UKC

Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon, an old-established engineering company in Kendal, has just announced plans to dispense with several dozen of its workforce. This article in last week's Westmorland Gazette, for me, left many questions unanswered.

https://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/19133460.gilbert-gilkes-gordon...

Before revealing the contents of my letter to the editor of the Gazette I would be most interested to hear of how anyone else responds to the article. 

It is notable how they carefully avoid using the B***** word.

Barrow?

I found it quite striking that they repeatedly use the C word and strenuously avoid the B word in attributing the blame for their difficulty in 'accessing overseas markets'.  I don't know anything about their situation beyond what I just read there and suppose there's at least a chance that's wholly accurate, but my instinctive reaction is very much 'chinny reckon'.

E2A: Ha. Jinx!

Have you read their Report and Accounts.......easily available on Companies House.

I think they have other more fundamental issue, probably the specific engineering market they are in. You can see the way the company has grown/shrunk over the past few years.

To big  a bias toward the Uk which makes the biggets impact on their sales.You can see that from the turnover splits by region.

If their sales to Europe matched or were near  sales to Uk then I would 100% agree with you.

Difficult one to read either way, but not conclusive form those numbers.

Good to see they have invested in new machinery.Looks like a good solid engineering company taking steps to keep going. I wish them luck.

Copy of letter sent to Westmorland Gazette. I somehow doubt they'll publish.

Dear Editor

I was shocked to read of the problems faced by Gilkes and the prospect of dozens losing their jobs (Gazette March 4). But I have to admit to being puzzled by the stated cause of the devastating development, i.e. Covid. Of course, the pandemic must have caused major issues for Gilkes as it has for many businesses, but surely the furlough scheme, which now has (at least) 6 months to run should make the jobs of employees safe for that period. 

The article mentions “severe difficulties accessing overseas markets” as being the cause of the job cuts. I for one would have liked to read much more about what this phrase actually means, but in addition I am left wondering which markets are being most difficult of access. Are they by any chance the European Union states? The word most conspicuous by its absence in this article was Brexit.

I have a particular interest in this as a neighbour I know quite well was for many years an important figure in the company and worked for long spells abroad representing the company. It has always surprised my that he is a staunch Brexit supporter. If the other bosses of the company share his views, perhaps they are being a little obfuscatory. I have long thought that Covid would provide good cover for the government where adverse effects (are there any other?) of Brexit appear.

It also occurs to me - am I being paranoic? - that, should the company come out strongly blaming Brexit for their plight, perhaps they might be adversely treated by the government in some way. I wouldn't put anything past this bunch.

Good call - sadly it will fall on deaf ears. This lot surely must be held to account eventually.

At least a letter such as Wilko's probably won't be censored at source: the WG is independent politically, and Newsquest -its owners - claim to support this stance. Incidentally, the wife of the current CEO of its parent company is a member of the NUJ, so he must be pretty well informed about the ground-level opinions of journos

Yes you are possibly being paranoid.....

Their business is basically a UK dominated market business.If it was an EU driven business ( which would be reflected in their sales numbers)  then you would have a valid point.You can see that in their sales figures.

I can think of numerous engineering companies that will suffer hugely because of Brexit, but this one...jury is out......

I don't really understand your argument here. The business is blaming “severe difficulties accessing overseas markets” for the job losses. 

They cannot travel overseas........maintenance contracts on hold, installation on hold.( will be good business)

The country that they export most to is the USA.

Ok, fair enough. But furlough has another 6months to run, by which time maybe travel will be easier. Why are they sacking dozens now?

Companies are now going remotely to do it, which basically means less site maintenance/installation engineers for the future. Once your customers understand that it can be done, they want things cheaper, and so you employ less people. Instead of having a maintenance enginner away for a week with travel costs, its done remotely and they can get more done. Big shift going on in that type of work at the moment.. And it will not go back to the old ways pre Covid

To me it looks as thought they earn good money from this type of work. Its effectively changed, so they need to adapt and fast.

Pretty brutal.

"FIT scheme closes to new applicants from 1 April 2019", Speaking with a service engineer they are nearing completion of there UK based projects. If you have visited the Kendal factory it has grown organically over the years in seperate buildings + extensions. I would suspect they will move production / assembly to a lower costs country and keep design/HO in Kendal. A lot of the turbine components were sourced abroad. Our alternator is Italian and grid transformer is Turkish. Cashflow is king.  

Sounds like you might work there.