Manufacture In Scotland Today :: essays research papers

ContentsContents pagePage 1IntroductionPage 2ElectronicsPage 3SemiconductorsPage 5AerospacePage 6AutomotivePage 7ConclusionPage 8ReferencesPage 9Manufacturing In Scotland TodayIntroductionThis report is not so much on the state of the manufacturing industry in Scotland but rather of its current success. sparing productivity consistently ranks among the highest worldwide and multinational companies have expand their presence in Scotland to capitalise on this.Due to the extent of the manufacturing industry in Scotland I am going to focus on four arenas these macrocosm Electronics, Semiconductors, Aerospace and Automotive manufacture. Other major areas of manufacture in Scotland include Biotechnology (which I will touch upon later), Food (with annual sales totalling 7.3 billion) and Textiles.Scotland is the home to or so 550 electronics companies including multinational giants such as IBM, Compaq, Motorola, Matsushita and Phillips. Scotland also has one of the highest concentratio ns of semiconductor fabrication companies in Europe including NEC, Motorola, National Semiconductors and Raytheon Systems. While the Scottish aerospace industry comprises of 52 companies including BAE Aerostructures, GEC Marconi radar and Control Systems, Greenwich Caledonian, Rohr, Bond Helicopters and Woodward Governor and it has world-class expertise in electronics, plastics and aluminium founding, all of which are increasingly important in automotive manufacture.All these companies chose Scotland. legal residence to Europes most experienced electronics work-force the Scots are known worldwide for their work ethic, as well as for their skills and initiative they are praised for low gear turnover rates, low absenteeism, and high levels of responsiveness to training and new technologies. Partly this can be put down to Scotlands educational system which places particular emphasis on electrical engineering, science, mathematics and computer-related studies. Also producing more eng ineering graduates per capita than all other EU nations.Scotland also offers the ideal location for companies requiring access to the European market finished access to Europe in a matter of hours with its modern airports, motorways, deep water seaports and advanced rail freight connections with Europe.ElectronicsThe so called Silicon Glen area of Central Scotland is one of the most concentrated areas of electronics activity in Europe. Home to many companies from America, Japan, as well as European multi-nationals and of course independent Scottish companies. Many leading electronics companies have operations in Scotland, including IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Canon, Compaq, Packard Bell, NEC, Sun Microsystems and Mitsubishi. Altogether they employ 41,000 people, with another 29,900 supporting directly. Total product sales of the Scottish electronics domain amounted to 15.5 billion in 1996 with Scotland producing32% of personal computers made in Europe,