Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: johnny.dee on 16 August 2006, 12:04:11
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Having purchased loads of engine parts for my Omega I was suprised that none were made in the United Kingdom. They were made in the good old USA, France, Italy, Austria, Greece and Belgium. Manufacturing has certainly disappeared from these shores.
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No surprise given the governments anti manufacturing/design policies.
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I think this is generally down to the fact that many things are so much cheaper to manufacture abroad theses days :( I don't think its so much down to the quality of British made products but down to the price of materials, labour, transportation costs, fuel prices, taxation etc. - something else to blame TB for!! >:(
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well the Omega is an american car built in germany so parts are going to come from everyware!!
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well the Omega is an american car built in germany so parts are going to come from everyware!!
German car built in Germany actualy.......yanks had little to do with it.
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I think this is generally down to the fact that many things are so much cheaper to manufacture abroad theses days :( I don't think its so much down to the quality of British made products but down to the price of materials, labour, transportation costs, fuel prices, taxation etc. - something else to blame TB for!! >:(
You're absolutely correct.
I spent most of my working life in the shoe trade. You can buy imported shoes for less than the price that we have to pay for the materials. [smiley=angry.gif]
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Having purchased loads of engine parts for my Omega I was suprised that none were made in the United Kingdom. They were made in the good old USA, France, Italy, Austria, Greece and Belgium. Manufacturing has certainly disappeared from these shores.
;D Parts made in Greece?? i'm really curious to know which part is made there?
I don't think that the british goverment had a negative impact on the engineering companies. It is the need for cheap parts that drives sourcing to low cost producers due to competition pressure. My view is that in the next 10 years the UK will be more of a engineering research/development area rather than manufacturing.
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well the Omega is an american car built in germany so parts are going to come from everyware!!
German car built in Germany actualy.......yanks had little to do with it.
Oops... yanks just took a good car and ruined it!
Did't reliase it was german design... ahh more to boast about! ;D
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The Opel rear wheel drive boys did it.
Uk manufacturing is not supported the same way as it is in other EU countries where tax breaks etc are available. There is little support here for R and D either.
Labour laws mean its easy to hire and fire here.....try getting rid of people in Germany or Italy!
We are turning into a services nation.....
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The Opel rear wheel drive boys did it.
UK manufacturing is not supported the same way as it is in other EU countries where tax breaks etc are available. There is little support here for R and D either.
Labour laws mean its easy to hire and fire here.....try getting rid of people in Germany or Italy!
We are turning into a services nation.....
If it's easy to fire people in this Britain, then things have changed in the 5 years since I retired.
Among all the other "red tape" that I had to deal with was the employment laws, which don't allow you to sack anyone, for any reason, without written warnings and consultation, which can take months.
Just part of why I decided that my life would be better without work. [smiley=bath.gif]
And before you hold up Germany and Italy as role models, you should take a close look at what's happening to their economies! [smiley=beer.gif]
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Having purchased loads of engine parts for my Omega I was suprised that none were made in the United Kingdom. They were made in the good old USA, France, Italy, Austria, Greece and Belgium. Manufacturing has certainly disappeared from these shores.
;D Parts made in Greece?? i'm really curious to know which part is made there?
I don't think that the british goverment had a negative impact on the engineering companies. It is the need for cheap parts that drives sourcing to low cost producers due to competition pressure. My view is that in the next 10 years the UK will be more of a engineering research/development area rather than manufacturing.
Part number 90511731 (Vauxhalls part number) cant remember what was in there.
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and back light units made in Spain. :(
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The decline of UK manufacturing is definitely a factor but it is only part of the picture. The rest is down to globalisation. I do contract work for the Diesel division in Delphi, they have factories virtually all over the planet and each one specialised in different items.
Of the two factories I work for in the UK, one makes nothing else other than Diesel fuel pumps, and the other makes Diesel injectors and oil/fuel filters. Delphi have other UK factories, as well as factories in South America, France, Germany, Spain, India, etc, but again each factory specialises in usually just one type of item.
This works out more efficient than having factories in the UK making parts for UK-made cars, then having the same factories in Germany making the same parts but for German made cars, etc.
For example, as we all know the V6 is made in Luton, and nowhere else. This allows the factory to develop a high level of skill, and the engines are then sent all over the world to GM factories including Saab.
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The V6 WAS built in Ellesmere Port not Luton. ;D, some of the castings were from England but most from Germany - heres a twist though.
We built the L4 cylinder heads 1.8 2.0 &2.2 and cam shafts - they were exported to Germany for the Vectra/astra put on bottom ends and some shipped back to UK as engines for Opel astra's & Vectras that ended up back in Germany, others shipped to Brazil at one point who put the head on their 2.2 bottom end and exported them to Atlanta USA - they put the engine (and our V6) into the Sintra and exported it to Europe.
We also shipped the same heads to New Zealand - they put it on there bottom end and shipped it back to Luton to put in the Frontera.
I recently bought some inlet valves- 16 in total - some were made in Turkey - some the USA and some Germany all the same part No - it depends on the strength of the doller at where the parts are manufactured at a given time.
The decline of UK manufacturing is definitely a factor but it is only part of the picture. The rest is down to globalisation. I do contract work for the Diesel division in Delphi, they have factories virtually all over the planet and each one specialised in different items.
Of the two factories I work for in the UK, one makes nothing else other than Diesel fuel pumps, and the other makes Diesel injectors and oil/fuel filters. Delphi have other UK factories, as well as factories in South America, France, Germany, Spain, India, etc, but again each factory specialises in usually just one type of item.
This works out more efficient than having factories in the UK making parts for UK-made cars, then having the same factories in Germany making the same parts but for German made cars, etc.
For example, as we all know the V6 is made in Luton, and nowhere else. This allows the factory to develop a high level of skill, and the engines are then sent all over the world to GM factories including Saab.
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The Opel rear wheel drive boys did it.
UK manufacturing is not supported the same way as it is in other EU countries where tax breaks etc are available. There is little support here for R and D either.
Labour laws mean its easy to hire and fire here.....try getting rid of people in Germany or Italy!
We are turning into a services nation.....
If it's easy to fire people in this Britain, then things have changed in the 5 years since I retired.
Among all the other "red tape" that I had to deal with was the employment laws, which don't allow you to sack anyone, for any reason, without written warnings and consultation, which can take months.
Just part of why I decided that my life would be better without work. [smiley=bath.gif]
And before you hold up Germany and Italy as role models, you should take a close look at what's happening to their economies! [smiley=beer.gif]
OK read that as hire and make redundent......dead easy here,.....very easy to scale your work force to match your requriements, try doing that else where you start to fall over social points etc.
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Well what I can say in Delphi's favour, is that they do not lay people off in any large numbers. In fact they bend over backwards to accommodate, e.g. the'll bring a new product line into the factory and re-train the employees etc. Many of the guys I work with have been there for well over 20 years. Also, this is why they use contractors like myself... BTW Delphi Diesel have a plant in Ellesmere Port but it is a bit too far away for me.