David

Perhaps the Malaysian action was the right thing for them. We can't THUMP the damn referee. We have to do something else. Of course unskilled displaced workers can't do it by themselves. That is why I wrote that governments have to help those who need it.

We do have a manufacturing base here and a lot of it is a solid and innovative but it is endangered and too small. Some sections are not moving in the best way. This needs proper management by governments.

Bemoaning the changes will do us no good al all. And that is the thrust of the article.

Manufacturing industries in Oz are past critical, to say they are in intensive care would be closer to the mark. Anyone who has studied units to do with manufacturing/engineering (to relate specifically to Australia) will understand the issues and problems.

Simply, if we took the raw materials we exported to Asia, and overseas generally, and 'value added' - our economy would go ahead in leaps and bounds. We don't have the visionaries capable of doing this. In time may be, but not at this juncture in our history.

The Ajax Bolt Company is a case in point. Will we begin to see more frequently, major product liability claims arising from shoddy, poor quality fasteners produced overseas which will in future be holden' our Holdens together? If we can't afford the right grade of bolts for our Fords, what can we afford to suffer as a consequence ?

Japanese quality systems are par excellence, who knows what the case will be with Korean, (some) EU and Middle Eastern suppliers in future? I don't allude to the principles regarding those in a concept of War On Terror, but simply that the mighty God Dollar drives a hard bargain. Fractions of a cent savings per unit cost mean the earth to bean counters.

It will not however, be much consolation to the parents of a teenager whose daredevil driving skills were the straw that broke the con rods back, and more so at the grave side.

Cue the corporate lawyers ad nauseum.

Dear Logic, the kind of 'thump' I'm talking about is political.

Alby has some good points. Resources+Value Adding+World market orientation=economic success.

The chinese have people dedicated to obtaining the various approvals for international marketing etc... and their production is often reduced to just one simple bit in a bigger system, and then there are other factories which put all the 'bits' together to make a widget.
There asset is cheap labor for huge volume low cost output.
We can do the same.

EXAMPLE 1/ HAMMER I did say in another thread that we should not make hammers, because they make them so cheap. BUT.. if it was fully automated, Raw Material-> Factory->zip,bang,clunk then off to world wide export markets. But, we could produce a hammer with some little feature which sets it apart from the average crappy chinese hammer.

EXAMPLE 2. Electronic Transformers. ahh..this one is a no-no. Its one of those components which is very hard to automate unless it is a simple thing. Machines which can do Winding, taping, pin wrapping, etc start around $200,000 each. The Chinese can have this one (even though I actually do it myself, in low 100-500 of quantity)

EXAMPLE 3. Electric Scooter. (Kids type) With these, we could actually compete. I make controllers (speed controls) and can make them competitively if I use the same 'self-destructo' design parameters they do.

EXAMPLE 4. Electric Old Geiser Scooter 3 or 4 wheel type. We can compete here too, but Local manufacturers ( I only know of about 3 all of whom are struggling) need to look more at 'volume' to get a return.
One even makes his own wheels.

EXAMPLE 5. "Import Replacement". There are many opportunties here. (but I do keep some secrets :)

FINAL THOUGHT. It doesn't matter what the product is, it usually has a lifecycle to maturity. If it has patent protection ok for a while, then it can (and will)be copied. Or.. it will be copied anyway with slight differences to avoid infringing patent). Bottom line the market is dynamic, not static. CONSTANT innovation and R&D is needed.

"You see.. YABBY..and others....mantra 'GO HI-TECH' has one fatal flaw..the CHINESE and INDIANS are ALSO doing that."

You miss the point BD. The Chinese go high tech in industries where
things are made by the millions, which is only a certain% of
goods. The niche industries, smaller runs etc, just in time fast
delivery, all these areas they are less then competitive.

My point is, look at Swiss manufacturing, or German or French,
etc. They all still exist, they all still thrive, they just
don't target the low margin mass consumer market.

Australian manufacturting needs to do the same, ie focus on consumer
needs, to make a living.

So your talk of "slave labour" is ridiculous. Life is relative
and Chinese factory workers in fact have never had it so good and
its getting better for them. Consumers, including poor ones, benefit
hugely and are clearly voting with their wallets in agreement.

“So-your-talk-of-"slave-labour"-is-ridiculous.-Life-is-relative
and-Chinese-factory-workers-in-fact-have-never-had-it-so-good-and
its-getting-better-for-them.-Consumers,-including-poor-ones,-benefit
hugely-and-are-clearly-voting-with-their-wallets-in-agreement.”

Yabby, I don’t suppose you watched China Blue on SBS the other night. It was a documentary about young girl working in a Chinese clothes manufacturing factory.

She is about 18 and walks in and asks for a job. They say “we are very strict here, you start at 8am and you must be on time” apparently they dock their pay for every minute they are late. Then they say “ you work until 12 o’clock [which, naturally, I thought was the lunch break] then you have a break and come back and work until 2 or 3am”!!. They are allowed two toilet breaks a day.

So this girl’s job was to cut loose threads off jeans for 18 – 19+ hours per day.

They live in dormitories close to the factory. They are fed by the factory, the cost of which is docked from their pay. Other items are randomly deducted from their pay.

They are often paid late, if at all. The factory “holds back” their first month’s pay as a disincentive from leaving. As the factory never gives them “permission” to quit, they never get that first month’s pay anyway.

The documentary covered a period in which the factory was trying to get an order finished which was late, so they HAD TO work 2 days straight, even though the workers had not been paid their previous month’s pay.

In China trade unions and strikes are illegal. The factory was owned by an ex chief of police who drives a Mercedes Benz and accuses the workers of wanting to feather their own nest!!.

And according to you Chinese factory workers have never had it so good, and its getting better for them. You CANNOT BE SERIOUS.

And these conditions are what our political leaders are telling us we must compete with. Yabby, as you don’t consider this slave labour, I trust you’ll be the first to put up your hand to work for 19 hours a day for next to nix which you are likely not to get anyway.

OK but what can be done about slave labour without depriving the people of their videos and plasma screens?

Experience shows that all exploitative regimes eventually fall or improve with time. Sometimes, like the USSR when we are least expecting it. At least the Chinese are not threatening us.