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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Banging the drum for business | Banging the drum for business |
| (about 23 hours later) | |
| By Robin Punt BBC Midlands Today | By Robin Punt BBC Midlands Today |
| He is one of Britain's best-known businessmen, for decades a champion of industry. | He is one of Britain's best-known businessmen, for decades a champion of industry. |
| Now, after what seems like months of doom and gloom, he says it is about time we started talking up some of those firms that are doing well. | Now, after what seems like months of doom and gloom, he says it is about time we started talking up some of those firms that are doing well. |
| Lord Digby Jones wants to see skilled workers kept on | Lord Digby Jones wants to see skilled workers kept on |
| Lord Digby Jones took me on a tour of his home town - Birmingham - just a few months after quitting as Gordon Brown's trade minister. | Lord Digby Jones took me on a tour of his home town - Birmingham - just a few months after quitting as Gordon Brown's trade minister. |
| And the former CBI chief says it is high time the government started giving direct financial support to save British jobs. | And the former CBI chief says it is high time the government started giving direct financial support to save British jobs. |
| Looking out from behind pads packed with technical drawings, a class of engineering apprentices look slightly shocked by the enthusiasm of their visitor. | Looking out from behind pads packed with technical drawings, a class of engineering apprentices look slightly shocked by the enthusiasm of their visitor. |
| "Hi, I'm Digby, who are you then...what's this..." | "Hi, I'm Digby, who are you then...what's this..." |
| In a break-neck tour of three firms in just a few hours, Lord Jones gets straight to the point. | In a break-neck tour of three firms in just a few hours, Lord Jones gets straight to the point. |
| "This is amazing," he says. "If you open the newspapers or listen to the news, everybody thinks the world is going to hell in a handbasket, yet here's a company in Quinton doing the business in Dubai!" | "This is amazing," he says. "If you open the newspapers or listen to the news, everybody thinks the world is going to hell in a handbasket, yet here's a company in Quinton doing the business in Dubai!" |
| Massive demand | Massive demand |
| Enpure, in west Birmingham, designs water treatment plants. | Enpure, in west Birmingham, designs water treatment plants. |
| Turnover this year will hit £80m, 60% up on last year. | Turnover this year will hit £80m, 60% up on last year. |
| They have opened offices in Dubai to service the growing complexes of offices and apartments. | They have opened offices in Dubai to service the growing complexes of offices and apartments. |
| Business is booming at Hadley Industries in West Bromwich | Business is booming at Hadley Industries in West Bromwich |
| Engineering skills borne out of the Midlands' manufacturing heritage are in massive demand. | Engineering skills borne out of the Midlands' manufacturing heritage are in massive demand. |
| The company employs 400 people. Today's challenge for the director Malcolm Wilkinson is, interestingly, identical to the one he has always faced in good times or bad - recruiting skilled people. | The company employs 400 people. Today's challenge for the director Malcolm Wilkinson is, interestingly, identical to the one he has always faced in good times or bad - recruiting skilled people. |
| "It's about getting young people to come in to engineering, persuading them that it's a very worthwhile profession because you do actually make things," he says. | "It's about getting young people to come in to engineering, persuading them that it's a very worthwhile profession because you do actually make things," he says. |
| "That's good for the economy, good for the infrastructure of the economy and it's what business is all about." | "That's good for the economy, good for the infrastructure of the economy and it's what business is all about." |
| 'Gone forever' | 'Gone forever' |
| Two junctions north on the M5 in West Bromwich and we are faced with the clank and whirr of a laser welding line. | Two junctions north on the M5 in West Bromwich and we are faced with the clank and whirr of a laser welding line. |
| Hadley Industries are making strong steel building sections that some of their global competitors from the US to India say are impossible to mass produce. | Hadley Industries are making strong steel building sections that some of their global competitors from the US to India say are impossible to mass produce. |
| Get your cheque book out government Lord Digby Jones class="" href="7865882">See Lord Digby Jones guided tour of Birmingham | |
