Another idependant Supplier gives up

[MuswellMetro]

I see that Paul Snowden of Yorkshire Beehives has given up making Beehive equipment due to cheap Chinese competition

Every beehive maker i find who produces a good well made product seems to fail, What is it now about our society, Quality does not matter, just the cheapest, my Quality hives from The Beehive workshop in Isleworth now closed are still square and sound wheras some of the cheaper Beehives I have purchase since MR Bickerdike gave up his business now look like they are made out of Banana wood

 

[drstitson]

surely the competition is from poly and sales 2nds from the big manufacturers.

 

[einsteinagogo]

see the message

http://www.shop.YorkshireBeehives.co.uk

That's a real shame for me, I've been buying from Paul this year, to help out, my coverboards, bb, supers, quills he made me, foundation because he is LOCAL to me! I preper to purchase ready made, rather than flat pack!

 

[thorn]

It's a great shame. The hive I bought from him is excellent, and it was a pleasure going to buy it, as well.

 

[pargyle]

Well ... I make most of my own kit as I can't afford to spend the sort of money needed to buy either ready made or flat pack ... but, I find it really sad that we are gradually being reduced to a nation who will only have imported goods available to us. I was just saying in another thread that post WWII we managed to let our world class industrial base slip away from us - primarily due to complacency and a lack of investment but ... the industries that seem to have survived and prospered are those that recognised that there will always be a niche market for quality, innovation and consistency in a world market. Perhaps the answer for quality manufacturers is to recognise that the Briitish market place for quality goods is too small and take advantage of the internet to become global suppliers - at prices that make it worthwhile to continue making a quality product - not competing on price with dollar a day wages and cheap materials.

If you start looking at the industries we have lost in the last half century it becomes very sobering if not downright depressing:

Silk, lace, steel, paper, shipbuilding, motor vehicles, railway engines and carriages, aircraft, cutlery, textiles & clothing, shoes, pottery, sewing machines, pencils, to name only a few that we were world leaders in supplying and what is left of them is now just a shadow and few small firms who specialise.

What is troubling that, even when you would like to buy British, you really have to search very hard even for stuff that is assembled from foreign parts in the UK ... let alone made here.

I would ask one question .... how many non-French built cars are sold in France or non-German cars sold in Germany ? We will have only ourselves to blame when we are reduced to the state of being a living museum or theme park for the rest of the world to visit and marvel at our industrious and magnificent PAST !!

Rant over ...

 

[Luminos]

Most cars in this bit of France are indeed Renault/Peugeot/Citroën.
I don't know about the rest of France.

 

[pargyle]

Most cars in this bit of France are indeed Renault/Peugeot/Citroën.
I don't know about the rest of France.

I think you'll find it pretty general throughout France & Germany ... sadly, the only British cars now manufactured are Japanese, German or American !!

I drive one of the last pre-facelift British Rover 75's ... brilliant car but basically it's a BMW underneath ... And look what happened to Rover !!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I see that Paul Snowden of Yorkshire Beehives has given up making Beehive equipment due to cheap Chinese competition

Every beehive maker i find who produces a good well made product seems to fail, What is it now about our society, Quality does not matter, just the cheapest, my Quality hives from The Beehive workshop in Isleworth now closed are still square and sound wheras some of the cheaper Beehives I have purchase since MR Bickerdike gave up his business now look like they are made out of Banana wood

I am really sorry that we are losing Paul. He was instrumental in my foray into beekeeping starting out. He is (was) always willing to give advice and introduced me to the Barkston Ash Beekeepers association. I wish him well in the future.
John

 

[Dishmop]

The UK hase been called "Treasure Island" by foreign manufacturers for a good many years now.

Indeed it is a shame that we are loosing our factories but I seem to remember that not too long ago there was discussion on here regarding importing frames from China as they are so much cheaper than those made here, and I myself delved into the cost of extractors from there.

 

[madasafish]

Well ... I make most of my own kit as I can't afford to spend the sort of money needed to buy either ready made or flat pack ... but, I find it really sad that we are gradually being reduced to a nation who will only have imported goods available to us. I was just saying in another thread that post WWII we managed to let our world class industrial base slip away from us - primarily due to complacency and a lack of investment but ... the industries that seem to have survived and prospered are those that recognised that there will always be a niche market for quality, innovation and consistency in a world market.

What is troubling that, even when you would like to buy British, you really have to search very hard even for stuff that is assembled from foreign parts in the UK ... let alone made here.

Rant over ...

JCB, RR, Nissan (0.5million cars a year in the UK) and Land Rover (0.35Million in the UK ) plus many others suggest you are a pessimist

 

[pargyle]

JCB, RR, Nissan (0.5million cars a year in the UK) and Land Rover (0.35Million in the UK ) plus many others suggest you are a pessimist

Not a pessimist by any stretch of the imagination, I am an eternal optimist - I really hope that British Industry redevelops or reinvents itself ... but manufacturing suggests that things are made here, from raw materials - rather than being just assembled from bits that come from all round the globe, and mostly from China and the Far East.

