Hello,
I have noticed that hardware electronics jobs (especially switch mode power supply design jobs) in UK are getting less and less over the last decade at least.
This is quite clearly because the British Pound is very highly valued, and therefore, its not possible to manufacture or engineer products such as Switch Mode Power Supplies [SMPS] in the UK any more. Its simply not profitable to do it in UK. The pound is so highly valued, that its cheaper to buy in SMPS’s from overseas. A UK owned SMPS company would simply not be able to compete with a similar company from another country.
The only hardware electronics companies that can operate as UK owned companies now are companies that are extremely highly skilled, and are making products that no one else in the world are capable of making, or alternately, the UK company owns the patent and so other companies in the world are not allowed to make them. Examples are Dyson and Blackstar Amplification, which are both UK owned companies who make exceptional “stand out” products. In Dyson’s case, they also hold patents for many of their brilliant products.
The reason for the high value of the pound is specifically “North Sea Oil”. This is what keeps the pound high. In short North sea oil is destroying the UK electronics industry. The high pound is though, making UK property seem like a pertinent investment to an overseas investor. –Because viewing a graph of UK currency over the years reveals that Sterling has stayed high, so its viewed as a good “Home” for people’s investment money, and property is always viewed as a great investment, because, at least in theory, it can never become totally worthless. This is why places such as London, UK are seeing prices of some small 2 bed terraced houses going for one million pounds. These are houses, that, before North Sea Oil happened, were lived in by the poorest of the poor working class of the day. Many were ex-council houses, or even church-run charity houses.
However, with UK owned electronics companies dying out for the reasons mentioned, UK citizens are now deciding not to study electronics. This is making it even harder for UK electronics companies to thrive. And because fewer UK citizens are electing to study electronics, the really high-tech specialist electronics companies in UK are finding it increasingly difficult to trade in UK aswell. A stop-gap answer has been to employ engineers from the Far East. Though in truth, most of the best Far Eastern engineers want to stay in their own country, after all, why go to a little island called UK, which will be a “poor little island” when North Sea Oil runs out, when your own country is on the up-and-up.
A case in point is a small UK owned UV curing company near Bicester. UV curing is an exponentially growing market, and the technology involved is not particularly difficult. This is exactly the kind of thing that UK cannot do competitively, due to the high pound. In spite of the great prospects for this market, the UK simply cannot hold down these kind of companies. They are moving overseas. Closure of the UK operation.
In 1998, Sir James Dyson predicted the decline of the British Electronics & Engineering industry…
See under “European single currency”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dyson
The UK politicians are thinking of ways to “keep Britain’s hand in” to Engineering. They use North Sea Oil profits to invite overseas companies to set up divisions in UK….the idea being that they will employ UK engineers and therefore keep the British Engineering industry maintained.
However, this is simply not as effective as having your own industry.
The UK must act now and cap the North Sea Oil Fields (stop extracting oil) , devalue the pound, and bring back an intrinsic, UK owned Engineering and electronics industry….before the rot sets in too deeply. In the last 5 years in UK, the number of UK citizens electing to study Electronics at University level each year has dropped under the 400 mark. This clearly means there are not enough people to maintain Britain’s intended Engineering industry.
If you request the data on number of people studying Electronics in UK each year you get the figure of thousands,….however, this is primarily due to overseas students.
Of the 400 UK citizens mentioned here, most will take the “software” options, and dismiss hardware electronic s completely.
A lot of UK owned companies in so-called “essential” areas are actually in receipt of government funding (which derives from North sea oil). This is how they survive. Lighting is considered an “essential” area (just imagine if a country couldn’t even make its own lights), so these receive significant oil-derived grants.
Of course , there are now no UK owned car companies, as they simply cant compete. Even Morgan cars use BMW engines.
UK is the most densely populated country in Europe. Therefore, the UK is well placed to go back into Engineering & Manufacturing. Pouring out North Sea Oil to pay for our “Financial Services Industry” etc is not doing anyone any favours. I think everyone knows that the story about “London being the financial capital of the world” is total nonsense –and even if it was, anyone can buy up a load of computers and crunch financial numbers. I had a Managing Director of an Oil engineering company in Cornwall telling me he had sold half his company overseas to Norway, because he simply couldn’t compete, and also, “all the best UK engineers go into the financial services industry in London”…which, in fact, he described as “pushing money about”.
It was Nicholas Sarkozy who said, “The UK cannot do industry”. He was right. In fact, the UK massages UK industrial output figures by massaging them with the profits from North Sea Oil. Soon North Sea Oil will all be gone. We must cap the wells now and de-value the pound, and go back into Engineering, before as Sir James Dyson himself said back in 1998….
“It does not mean that the jobs will go tomorrow but will drift abroad over a period and the longer-term future of Britain as a manufacturing nation will be blighted……Ministers had better understand that if we delay….. too long there may be nothing left to save”
And regarding membership of the EU…..why would the EU want the UK?…why would they want a nation of “do-nothings” to join them? Look out of your car window and play “spot the UK made car” before answering.
