John McGuinness chewing the fat with Stuart Garner on factory tour.

[Z1000elderado]

Stay out of this fight !!. I did a factory tour in May, and and I love the "Cottage Industry" feel. I can't imagine how they make any money tho', but the parts Norton manufacture seem as good or better than any mass produced component and I don't think anyone who doesn't own one knows just how much Soul they have and if I win the lottery I might make Mr Garner an offer for a share in the worlds best "Man Cave", plus anyone going to the Factory should pay a visit to The Priest Hole for a stay or just Lunch.

The priest hole is ace, had a couple of pints there after my factory tour in June.

 

[BLIGHTYBRIT/SF]

The priest hole is ace, had a couple of pints there after my factory tour in June.

We are talking bout The Priest house hotel bar & restaurant next door to factory ?,Or is there a micro pub of that name there now or may be an actual priest hole recently discovered where the new 650 atlas has been stored,but suppose its a typo error

 

[thesixthelephant]

We are talking bout The Priest house hotel bar & restaurant next door to factory ?,Or is there a micro pub of that name there now or may be an actual priest hole recently discovered where the new 650 atlas has been stored,but suppose its a typo error

It's the place to go and pray that yer Norton makes it all the way home after a service. (only joking !!!!)

 

[Eljahara]

It's the place to go and pray that yer Norton makes it all the way home after a service. (only joking !!!!)

Haha - brilliant

 

[Z1000elderado]

We are talking bout The Priest house hotel bar & restaurant next door to factory ?,Or is there a micro pub of that name there now or may be an actual priest hole recently discovered where the new 650 atlas has been stored,but suppose its a typo error

Ye that’s it

 

[Madnorton]

83% is easy to determine, as long as the parts data card is completed correctly with the part origin, it can be deduced from the parts build list for the bike. 'Card' is not card these days, it would be electronic.

It would make sense that he had to do more in house, the volumes don't sit easily, too much for some and not enough for others and this bandwidth seems to constantly change. Small volumes outsourced and the manufacturer has to decide when to machine them and when to hold if one of their higher ranking customers makes immediate demands. Delays are inevitable, and what do you think happens when someone is stood at the door offering £3K for an hours job to get a part to Aberdeen or the JLR plant up and running.

I bet the purchase of the machines was expensive and still not working at an economical rate, but at least he has close control of supply and quality that will make up for the lack of spindle time. The 650 may alleviate some this of this in the future.

 

[Fast Eddie]

Madnorton, so are you saying that the % is simply the number of U.K. sourced SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) as a percentage of the total?

I’m intrigued to know if it’s that way, or by % of value.

I still personally find the 83% figure hard to believe, but that’s not knocking them, like you mention Madnorton, managing the supply chain when you’re too big for the small firms to supply, and too small for the big firms to care about, must be damned challenging!

 

[cliffa]

Did Mr. Garner really say of the California "they look shit" ?

I seem to remember another CEO by the name of Gerald Ratner saying the same sort of thing of his products a few years ago.

Talking of the name California, how comes Norton are able to use that? Everybody knows a Cali is a Moto Guzzi.