Reply to: Pretty much the end of steelmaking in the UK

[Purple Dalek]

But they won't reopen - that's the point.

Yeah, try getting planning permission for a decent sized conservatory, never mind a frickin steel works!

[bogeyman]

You can't make steel that nobody will buy. If people start buying cars once more then those steel plants will reopen.

But they won't reopen - that's the point.

[swamp]

You can't make steel that nobody will buy. If people start buying cars once more then those steel plants will reopen.

[TimberWolf]

I've always been a strong supporter of seven figure salaries for techies. Just seems logical to me.

If you looked at the origins of any large and successful company today I'm pretty sure you would find that they were all founded by techies, rather than by MBA'ers, middle management and other highly paid hangers-on Today we outsource teckies and pride ourselves for our soft skills. Evolution in action.

[bogeyman]

What does it matter?

It matters to me, personally.

I know that doesn't count for much in the order of things but it's just one more milepost on the road to ruin that this country is hurtling along.

[d000hg]

If you have innovation, you can always succeed. Think of a service/application, design it with your skills and use the cheap coders to do the grunt work - Asian developers are not well-known for their design/architecture skills.

There are millions of Asian coders... probably enough for every skilled UK developer to have their own personal team IF they can think of something worthwhile.

[bogeyman]

I want more Lemon Curd.

Thanks Mitch - interesting article. Will digest at my leisure.

[threaded]

They will close these steelworks, I guarantee it.

A steel plant is not something you can easily mothball.

Tata have been stripping these plants of anything useful since they bought out Corus.

What does it matter? The Labour government stole them from the family years ago, it was only a question of time before they finally ran them into the ground. Recon they'll be celebrating on a job well done soonish: marches with double-speak banners 'Save our Steel'. LOL

They'll put a Tescos up on the site, and aclaim the wonders of their job creation strategy!

[DimPrawn]

Same goes for the pottery industry in this country.

Try finding a decent pair of jugs now and your looking at a foreign import.

[bogeyman]

IIRC, it take years to cool down, re-line then fire up a single furnace

No, just about 6-8 weeks for a modern blast furnace, but currently it costs more than it's worth with the margins these steel producers are operating with.

I think they would probably just run the plant into the ground and then write it off.

[Mich the Tester]

Not surprising really. We had vast amounts of coal, used it up, and now have little left to show for it except a boomed population. Still, a major breakthrough in solar or nuclear technology could change things and we should be paying guys in those fields £millions/year instead of their antitheses in the form of the likes of (d)Ross.

I've always been a strong supporter of seven figure salaries for techies. Just seems logical to me.

[TimberWolf]

First into the Industrial Revolution and first out.

Not surprising really. We had vast amounts of coal, used it up, and now have little left to show for it except a boomed population. Still, a major breakthrough in solar or nuclear technology could change things and we should be paying guys in those fields £millions/year instead of their antitheses in the form of the likes of (d)Ross.

[Mich the Tester]

What do we make anymore that anyone would want?

I want more Lemon Curd.

Otherwise, I’d recommend reading an article from the Harvard business review in the beginning of the 80s where two professors outlined the reasons for the decline of American manufacturing and heavy industry in an article called ‘Managing our way to Economic Decline’. A lot of what they say applies just as well to British industry, and frighteningly, to the service businesses of today.

Unfortunately the whole article isn’t freely available on t’internet, but there are a few summaries.

http://arunsmusings.blogspot.com/200...c-decline.html

A few choice excerpts;

‘managements' short-term, control oriented mentality has biased investments towards imitative rather than innovative product designs’

‘pseudoprofessionals. These are people who have no special expertise in any particular industry or technology, but run the company using financial controls, portfolio concepts and a market-driven, follow-the-leader strategy’

[sasguru]

Tata have been stripping these plants of anything useful since they bought out Corus.

Bloody reverse colonialists, eh?

[EternalOptimist]

They will close these steelworks, I guarantee it.

A steel plant is not something you can easily mothball.

Tata have been stripping these plants of anything useful since they bought out Corus.

IIRC, it take years to cool down, re-line then fire up a single furnace