I have noticed that hardware electronics jobs (especially switch mode power supply design jobs) in UK are getting less and less over the last decade at least.
This is quite clearly because the British Pound is very highly valued, and therefore, its not possible to manufacture or engineer products such as Switch Mode Power Supplies [SMPS] in the UK any more. Its simply not profitable to do it in UK. The pound is so highly valued, that its cheaper to buy in SMPS’s from overseas. A UK owned SMPS company would simply not be able to compete with a similar company from another country.
The only hardware electronics companies that can operate as UK owned companies now are companies that are extremely highly skilled, and are making products that no one else in the world are capable of making, or alternately, the UK company owns the patent and so other companies in the world are not allowed to make them. Examples are Dyson and Blackstar Amplification, which are both UK owned companies who make exceptional “stand out” products. In Dyson’s case, they also hold patents for many of their brilliant products.
The reason for the high value of the pound is specifically “North Sea Oil”. This is what keeps the pound high. In short North sea oil is destroying the UK electronics industry. The high pound is though, making UK property seem like a pertinent investment to an overseas investor. –Because viewing a graph of UK currency over the years reveals that Sterling has stayed high, so its viewed as a good “Home” for people’s investment money, and property is always viewed as a great investment, because, at least in theory, it can never become totally worthless. This is why places such as London, UK are seeing prices of some small 2 bed terraced houses going for one million pounds. These are houses, that, before North Sea Oil happened, were lived in by the poorest of the poor working class of the day. Many were ex-council houses, or even church-run charity houses.
However, with UK owned electronics companies dying out for the reasons mentioned, UK citizens are now deciding not to study electronics. This is making it even harder for UK electronics companies to thrive. And because fewer UK citizens are electing to study electronics, the really high-tech specialist electronics companies in UK are finding it increasingly difficult to trade in UK aswell. A stop-gap answer has been to employ engineers from the Far East. Though in truth, most of the best Far Eastern engineers want to stay in their own country, after all, why go to a little island called UK, which will be a “poor little island” when North Sea Oil runs out, when your own country is on the up-and-up.
A case in point is a small UK owned UV curing company near Bicester. UV curing is an exponentially growing market, and the technology involved is not particularly difficult. This is exactly the kind of thing that UK cannot do competitively, due to the high pound. In spite of the great prospects for this market, the UK simply cannot hold down these kind of companies. They are moving overseas. Closure of the UK operation.
In 1998, Sir James Dyson predicted the decline of the British Electronics & Engineering industry…
See under “European single currency”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dyson
The UK politicians are thinking of ways to “keep Britain’s hand in” to Engineering. They use North Sea Oil profits to invite overseas companies to set up divisions in UK….the idea being that they will employ UK engineers and therefore keep the British Engineering industry maintained.
However, this is simply not as effective as having your own industry.
The UK must act now and cap the North Sea Oil Fields (stop extracting oil) , devalue the pound, and bring back an intrinsic, UK owned Engineering and electronics industry….before the rot sets in too deeply. In the last 5 years in UK, the number of UK citizens electing to study Electronics at University level each year has dropped under the 400 mark. This clearly means there are not enough people to maintain Britain’s intended Engineering industry.
If you request the data on number of people studying Electronics in UK each year you get the figure of thousands,….however, this is primarily due to overseas students.
Of the 400 UK citizens mentioned here, most will take the “software” options, and dismiss hardware electronic s completely.
A lot of UK owned companies in so-called “essential” areas are actually in receipt of government funding (which derives from North sea oil). This is how they survive. Lighting is considered an “essential” area (just imagine if a country couldn’t even make its own lights), so these receive significant oil-derived grants.
Of course , there are now no UK owned car companies, as they simply cant compete. Even Morgan cars use BMW engines.
UK is the most densely populated country in Europe. Therefore, the UK is well placed to go back into Engineering & Manufacturing. Pouring out North Sea Oil to pay for our “Financial Services Industry” etc is not doing anyone any favours. I think everyone knows that the story about “London being the financial capital of the world” is total nonsense –and even if it was, anyone can buy up a load of computers and crunch financial numbers. I had a Managing Director of an Oil engineering company in Cornwall telling me he had sold half his company overseas to Norway, because he simply couldn’t compete, and also, “all the best UK engineers go into the financial services industry in London”…which, in fact, he described as “pushing money about”.
It was Nicholas Sarkozy who said, “The UK cannot do industry”. He was right. In fact, the UK massages UK industrial output figures by massaging them with the profits from North Sea Oil. Soon North Sea Oil will all be gone. We must cap the wells now and de-value the pound, and go back into Engineering, before as Sir James Dyson himself said back in 1998….
“It does not mean that the jobs will go tomorrow but will drift abroad over a period and the longer-term future of Britain as a manufacturing nation will be blighted……Ministers had better understand that if we delay….. too long there may be nothing left to save”
And regarding membership of the EU…..why would the EU want the UK?…why would they want a nation of “do-nothings” to join them? Look out of your car window and play “spot the UK made car” before answering.