How automation currently looks in British factories.

Britain has the world’s sixth-largest economy but we barely breach the top 20 when it comes to utilising the power of robotics. Take Germany for example – their economy is 50% larger than ours yet they have 10 times as many robots within their manufacturing facilities.

The UK was once the world’s most powerful economy by some great margin. At the dawn of the industrial revolution our success was assured by our initial willingness to invest when it came to the automation of production. From Jethro Tull’s seed drill, the Spinning Jenny and the assembly lines at the Royal Dockyards such innovation in production dramatically increased Britain’s output far beyond its capacity.

So, why did we fall out of love for automation and is our distrust of roboticisation a root cause of the slow decline of British manufacturing?

There seems to be an inherent distrust of robotics in the UK lead partly by a romanticism of the handmade and a fear that it will render human workers redundant. In fact, as Ruari McCallion says in a recent article in The Manufacturer, ‘If the last 250 years have taught the world anything, it is that automation creates jobs – the “leverage factor” has been estimated at 2.5-3.5 – and builds wealth; improving productivity is essential to competitiveness.’

In industries where we struggle to compete price wise, such fashion, automation should be seen as the key to securing a long-term future for Britain. Yes, there will always be a market for the handmade but a much greater global market exists for competitively priced products. Take a walk down any height street in the UK and you will be lucky to find even 1% of clothing stocked that is made in the Britain. Perhaps it is now time to fill our factories with robots and get more British made goods out there.

Win Me!!!

To celebrate Fathers Day 2015 we are giving away two Raw Leather wallets worth over £35.00 each. One wallet will be sent to an existing subscriber to our blog as a thank you for your support and one winner will be selected from anyone that subscribes between now and 21st June.

>>>>>Click here to subscribe and enter<<<<<

As some of you know James makes handmade leather goods which he sells through Folksy (see here). The unique design of his two-tone leather wallet is one of his best sellers and is a solid and reliable staple, perfect for any Dad. Made from British leather, the wallet is entirely hand double stitched for strength and durability. Both the saddle tan exterior and the flash of ox blood on the inside are hand-dyed and as such every piece is totally individual. The wallet can hold up to 4 cards and a quantity of notes comfortably, while retaining a slim profile.

If you are already a subscriber to our blog…. THANK YOU! Your support gives us the energy to continue our efforts to help raise the profile of British manufacturing and farming and keeping skilled jobs in the UK. You will be automatically entered into the draw.

If you are looking to subscribe you will receive a notification whenever we add new content. We try to be topical, we try to be amusing and we try to add content that people will find useful. The more support we have the bigger impact we can have in promoting British industry.

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– The Bradshaw Family

We launched the made in Britain logo just a few months ago and we are already being contacted by proud UK manufacturers with images of how they are using it.

If you are using the logo please email us (james@briitishfamily.co.uk) and we will feature your image here and on social media.

Featured in the gallery are:

Balmoral Knitwear
Inhouse
Lisa Watson Quilts
Classic Curtains
Charlesworth & son
Chevron Bags by Amber Allen
Arctic Cabins
Faulkner London
Toyday Toyshop Ltd
Earthwise Products Ltd
Salix Alba Skincare
Pronto Paints

Located at the heart of Sheffield town centre is the factory of British cutlers, Taylors Eye Witness. There they have stood proudly for over 200 years and I have recently bought into a small piece of this heritage by purchasing my first Sheffield made kitchen knife – a 6″ Heritage kitchen cleaver.

Sadly, I had to order the knife online as I was unable to find the one I wanted in any of the stores local to me, however John Lewis do stock certain TEW branded products. I made my purchase through a website called Kings and Queens who offered the knife at a fair price (£40). However, it took over 2 months for it to eventually get to me. Needless to say I was not happy and was never really given a proper explanation for the delay. I sat tight and eventually my order arrived… but was it worth the wait?

The first impressions of the knife was that it is exceptionally well made, well balance and a nice size. Unusually perhaps, I use a cleaver in about 90% of all of my cooking. I like that it is a ‘do all’ sort of instrument. You can obviously cut with it but you can also use it bash garlic, chop herbs and scoop produce easily from board to pan. My previously much loved cleaver had given many years of good service and I had even managed to re-handle it a couple of times, but it had sadly ‘chopped its last salad’ when it, rather dramatically, snapped in two. My new Taylors Eye Witness seemed like a worthy replacement (if not an upgrade).

The cleaver sports a 6″ stainless steel blade and a tang which runs through the handle. The handle itself has the appearance of brushed ebony but on closer inspection is actually plastic. Not that that is an issue. The weight of the knife is exactly where it should be, right over the front point and, while heavier than my old cleaver, does not feel cumbersome. In short, my first impressions were good.

However, the knife is advertised on the packaging as being ‘razor sharp’ but is in fact anything but. The first test I put the knife through was cutting an onion which it tended to try and crush rather than slice. As you might imagine, I gave up pretty quickly and reverted to one of my old kitchen knives.

There is nothing more dangerous as a blunt knife. So that evening I set about sharping it. And when I say sharpening it I do not mean a few passes through a domestic sharpening steel a la Gordon Ramsey. This needed a proper industrial style sharpening. Luckily I have the right tools at home to do this. I am afraid that those that do not follow the boy scout code as closely as me (be prepared) would have to take it into a professional. I might be being a bit harsh and perhaps it is because I use this type of knife beyond what they were originally designed for. Maybe I am asking too much?!

After nearly an hour I managed to hone an edge onto the knife that you could quite literally shave with. It now slices through anything in its path and is an absolute joy to use. I expect that it will last me 10 years or more of everyday use and my initial frustrations have since faded.

A bit of history
The first recorded mention of Sheffield cutlery was in the records of King Edward in the mid 1300 and a little later Chaucer wrote about a Sheffield knife in the Reeves tale. However, it was not until the 17th and early 18th Centuries the Sheffield cutlery started gaining extra growth when new developments in increasing the quality of steel gave the cutlers a finer basic product to work with. As with most trades during the industrial revolution the specialisation certain parts of manufacture also helped the industry to grow. By the mid 19th Century, the Sheffield cutlery trade employed ten thousand people, and by the end of the Century more than fifteen thousand. In comparison, London had only 500 cutlers at the latter half of the 19th century. By the 1920’s a new development – stainless steel started to be used, developed by a Sheffield metallurgist, and it is now the standard material for knife blades made today.

– James

We are very happy to announce that The Bradshaw family are expecting a new addition. Yes, Emily is pregnant with our 2nd child and the results of her 12 week scan is that everything is progressing as it should. As you can imagine, we are all very excited both by the new baby and the prospect of buying loads of British made baby stuff. However, we do promise that this will not become yet another baby-blog. We might have a few more distractions along the way but we will keep on with our effort to buy British and promote the best UK manufacturing has to offer.

Writing this blog has very much become a feature of our daily lives and we very much enjoy the community of passionate manufacturers (and their supporters) that have become regular readers. It really does feel like we have an extended family with which to share our experiences.

Thank you for your continued support!

– James, Emily, Lucan and Unborn Bradshaw