Being a British manufacturer...

Elite Engineered Products have been a proud British manufacturer for over a decade and have seen various economic cycles. We've all heard the stories on the news about the decline of British manufacturing over the past 20 years, if not even longer than that. The recent economic recession has also seen a number of British manufacturers close. However, EEPL is holding fast and is here to stay... So what is it to be a British manufacturer and why are some firms still able to hold steady?

Firstly, a brief history of manufacturing in this country. If we go back 160 years, Britain truly was a great nation in a number of criteria. This period of time was called the Industrial a Revolution for good reason - urbanisation saw thousands of people fleeing to the cities for jobs in big factories. Britain became known for being the best at a number of things - the North was renowned for its cloth, Northampton for its shoes, Stoke for its pottery and the West Midlands for metalwork to name a few. What we couldn't make we would import from the empire.

Fast forward 160 years to the present - we live now in a highly consumerist society where we want everything at the cheapest price possible. I'm sure you've found yourself sifting through internet websites for hours to save just a little bit of money on that item you just must have. The ability to import things for incredibly cheap prices from China and other parts of the Far East due to the incredibly low wage costs and ethically questionable working hours has only fuelled this use-and-abuse consumerism. The Chinese are slowly becoming more expensive - metal polishing costs, for example, were 1/20th of the cost of those in the UK; they are now 1/7th. Still remarkably cheap but that change has happened in the last 7 years. Eastern Europe is now offering up cheap products that it is difficult for Britain to compete with on price. So how do we compete?

Quality. Quality of product and quality of service. Elite Engineered Products prides itself on being able to produce premium product with short lead times and we are able to offer bespoke products. Being British is starting to have its day again - as a nation we are finding our place in the market. People are returning to the traditional British values of buying a premium product because they are fed up with some questionable quality and service and want something that will last. This is what being a British manufacturer is all about - producing a high quality product, built to last, built to do exactly what it is meant to.

Buy British, buy the best!