We must improve
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Visiting Scandinavia can be stimulating, depressing or inspiring, depending on the purpose of the visit. CM's recent in-depth incursion across the North Sea proved to be all three, at different times.
The Scandinavian vehicle manufacturers have a management-employee relationship and working environment which creates an aura of confidence and enthusiasm. It takes very little time for the visitor to merge into the background and be soaked up in the atmosphere.
In retrospect the experience is depressing when it is compared with the scene at home. Many of our domestic problems are the result of poor company relations and communication, and antiquated work-places and equipment. Alongside their Scandinavian contemporaries, our personnel, plant and equipment look tired and depressed.
However, we should not be too proud to copy others — they once copied us. We can learn a lot from Scandinavia, not least a pride in both our products and ourselves. Without that, we have an uphill battle. We have plenty of room for improvement, just as the Scandinavians had in the Forties. With so much scope, there is much we can achieve. Not least is their lesson on how to save fuel.