| Nearly half the 400-strong workforce has been here for more than a decade and it has patented its own process. | Nearly half the 400-strong workforce has been here for more than a decade and it has patented its own process. |
| Outside, Lord Jones walks past a new order of supermarket shelving bound for Asda and Waitrose, both of which are expanding. | Outside, Lord Jones walks past a new order of supermarket shelving bound for Asda and Waitrose, both of which are expanding. |
| He tells me: "I'd really like to hear it from Lord Mandelson that he will start ensuring that skilled people don't leave the workforce, they go on to short time not redundancy and government make up the difference, which will only be for a short time. | He tells me: "I'd really like to hear it from Lord Mandelson that he will start ensuring that skilled people don't leave the workforce, they go on to short time not redundancy and government make up the difference, which will only be for a short time. |
| "Otherwise what we'll find is those skills will go forever because they won't come back because China will be doing it. | "Otherwise what we'll find is those skills will go forever because they won't come back because China will be doing it. |
| "I never thought I'd agree with Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson, the union guys - we're always known to disagree - but on this they are so right. Get your cheque book out government." | "I never thought I'd agree with Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson, the union guys - we're always known to disagree - but on this they are so right. Get your cheque book out government." |
| 'Bang the drum' | 'Bang the drum' |
| Hadley now has four sites all over West Bromwich. The managing director Stewart Towe says business is good but they do need help. | Hadley now has four sites all over West Bromwich. The managing director Stewart Towe says business is good but they do need help. |
| With export contracts to meet, his big problem is the pound's yo-yoing value against the Euro. | With export contracts to meet, his big problem is the pound's yo-yoing value against the Euro. |
| "It's not all about credit," he says. | "It's not all about credit," he says. |
| "It's about commodity prices and the volatility in the currency markets. We need to find a way to settle things down, so a pound today is a pound tomorrow." | "It's about commodity prices and the volatility in the currency markets. We need to find a way to settle things down, so a pound today is a pound tomorrow." |
| We're on the other side of Birmingham now. I've been brought to an office staffed by only 50 or so people. | We're on the other side of Birmingham now. I've been brought to an office staffed by only 50 or so people. |
| This is the base of Accantia. It makes the Simple range of soaps and facial creams and is the UK's top-selling brand by volume, taking on the might of L'Oreal, Nivea and Olay. | This is the base of Accantia. It makes the Simple range of soaps and facial creams and is the UK's top-selling brand by volume, taking on the might of L'Oreal, Nivea and Olay. |
| The firm is not in Paris or New York, it is in Solihull. | The firm is not in Paris or New York, it is in Solihull. |
| "Very often our competitors have to shoehorn a global solution into local market places and of course that doesn't always work," says chief executive Geoff Percy. | "Very often our competitors have to shoehorn a global solution into local market places and of course that doesn't always work," says chief executive Geoff Percy. |
| "You're a British product for a British market?" Lord Jones asks him. | "You're a British product for a British market?" Lord Jones asks him. |
| "Absolutely, but that's not to say we don't have growing markets outside the UK." | "Absolutely, but that's not to say we don't have growing markets outside the UK." |
| Back at the steel factory, Lord Jones tells me he is proud of what is being achieved here. | Back at the steel factory, Lord Jones tells me he is proud of what is being achieved here. |
| "This wonderful, patented system which no one else on earth makes, where they can basically name a price which is keeping good quality skilled people in work. | "This wonderful, patented system which no one else on earth makes, where they can basically name a price which is keeping good quality skilled people in work. |
| "Now that's happening in my home and I want to keep it happening and the only way to do that is bang the drum." | "Now that's happening in my home and I want to keep it happening and the only way to do that is bang the drum." |
| The full TV interview with Lord Jones is scheduled for broadcast on BBC1 in the West Midlands at 1830 GMT. | The full TV interview with Lord Jones is scheduled for broadcast on BBC1 in the West Midlands at 1830 GMT. |