Another huge contract going abroad

[Adrian W]

France buy French, Germany buy German, Italy etc etc, we buy any old crap provided its cheaper, must be part of the big society,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-14...

[Du1point8]

Adrian W said:

France buy French, Germany buy German, Italy etc etc, we buy any old crap provided its cheaper, must be part of the big society,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-14...

That was done a few weeks ago on PH...

They have lost out twice now, kind of makes you think that they have something wrong with their ability to deliver or cost up the exercise correctly.

Whilst I agree it should be british, didnt they fk up royally last time?

[Parrot of Doom]

Siemens employs about 16,000 people in this country. Maybe those 16,000 people should go and work for a British manufacturer? Or maybe Bombadier's bid was ste?

[BoRED S2upid]

Looks like the company need to employ someone who can write a tender and cost it properly if the only reason this has gone abroad is the cost!

[Markytop]

Apologies if I have missed something along the way, but I am assuming this "British" company called Bombardier is the well known Canadian owned and managed aerospace and transportation company and not a British born and bred company who coincidentely has the same name??

[sinizter]

Why should we buy overpriced products if similar or better quality can be made available here for the same or cheaper price ?

I don't think French and German people will pay over the odds out of patriotic duty either. They might just have companies that can deliver what they want.

[Adrian W]

sinizter said:

Why should we buy overpriced products if similar or better quality can be made available here for the same or cheaper price ?

I don't think French and German people will pay over the odds out of patriotic duty either. They might just have companies that can deliver what they want.

Unfortunately If there were any post tender negotiations, or targets given, we won't get to hear, however it would be interesting to see the statistics concerning purchases from other countries by the other EU member states.

[Adrian W]

Parrot of Doom said:

Siemens employs about 16,000 people in this country. Maybe those 16,000 people should go and work for a British manufacturer? Or maybe Bombadier's bid was ste?

Doing what? Home automation/Building technologies/Security gone back to Germany, all manufacturing now done in Malaysia, Contract manufacturing sold to an MBO, what else is still here other than sales offices? what do they still make in the UK??

[Corsair7]

Bombardier apparantly forecast these job losses even if they won the contract because all its other contracts were finishing soon anyway.

[Parrot of Doom]

Adrian W said:

Doing what? Home automation/Building technologies/Security gone back to Germany, all manufacturing now done in Malaysia, Contract manufacturing sold to an MBO, what else is still here other than sales offices? what do they still make in the UK??

I don't know the ins and outs of Siemens's business but I do know that their Oxford base spends a lot of time manufacturing and developing the magnets and things used in MRI scanners. A world leader, so I believe.

Still, they're employing 16,000 people. Sixteen thousand people, a good proportion of whom will be highly skilled workers, all paying tax, all contributing.

[Pesty]

Parrot of Doom said:

Still, they're employing 16,000 people. Sixteen thousand people, a good proportion of whom will be highly skilled workers, all paying tax, all contributing.

fantastic.

none of those make trains though so woulnt it be win win if we kept the bombardier jobs as well?

ps siemens do everything, everything. i swear they are taking over the plannet.


i think they also won the contract to supply the PO with all their automation.

[Blib]

Corsair7 said:

Bombardier apparantly forecast these job losses even if they won the contract because all its other contracts were finishing soon anyway.

Article said:

However, in a letter written to the government before it chose its preferred bidder, Bombardier had said that even if it had won the Thameslink work, it would still have had to lay off 1,200 workers in Derby as it adjusted to finishing other major contracts.

[Parrot of Doom]

If the views of whoever chose the winning bid are taken as gospel then no it wouldn't be "win win" if Bombardier kept those jobs.

Do we really want to support a British industry that can't produce the best products? When I choose something to buy I don't base my decision on where it's made, I base it on who offers the best value for money. British companies (not that Bombardier is anything of the kind) need to realise that the quality of their product is more important than their address.

[alangla]

Interview with Philip Hammond on Today about this issue this morning - http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_953000...

[Adrian W]

Parrot of Doom said:

Adrian W said:

Doing what? Home automation/Building technologies/Security gone back to Germany, all manufacturing now done in Malaysia, Contract manufacturing sold to an MBO, what else is still here other than sales offices? what do they still make in the UK??

I don't know the ins and outs of Siemens's business but I do know that their Oxford base spends a lot of time manufacturing and developing the magnets and things used in MRI scanners. A world leader, so I believe.

Still, they're employing 16,000 people. Sixteen thousand people, a good proportion of whom will be highly skilled workers, all paying tax, all contributing.

NO!!! they sell stuff here, primarily because the NHS is here, they make it elsewhere, I think the only company actually making scanners in the UK is Varian(who are American owned)

Siemens have been systematically moving their manufacturing operations back to Germany or to LCR's for the last couple of years.

Edited by Adrian W on Tuesday 5th July 10:00

[sinizter]

Canadian trainmaker Bombardier ... So being British doesn't even come into question.

[Caulkhead]

Adrian W said:

France buy French, Germany buy German, Italy etc etc, we buy any old crap provided its cheaper, must be part of the big society,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-14...

Yes, it's completely inconceivable that they simply chose the best bid isn't it?

[Pesty]

sinizter said:

Canadian trainmaker Bombardier ... So being British doesn't even come into question.

Of course it does because they had british workers working for them. Just like I work for an American owned firm.


However its seems from reading above that the jobs were going anyway so it does seem like a non story regardless of the merits of the contract.

[sinizter]

Pesty said:

Of course it does because they had british workers working for them.

On that note, Siemens have even more British workers working for them.

[Big Rod]

sinizter said:

On that note, Siemens have even more British workers working for them.

This may not be relevant, but it depends on what part of Siemens you're talking about.

A large portion of Siemens AG was 'carved out' and sold to an American venture capital corp' a few years ago.