12-07-2020, 11:55 AM
With regard to British industry I have to agree to an extent with Ian. I used to buy sheet pewter from a well-run company in Birmingham, good product and good service. The company was bought out by a large bullion dealer, and asset stripped.
The marvellous sheet-rolling mill which had been in place in Brum for 120 years was shipped to the new production unit and that was the end. It could not be set up correctly overnight as the "bean counters" had assumed and it produced banana shaped sheets which were unsaleable. After 18 months of "no material available" they accepted that the machine should not have been removed from its 120 year bedded-in home and gave up.
The only material of a similar quality I can now buy comes from Italy. In January I'm going to have to pay VAT on the import from Europe as we have decided to give up "seamless" trading and, as we hardly make any materials any more, the prospect is a bit depressing.
As they say in Brum "If it ai' bost, dai' fix it"
The marvellous sheet-rolling mill which had been in place in Brum for 120 years was shipped to the new production unit and that was the end. It could not be set up correctly overnight as the "bean counters" had assumed and it produced banana shaped sheets which were unsaleable. After 18 months of "no material available" they accepted that the machine should not have been removed from its 120 year bedded-in home and gave up.
The only material of a similar quality I can now buy comes from Italy. In January I'm going to have to pay VAT on the import from Europe as we have decided to give up "seamless" trading and, as we hardly make any materials any more, the prospect is a bit depressing.
As they say in Brum "If it ai' bost, dai' fix it"