Wake Up at the Back !
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RECENTLY The Commercial Motor was asked by a new vehicle manufacturer to help in completing the details of his design. Contacts were required with various accessory and component manufacturers who could supply units at the rate of up to 1,000 a year for a conventional type of vehicle intended solely for export. The chassis manufacturer had apparently been experiencing difficulty in obtaining satisfactory replies from component concerns and was beginning to doubt the wisdom of choosing British products. He might. he thought, have done better if he had decided to adopt American and German components.
This is not a happy state of affairs and the case is by no means isolated. Even well-established vehicle makers frequently have to bear long delay ยง in the supply of components and equipment, particularly for export orders. Most proprietary-engine manufacturers are lively, but many other suppliers seem to show a depressing lack of interest in inquiries from prospective customers. One would think that an inquiry for a minimum of 500 units a year would receive more attention than a brief letter: any enterprising concern would have sent a technical representative, and that with all speed.
The position is much the same with regard to spare parts. Perhaps British manufacturers in this field do not realize that at least one Japanese concern is offering to make spares for any type of vehicle upon the receipt of a worn component, or even the original chassis part number, and that they will be supplied at 30 per cent. below the cost of the genuine products. This practice is by no means restricted to Japan: a German concern is known to be marketing spares suitable for a wellknown British oil engine, including the fuel-injection equipment.
Instances can be cited of large-scale sales campaigns being instituted to create interest in a new component or assembly, although the manufacturers have neither the material nor the facilities to produce the goods. This is particularly worrying not only to operators who are hoping to receive benefit from new ideas, but also to the garages who have agreed to fit such new components.
Accessory, equipment and sub-assembly manufacturers must wake up to the quickening pace of competition in the commercial vehicle industry. It is in their hands to avoid the loss of valuable orders and to try to enhance British prestige overseas by enabling chassis manufacturers to deliver vehicles on time. Their motto should be: Get on or get out.