Thread: Car 'Factories'

Its a mind-set. They prefer to spend lots on getting the Foundations 'perfect', whereas the Poms are only interested in short-term profit, and keeping Capital to themselves for 'other things'

- I'm referring to the movers and shakers and the seriously rich of British industry.
Paying the peasants is not the Done Thing, when said monies could be used for Business Lunches at the Club.

Typical example was after WW II. The English stripped Germany bare of industrial machinery, - replacing their worn-out lathes etc with much newer(but used...) German stuff.

It was so good (relatively speaking) and CHEAP... that they kept it going well past its use-by date. The Accountants loved it!

Germany, left with 'nothing', had to build new machinery.... and has kept on doing so.

- Comments from an English engineer of that era.

Well according to dad, Land Rover didn't make a profit in the time of the BMW then Ford ownership, yet a massive amount of money was invested in the most development Land Rover has ever done IMO. Not saying the poms don't do all they can to get max profit they do, all western countries are the same.

Certainly looks impressive.

Not sure how much the Phaeton contributes to Germany's trade balance though - it's a bit of a sales dud outside Germany.

As for stripping Germany of industrial machinery by the English (British?) and the other Allies I assume, my history knowledge is a bit rusty on this subject, but wasn't that a condition of Germany's war reparations?

Ironically, the VW factory was supposed to be stripped too, but was kept running by the British Army!

Originally Posted by DieselDan

....As for stripping Germany of industrial machinery by the English (British?) and the other Allies I assume, my history knowledge is a bit rusty on this subject, but wasn't that a condition of Germany's war reparations?

!

Think you're correct there. The Russians certainly helped themselves to 'everything', bolted down or not.! - The entire ZEISS factory was packed up and taken east...along with the non-bolted down stuff (staff who did'nt run fast enough) but ended up being off-loaded in Kiev, Ukraine. So for the next 40+ years the Zeiss Contax was produced in Kiev, with the name.... "KIEV" .

They still make film cameras...

My late Mother used to tell me that the shops in Hamburg (around 1949) were overflowing with German-made goods, whilst the British still endured rationing for some years later.

Originally Posted by Xtreme

Want to see why the Germans have a positive trade balance, in spite of paying workers some of the highest wages in the world?

Watch this: It is truly incredible.


http://www.youtube.com/embed/nd5WGLWNllA'rel=0

I wonder if Land Rovers will ever be built like this.

sorry just not true and has not been that way for a couple of decades
http://www.worldsalaries.org/germany.shtml
i have 2 German and 2 duch fitters here now. its rather embarrassing how little they actually earn

If you want to see why the Germans are so successful at the manufacturing game you should watch the "Made In Germany" series by Deutsche Welle.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpZkUu7JOx4]Made in Germany | The Daldrup Family Business - Working Underground - YouTube[/ame]

Just shows that you can turn a profit, look after your workers and be innovative.

Craig.

Originally Posted by superquag

Its a mind-set. They prefer to spend lots on getting the Foundations 'perfect', whereas the Poms are only interested in short-term profit, and keeping Capital to themselves for 'other things'

- I'm referring to the movers and shakers and the seriously rich of British industry.
Paying the peasants is not the Done Thing, when said monies could be used for Business Lunches at the Club.

Typical example was after WW II. The English stripped Germany bare of industrial machinery, - replacing their worn-out lathes etc with much newer(but used...) German stuff.

It was so good (relatively speaking) and CHEAP... that they kept it going well past its use-by date. The Accountants loved it!

Germany, left with 'nothing', had to build new machinery.... and has kept on doing so.

- Comments from an English engineer of that era.

Yes the English did well out of end of war pressies, they grabbed the bloke that invented the Rootes diesel, them dumb yanks grabbed the Rocket scientists, dumb arses, regards Frank

The Germans value engineering, a lot of engineers in senior positions in companies whereas the English speaking countries tend to look at things more from an accountants perspective.