Page 4 - Survey 2020: The Star Business

4 THESTAR www.thestar.co.uk Wednesday,January22,2020
MANUFACTURING
THE MASTER CUTLER: MY HOPES FOR 2020
Government must use its majority to promote growth
As we roll into 2020, I am sorry to say that we face yet another 12 months of uncertainty.
All the withdrawal agree- ment does is rubber stamp our departure and herald the start of yet more talks/ debates/arguments.
Until the end of 2020, al- though we will have no MEPS and no say in any negotia- tions among member states, we will still be governed by the single market and cus- toms union rules while a deal – or possibly no deal - is worked out.
Meanwhile, those of us at the sharp end of business and manufacturing, should look to reassure our cus- tomers and look to expand our horizons beyond the EU borders.
The world of trade and commerce is not going to mark time while we continue to negotiate the Brexit maze but remember, you are not alone.
The manufacturers’ or- ganisation MAKE UK (for- merly EEF) and SYITC (the South Yorkshire Interna- tional Trade Centre) have Brexit advice and hotlines
ready and waiting.
Many of us have built up
good trading relations with European companies. It is important that we continue to nurture these partner- ships while seeking out new avenues for inward invest- ment and cooperation.
Meanwhile, I shall con- tinue to do what every Mas- ter Cutler has done for the past decade – urge the Gov- ernment to bring a degree of certainty to industry – some- thing which has been lacking for far too long.
It now has the majority it needs to promote growth and it is important for us all to ensure that the Sheffield City Region is at the fore- front of any investment pro- gramme.
Top of my agenda this coming year, will be to push for a review of industrial en- ergy prices.
This region boasts four of the UK’s five arc furnac- es which are heavily reliant on electricity. They pay 51 per cent more for electric- ity than Germans and 110 per cent more than French steelmakers.
I understand that this will not be popular with climate
Master Cutler, Nick Williams, left.
change activists but our steel making processes are less damaging than those of many other nations and hav- ing excessive energy prices damages our businesses while doing nothing for the planet.
I’d also like to see our heavy business rates re- viewed; it seems to me strange that businesses which invest heavily in eco- friendly equipment are punished because the im- provements to their prop-
erty results in an increase in rates.Running a close second on my ‘to do’ list will be to en- courage the public sector as the single largest purchaser of steel within the UK - some £2.5 billion worth in the next five years – to fully commit to
buying British.
Currently, more than 60
per cent comes from over- seas. Once our departure from Europe becomes a re- ality, ‘home-grown’ markets will become increasingly im- portant.
Despite challenges manufacturers will decide futures
Sheffield was once a global manufacturing powerhouse, a city to which all the planet’s roads led for special steels, tools and cutlery.
I remember, as a youth, the World Iron and Steel Federa- tion Conference in the 1960s.
From all corners of the earth the ‘kings of steel’ came: from Germany’s Essen andHolland’sIjmuiden;from Pittsburg in the United States and Yokohama in Japan; from Korea’s Pusan and Australia’s Broken Hill.
By the ‘Master Cutler’ Pull- man car express they came and by British Overseas Air- ways ‘Monarch’ Vickers VC10 jetliner from New York and Chicago. They visited the
great works of Vickers, of Eng- lish Steel, of Firth Brown, of Samuel Osborn, of Dunford Hadfields and of many oth- ers; and in the evening, clad in white tie and tails, in the magnificent Cutler’s Hall they congregated, night after night, for glittering dinners, all overlooked by the formida- ble portraits of the great iron- masterswhosehadbrought this about in the first place. This was 60 years ago, and I, then a teenager, felt proud of my city.
What is it today? Shef- field’s hospitals are re- nowned for their excellence. Its universities are thronged with students from far-off places. It even enjoys some
repute on the football field. But what of its manufactur- ing industry, the foundation of its original prosperity? Has it a future? Will ‘Brexit’ make a difference?
These days, the world doesn’t need Sheffield, but it still needs innovative prod- ucts, well-made and deliv- ered on time at a price, which whilenotnecessarilycheap, does still in the round repre- sent value for money. There are still world-class manufac- turers in Sheffield and its en- virons, among them Gripple, Forgemasters, Swann More- ton, AESSEAL and my own William Cook.
Since the dark days of the late 1970s and early 1980s,
when the glories of the 1960s had been forgotten, replaced by derelict factories and gen- eral desolation, I have had one maxim: “If you’re the best in the business, you’ll stay in business”.
The city should do its utmost to create an envi- ronment favourable to man- ufacturing - good roads, first classpublictransport,high- quality communications and low taxes.
But it is the remaining manufacturers who will de- cide their own futures. Ex- cellence brings profits, with which you can invest and train for the future. Stay the best, and you’ll stay around. Grow soft and you’ll die.
Sir Andrew Cook.