Why Manufacturing Matters
Sir John Rose, Chief Executive,
Rolls-Royce
Gabor Lecture, Imperial
College
Five years ago, I sat under the dinosaur's tail at the Natural
History Museum, London, to hear that successful Imperial honorary
graduate, the great Singapore politician, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan
Yew.
He began his speech with a description of his first trip to
Britain, a year after the end of the war, in 1946. Heads nodded in
appreciation as he described what he had seen, giving us a moving
account of stoical Britons working to repair London and create a
new nation. We settled back appreciatively to soak up an outsider's
praise for this great country. Then he changed tack and said that
what he found now was:
"That quiet pride and self-confidence, that national
cohesiveness that marked out the British people after victory is
WW2, has dissipated."
Well, that pretty much marked the end of the warm feeling that
night. Rather than engage in the luxury of saying how wonderful we
are, I want this evening to raise matters that some may find
controversial.
First I want ot make the case for the importance of our
manufacturing industry. Second, because I believe that
manufacturing is important, I shall propose a possible prescription
aimed at reversing its decline. And third, I shall respond to some
of the more common objections to the proposition and the
prescription.
So let's start at the beginning. Why does manufacturing
matter?
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