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There is a huge investment in 'state of the art' equipment at the Solihull factory - predominately test equipment. There is a large welding area for frame/swingarm manufacture and also engine/frame assembly areas. And rows of PCs for design work. What there is not there are rows of cnc equipment. Unfortunately almost every component has become massively more complex - from pistons to gaskets so it is getting less economic for a manufacturer to make these components on site or an outside company working in low volumes. In days gone by when technologically simple bikes were produced in the thousands in British factories this was possible but not now - economy of scale means that a supplier has to manufacture a component on a large scale to recoup the investment in the equipment required. And the days when an British engineer would use his skill and experience to manufacture components is gone - tighter tolerances and consistency means manufacturing is now down to an operator looking after a cnc machine running a program which has been developed somewhere in the world. So is there a difference between a cnc manufactured component which has been run on a machine in India or Croydon? Does an Indian or British operator pressing the RUN button make a difference? So is the 'made in Britain' thing a 'support UK jobs' or a belief that British made products are better?The New New Norton mission seems to be to make sure that a 'British made' product is seen to be reliable as that is the bedrock of the brand. When you are sitting by the side of the road with oil spewing out of your stricken bike are you going to be thinking 'at least the component that failed was lovingly hand crafted in Britain'?If you really want a machine made in the UK in a traditional manner by skilled craftsmen then may I point you in the direction of Morgan Sportscars. And yes they use BMW and Ford engines....
There is a huge investment in 'state of the art' equipment at the Solihull factory - predominately test equipment. There is a large welding area for frame/swingarm manufacture and also engine/frame assembly areas. And rows of PCs for design work. What there is not there are rows of cnc equipment. Unfortunately almost every component has become massively more complex - from pistons to gaskets so it is getting less economic for a manufacturer to make these components on site or an outside company working in low volumes. In days gone by when technologically simple bikes were produced in the thousands in British factories this was possible but not now - economy of scale means that a supplier has to manufacture a component on a large scale to recoup the investment in the equipment required. And the days when an British engineer would use his skill and experience to manufacture components is gone - tighter tolerances and consistency means manufacturing is now down to an operator looking after a cnc machine running a program which has been developed somewhere in the world. So is there a difference between a cnc manufactured component which has been run on a machine in India or Croydon? Does an Indian or British operator pressing the RUN button make a difference? So is the 'made in Britain' thing a 'support UK jobs' or a belief that British made products are better?
The New New Norton mission seems to be to make sure that a 'British made' product is seen to be reliable as that is the bedrock of the brand. When you are sitting by the side of the road with oil spewing out of your stricken bike are you going to be thinking 'at least the component that failed was lovingly hand crafted in Britain'?
If you really want a machine made in the UK in a traditional manner by skilled craftsmen then may I point you in the direction of Morgan Sportscars. And yes they use BMW and Ford engines....
