Are All Our Heritage Industries being Outsourced now

Wife decided that our mugs we use for tea and coffee were getting decidedly scruffy so we chose new ones, she chose from the range of Royal Worcester porcelain ones featuring animals. They are very good and because they were on offer, good value for money. When I unpacked them each one had a small tag attached by ribbon tied to the handle clearly stating “Made in India”.

I became aware some while ago that our tool industries such as Moore and Wright are now manufactured abroad; being patriotic I felt that our flagship Heritage industries from the dawn of the Industrial Age would be preserved as British taking pride in British Craftmanship, it appears not so. Dave W

I expect there are still a few. Likely termed as ‘cottage industry’ these days.🙂

The Dormer drills I've been getting get are from Brazil. They do good work.

I have no doubt that the quality of items supplied under “British” Heritage brands is good, I am just sad to see our proud manufacturing heritage being sold off to the highest bidder or maybe the lowest bidder when supplying products. My belief that this process of cashing in on selling the family silver has been a steady process but seemed to accelerate during the 80’s and early 90’s when it was deemed politically expedient to abandon manufacturing industries and replace with Service Industries, I.e. financial products. Dave W

Welcome to UK 2023. Just a natural development of UK 1983.

Martin

recently bought [for reasons not relevant here] a long-discontinued Waterford clock … being a glass block with a small Quartz movement inserted.

Inspecting the components, I found:

• Glass block : Made in Slovenia
• Clock movement : Made in Japan
• Clock case: Made in Indonesia

I wonder what they did in Waterford

MichaelG.

Sounds like a knock off to me Michael

Sounds like a knock off to me Michael

Bernard … I feel sure you are wrong.

I paid very little for this ‘pre-loved’ example, but it looks right to me.

… By mentioning it, I was simply trying to indicate that what Samsaranda noticed has been going-on for years.

MichaelG.

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Edit: __ for Bernard

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterford_Crystal#:~:text=Due%20to%20rising%20competition%20Waterford,were%20employed%20by%20the%20company.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 10/08/2023 14:39:31

Have been to Waterford Crystal several times and was assured that all glass is in house!

At the risk of this getting political, what is the relevance of 1983?

I believe it's called 'badge engineering' and has been going on for years, I looked at some over priced Barbour wellies recently and they were not made in the UK.

Tony

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Please see my edit, Bernard

MichaelG.

Sadly, MANY of the skills that used to be indigenous in UK have been outsourced, and are being lost.

In the Rules, The Peterborough Society of Model Engineers, has one item which speciofically mentions retaining and promoting traditional skills.

Unless skills are kept alive by the various preservation movements, and model engineering, they will be lost for ever, and devices that could be repaired and preserved, will be sent for scrap. Historical atrefacts and their history will be lost.

Our skills need to be passed on to the newer, and younger, members of the hobby, or they will be lost for ever.

In 1977 I was told that in the US a Master Plumber could name his own price, so rare were his skills.

Do not let UK fall down ther same hole!

Howard

I recall reading a long time ago that Waterford never had the capacity to produce all the glass that was supposed to be made there and that much if it was made in East Europe.

On the subject of UK going the same way as America, I suspect that,s already happening.

Like here ,very few young people want to know anything about manual work, prefering instead to play with their "Smart" phones and "Tablets", meanwhile, other counties move in for the kill. Who can blame them ?

All the facts defining the changes inherent in the title of this thread are political, and were made in pursuit of political goals - and whatever we might think of them, we all know that.

I'd best say no more.

I recently had a visitor, a plumber or should I say a boiler fitters/ changers, he asked me what was that in one of my workshop draws in which I keep my soldering equipment/ gear, it was stick of plumbers solder. He asked me about it and how did they wipe a joint on lead pipe. those old skills have long gone. For most plumbing work, it now push fit and collect the money vis bank transfer on the phone. I notice we have some female plumbers and electricians, good luck to them. John

Still plenty of pottery firms going in the N.Staffs/Potteries area. A few larger ones but a lot of smaller ones. Don’t seem to cater much for the run of mill cheap type household items nowadays, they leave that to the Supermarkets’ Far East suppliers, and going to more upmarket/expensive items. Decent mugs, bowls etc can be expensive but at least they are round unlike the oval ones I regularly see in supermarkets and other outlets.

It's great to see Dominic Chinea (from the Repair Shop for those wondering who he is) championing the cause for "heritage craft skills". Whilst I applaud him, and anyone else doing similar things, I fear it may just be a little too late.

Oh, and don't get me started on apprenticeship schemes.

Whilst flicking through the channels, I keep coming across a TV programme entitled "Made in Britain" - this seems to show that there are still items being made entirely in this country, although they may not all be things I would need, want or be able to afford.

Rob