Peugeot to Cease UK Production, Cutting 2,300 Jobs

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 18 Apr 2006, 15:07

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cove ... 919312.stm

I can't see why they are having problems in the UK, Honda and Nissan manage to run car plants over here that are world class in terms of their efficiency.

bxbodger · Post by **bxbodger** » 18 Apr 2006, 17:59

This isn't new- it was originally announced at around the same time that Rover went down, and was sort of lost in the Rover furore.

I'd imagine its down to rationalisation- the 206 is pretty old now with a lot of competition from better cars from the Japan/Korea axis and is due for replacement soon, and the British government has absolutely no interest in having a viable motor industry.

Stuart McB · Post by **Stuart McB** » 18 Apr 2006, 20:44

Nice to see the Government on the ball, re-training all ready to go....NOT. 2300 jobs all going....going.....gone.

Robin · Post by **Robin** » 19 Apr 2006, 20:34

Just a thought on this. This plant was built in the 1930's and is hemmed in all round. It is old, out of date in terms of production methods and all of this is due to a lack of investment by current and previous owners. The Nissan plant is new!
It was only a matter of time before production costs outweighed the political will and financial incentives ceased.
Add to this the cost of importing components from the very countries now producing vehicles including the old BMC models, commercial and private and you can readily see why shareholders and simple financial sense means this plant must close.
If we think the Chinese will really move production of the old MG/Rover cars back to England for any length of time or even at all then we are fooling ourselves. Perhaps until a new model is designed or the government grant runs out......

drpau · Post by **drpau** » 19 Apr 2006, 21:39

Robin wrote:Just a thought on this. This plant was built in the 1930's and is hemmed in all round. It is old, out of date in terms of production methods and all of this is due to a lack of investment by current and previous owners. The Nissan plant is new!
It was only a matter of time before production costs outweighed the political will and financial incentives ceased.
Add to this the cost of importing components from the very countries now producing vehicles including the old BMC models, commercial and private and you can readily see why shareholders and simple financial sense means this plant must close.
If we think the Chinese will really move production of the old MG/Rover cars back to England for any length of time or even at all then we are fooling ourselves. Perhaps until a new model is designed or the government grant runs out......

The plans are all underway to restart production in cab1(?) at longbridge with the TF line and (I think) 75 lines there set up and ready to go. Lets wait and see though.

I suppose when PSA realised that the Government were not even prepared to bail out the last british car firm that its own chance of getting a massive grant to keep the Pug plant open wasnt going to happen.

f00lzz · Post by **f00lzz** » 20 Apr 2006, 15:28

When will people realise that the influx of cheap labour into this country (UK) and the 'export' of our manufacturing industry to countries with even cheaper labour ..... India, Eastern Europe etc will decimate our economy long term. Don't forget we became a 'great' country by making things not because we had a good 'service' industry.

Ross_K · Post by **Ross_K** » 20 Apr 2006, 16:32

You can say what you want about the British government and the Rover fiasco, but PSA obviously aren't going to stay in the UK when they can get the job done cheaper elsewhere. I can't say I blame them for wanting to move somewhere cheaper. From a business point of view, I can't see why a company would want to build cars in the UK (or any other EU country for that matter) when they can build a car 300 quid cheaper in Slovakia or the Czech Republic. The day will come when Eastern Europe is too expensive as well anyhow.

I also don't see why any government should bail out an ailing company - I'm sure there's some kind of EU law preventing that kind of thing anyway.

It's a shame that people are losing their jobs, but why should the taxpayer foot the bill?

Don't forget we became a 'great' country by making things not because we had a good 'service' industry.

The UK was great at making cars, ships or whatever back in the day before other countries were competitive, but blaming the UK's manufacturing woes solely on cheap labour is a bit simplistic. When the Japanese were starting to build decent reliable cars, British manufacturers were turning out the same old crud (with a few exceptions). They didn't move fast enough to adapt. The same can be said for the shipbuilding industry. Who do you point the finger of blame at? The politicians? The unions? The workers themselves? The industry fat cats? One thing's for sure - the UK car industry was going down the tubes long before a bit of cheap Eastern European labour came on the scene...

