.rolls-royce.com/deutschla...about/germany/

[scooterscot]

When do the English get the vote on getting rid of Scotland?

Personally I don't care if they stay or go - I will except whichever makes them whine less.

It's not a popularity contest.

Many living in Scotland will have utter contempt for such statements. When equality in the union becomes increasingly divided people will vote for change. It's a crass state of affairs and Scotland's society is looking at pulling away from being part of such inequality.

[Ticktock]

It seems self inflicted too. Flying into London on the rare occasion I honestly don't recognise the country. The accents, the languages, the sense of Britishness is only to be found in remote pockets these days.

Ah, I see. In your mind the English should only speak with RP accents, and should kick out all those foreigners with their funny accents and languages. Sounds like a plan, once the referendum is done with.