Thread: Apologies in advance

I've just made a couple of posts and realised that I may be ranting a bit (more than usual).

//metalworkforums.com/f65/t1996...40#post1911640
//metalworkforums.com/f65/t1996...62#post1911662

At the moment I'm 'between jobs' and having been in manufacturing for most of my working life, I'm not open to the idea that we should sell minerals and ag. products and buy anything else we need, value added in other countries.

I'll find something eventually but at the moment I'm particularly sensitive to the whole make/ buy thing, so apologies if I come across too strongly.

Michael

Originally Posted by Michael G

I've just made a couple of posts and realised that I may be ranting a bit (more than usual).

At the moment I'm 'between jobs' and having been in manufacturing for most of my working life, I'm not open to the idea that we should sell minerals and ag. products and buy anything else we need, value added in other countries.

I'll find something eventually but at the moment I'm particularly sensitive to the whole make/ buy thing, so apologies if I come across too strongly.

Michael

Michael,

Best of luck in your job search.
It can be difficult as you reach the second half of your working life, and most of us who have been through this know that it can be hard to contain the bitterness that being made "redundant" can bring out at times.

We all have great respect for your demonstrated metalworking and machining abilities and hope we can all remain tolerant of the occasional outburst!

Best thing is to see this as an opportunity to get a better and more enjoyable/less stressful job to finish out the rest of your career years.

Andrew.

There is a flip side to the "process it here". And that is that it only works when there is competition from many smaller players.

In my industry I have seen competition dwindle as the number of processors gets less and less and the remaining ones get bigger and bigger.

For us the live export industry even though we do not sell through it, has provided competition in my industry that has lead to higher and higher prices for every producer even if like us they do not sell to the live export market.

We are now getting nearly double what we were on two years ago when prices were at record lows. This has led us to do things like spend $30 000 on a set of portable yards, made in Australia in Gympie, from Australian made steel.

Having been employed in the mining industry I always thought we should have done more with the iron ore but the truth of the matter is we cannot compete with the wages overseas and for companies like BHP it is easier to get big rocks out of the ground and smash them into smaller bits and sell that rather than smelt it but we are our own worst enemies when it comes to supporting our farmers so in the end we will get what we deserve.

Well I haven't noticed any difference in your posts but maybe I'm not that sensitive to these things and probably because your advice has always been helpful no matter how it is expressed.

Can appreciate the buy/make/sell issues.

Just reading the news about the Dysprosium pilot processing plant in the Kimberly (WA) and thought here we go again.
Rare earths project in the Kimberley gets approval to build pilot processing plant - ABC Rural (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Originally Posted by BobL

Well I haven't noticed any difference in your posts but maybe I'm not that sensitive to these things and probably because your advice has always been helpful no matter how it is expressed.

Can appreciate the buy/make/sell issues.

Just reading the news about the Dysprosium pilot processing plant in the Kimberly (WA) and thought here we go again.
Rare earths project in the Kimberley gets approval to build pilot processing plant - ABC Rural (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Wonder if that coincides with the State Elections?

If the ability to make parts is lost then we are all in serious trouble as the OEM suppliers will be dictating how long a piece of equipment is able to be used .

Its all "profit and shareholder dividends" not service to customers.

High wages and current political touchy feely attitudes dont help either.
Michael