Editorial

Citation

Bennett, D. (2010), "Editorial", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 21 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/jmtm.2010.06821faa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Volume 21, Issue 6

I have often tried to relate the editorial commentary for Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management ( JMTM ) to current events. During the last couple of years, this has inevitably meant discussing aspects of the world financial crisis and how manufacturing industry has been affected by the economic fortunes of different countries. I have also commented on the role of manufacturing in bringing about economic recovery and also whether national economies that are heavily dependent on service industries are at greater risk than those with a more balanced mix of sectors.

Now that the world’s economies are emerging from the recession (some fast and others more slowly) I have noticed that manufacturing is receiving more prominent coverage in the press than before. For example, in April, most of the national newspapers in the UK reported surveys that showed Britain’s factories had enjoyed their fastest pick-up of activity for 15 years, although this was before any government statistics had been released to confirm this officially.

Indeed, in the same issue of one, normally reliable, newspaper, there were two articles running on the same page with different messages about the manufacturing situation in the UK. One had the upbeat headline “Pound boosted as British manufacturing shows strong sign of recovery”, while the other had the more pessimistic headline “Industry fears steel price rise will hit recovery”. There were two things that I thought odd about these articles. One was the seemingly contradictory nature of the main messages they carried, although this in itself is not unusual since economic commentators rarely agree how events will determine future outcomes. The other oddity, however, related just to the article about steel prices. For many years, the profile of British manufacturing industry has been changing so that the emphasis is now on producing high-technology, high-value-added products, such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, industrial electronics, precision instruments, etc. So now, these industries have largely replaced the traditional ones such as heavy machinery, construction equipment, industrial plant, and even steel making itself, which have largely moved offshore to Eastern European countries, India, and East Asia. Therefore, the puzzle to me is why, as this article implied, should the recovery of British manufacturing be adversely affected by steel price rises more than in other countries? I can only think it is another example of press speculation with little hard factual substance.

This brings me to another thought about manufacturing and how it sometimes becomes the focus of attention; whereas, for much of the time, it rarely receives more than occasional coverage in the media. As I write this Editorial for JMTM, the UK is now well into a campaign for electing the next government and the result will be known by the time this issue is published. Apart from trying to expose the personal strengths and weaknesses of their leaders, the political parties are locked in battle about tax increases, public sector cuts, and social issues. But the importance of manufacturing has also now been mentioned in the campaign, which is different from the previous general election five years ago. Whether it receives any more prominence still remains to be seen, and perhaps after the election it will disappear again from the national media. Still, at least the financial crisis has caused our politicians, commentators, and journalists to begin thinking again about manufacturing as a serious contributor to our economic wellbeing. This cannot be a bad thing unless you still believe that wealth can be generated through financial speculation.

David Bennett