An economy based on the service industry is a fact of life these days - we all might as well get used to it.

f00lzz · Post by **f00lzz** » 20 Apr 2006, 17:07

Yes I agree in part.... we did it to ourselves.... and competition is a good thing but it has to be FAIR. If manufacturers are allowed to move their factories to the country with cheapest labour costs then I don't think that that is FAIR competition and we were told that we were joining a 'common market' with FAIR trading between countries!

With regard to current vehicle quality, I think that our manufacturing plants hold their own with the rest of the world and better than plenty... look who owns Nissan and Mazda now, and the Toyota's made in Derby are well known in the industry for better quality vehicles than those made in Japan...

Ross_K · Post by **Ross_K** » 20 Apr 2006, 18:16

I get what you're saying about the concept of fairness, but you're just not going to get that fairness in a capitalist (for want of a better word) world.

The consumer wants lower prices all the time - doesn't matter whether it's pint of milk or a car. If a manufacturer can only justify a certain retail price, corners have to be cut elsewhere to make a buck.

This article suggests we can expect more of the same in the next few years:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12393022/

By 2008 Slovakia will be turning out 1m cars a year – compared with 1.6m in Britain this year. The reason is simple. The average gross wage a month for a car worker in Slovakia is £350 – compared with about £2,000 for assembly line workers at Ryton.

Slovakia has shot from nowhere to pole position during the past three years as both PSA Peugeot-Citroen and Kia of South Korea followed Volkswagen's early example and chose to build assembly plants there to take advantage of the country's low production costs.

Call me a pessimist, but if I was working for any car manufacturer in Western Europe right now I wouldn't wait until I got my P45 to start planning a change of career.

Anyway, if (or should that be when) the Russian states with even cheaper labour join the EU you can be sure it'll be the Slovakian's turn to pick up the P45s.

As regards the quality of UK-built cars, Japanese companies like Toyota have a totally different mindset. Can you imagine anybody at Rover or Peugeot doing this?

http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/special/build_quality/

New employees at the Toyota car production plant at Burnaston, near Derby, are surprised and unnerved when they are told one of their responsibilities is to stop the production line. The plant's recently appointed quality director Carl Klemm tells James O'Brien what is behind this revolutionary approach.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Few people can name a job where they will not be in trouble if they stop the production line.

New employees - known as members - at Toyota's production plant at Burnaston, near Derby, are surprised and unnerved when they are told it is one of their responsibilities.

Carl Klemm, who was recently appointed quality director at the plant, talks to groups of new members about the Toyota production system before they take their places on the production line after undergoing a week of seminars and explanations.

When he reaches the point about responsibilities and stopping the line, it is not unusual for a disbelieving voice from the new ranks to ask if he is serious.

'Everyone I have spoken to right from the beginning, especially if they come from a traditional industry, say they do not believe the company wants them to stop the production line,' said Carl.

'I tell them that we believe so strongly in taking that action if it is necessary that we shall not criticise them.

'But if they do not stop it when they should that is a serious situation.'

The Toyota production system, said Carl, was 'deeply complex' and had been developed over the past 50 years.

f00lzz · Post by **f00lzz** » 20 Apr 2006, 19:38

Excuse me for laughing... but I have experienced MG Rover, Peugeot, Honda and Toyota plants first hand.... please believe me... you would NOT want to work at the Toyota plant... they OWN you! Both MG Rover share certain similarities in the way they 'get the job done'. Honda are perhaps the most efficient.

ACTIVE8 · Post by **ACTIVE8** » 18 May 2006, 11:30

Well it looks like Peugeot are to produce cars in Slovakia !

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4932112.stm

ACTIVE8 · Post by **ACTIVE8** » 18 May 2006, 12:27

Apparently the Peugeot family headed by Robert Peugeot are buying a chateau and winery near Bordeaux, just weeks after closing the Coventry plant.

The report I have seen about this has a quote from the unions who say they are not happy about this.

It would seem that they are more concerned about the future of the Chateau Guirard, and have spent more than 15 million pounds on it.

It is likely that they could spend more money on it, and buy even more of them.

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Peugeot to Cease UK Production, Cutting 2,300 Jobs

Peugeot to Cease UK Production, Cutting 2,300 Jobs

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