I was also talking about British Companies ///

Land Rover - a great BRITISH product - now owned by TATA - A great Indian Company.

Rolls Royce - a great BRITISH product - now owned by BMW - A great German Company (who licence the key Spirit of Ecstasy and the radiator shape from Volkswagen - another great German company).

Nissan - A great Japanese Company.

JCB ... I will give you that one ... still a great BRITISH company with worldwide sales of a product that has become the generic name for a digger ... who have diversified by allowing their brand name to be licenced on appropriate, quality, products outside of their own manufacture. A glowing beacon of what BRITISH INDUSTRY should be ... long may it continue.

 

[einsteinagogo]

UK Public are to blame, wanting a cheaper bargain, and drive the prices down, and then complain when Cheap eBay Hives and parts are rubbish!

I on the other hand respect labour, quality and British companies, and that's where I put my money, and yes it's more expensive, but I appreciate the time and materials it takes to manufacture a super, ready assembled.

Time is money....and my time is expensive....so it's cheaper to pay for quality hand made goods (e.g. hives and parts), and anyway I'm crap at anything that involves D.I.Y, unless it's Electronics, Electrical or Computers!

 

[farbee]

It does depend somewhat on your budget. If I did not do beekeeping 'on the cheap' I would not be doing it at all. If I had the money to chose I would buy the quality items but alas I can't afford it.

 

[cjhart2]

Nissan - A great Japanese Company.

Just a slight correction , it is now Renault -Nissan , i think Renault own 51% of the combined company . They are also have Dacia in the company portfolio . All the cars are made on multiplatform plants ie the Nissan plant in India makes the Dacia Duster for the English market made from Renault parts manufactured in Romania .

Globalisation at its worst .

 

[pargyle]

Just a slight correction , it is now Renault -Nissan , i think Renault own 51% of the combined company . They are also have Dacia in the company portfolio . All the cars are made on multiplatform plants ie the Nissan plant in India makes the Dacia Duster for the English market made from Renault parts manufactured in Romania .

Globalisation at its worst .

Good grief ... it gets worse !!

It makes you wonder ... with all these intercompany global transactions to hide any real profit ... if any of these multinational conglomerates ever pay any tax ? I'll bet there's some very creative accounting goes on ....

 

[thorn]

And Slater & Gordon, an Australian law firm, is buying up firms of English solicitors. Eventually, Parliament will be privatised and sold to the Chinese (by the Americans, who already appear to own it).

 

[dclewis]

I think that the "buy British" plea for mass produced products lost all credibility when the quality and relibility of the build did not comptete with the lower priced better built more reliable foreign import. We may hanker for the halcion days of the British empire built and sourced products but those days are gone.

As for the French, I think you'll find that over the last few years there have been significant cuts in the French buying French vehicles and also the French auto industry is less and less based in France, rather eastern europe or wherever.

 

[RoofTops]

This from the SMMT's website: https://www.smmt.co.uk/industry-topics/uk-automotive-sector/

Manufacturing
•The UK is home to:
•Seven volume car manufacturers.
•Eight commercial vehicle manufacturers.
•10 bus and coach manufacturers.
•Eight major premium and sports car producers, and over 100 specialist brands.
•Eight Formula One teams.
•Strong premium brands – second only to Germany in global market share.
•Over one million vehicles and two million engines are produced in the UK each year.
•Automotive manufacturing levels are set grow to pre-recession levels by 2014.
•More than 75% of vehicles manufactured in the UK are exported.

Supply chain
•At present, about 80% of all component types required for vehicle assembly operations can be procured from UK suppliers.
•The UK automotive supply chain typically generates £4.8bn of added value annually.
•Around 2,350 UK companies regard themselves as ‘automotive’ suppliers, employing around 82,000 people (42% tier one, 19% tier two, 34% tier one and two).
•It is estimated that every job in UK vehicle assembly supports 7.5 elsewhere in the economy.
•Of all UK suppliers, over 70% manufacture their products in the UK.

OK, there are a lot of foreign owned companies but at least the jobs are in the UK.

However, the loss of a small beekeeping equipment producer is not a million miles away from another thread on this forum about a bee farmer packing up. Doing things on a small scale is very hard these days unless you have very high margins. The cost of basic expenses for a business, such as heating and transport keep going up but competition in the market place makes it very hard for a supplier or producer to raise their prices. It is also not far removed from why small shops are closing in the high streets. Sad, but reality none the less.

 

[drstitson]

and don't forget all those scallies selling knocked off car parts on ebay.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It does depend somewhat on your budget. If I did not do beekeeping 'on the cheap' I would not be doing it at all. .

Luckily SWMBO believes that as well

I preper to purchase ready made, rather than flat pack!

You have a point - but flat pack is so much easier to sneak up into the attic, or to tuck out of the way under grandfather's bespoke pig killing bench (and it's harder to work out how many are there!!)