Contracting houses,Arthur and John

I need to fire my current ISP provider having just typed in at least 500000 words and been kicked out without saving.

I lost the thread anyway.

The basic thread was positive restlessness.. but the thought has really left me.

I have been researching some of the Design and Engineering companies here in Sweden recently. The state of play reminds me somewhat of one of the American ( and other countries ) news story that tragically appears on an all too frequent basis. Some guy walks into a school or a shopping mall and opens fire wiping out a whole load of innocent people.
Why I thought of that I will never know but there is a synergy somehow in my weird mind at least of how the companies associated with the Swedish auto industry are dying , bodies everywhere, and as such a lot of engineers and designers are unemployed and have been for some time. The business has imploded so to speak.

A lot of cutbacks and layoffs throughout. sad but inevitable.
The contract companies have built up a huge resource without the flexibility that this business demands.

Semcon/Caran, Etteplan,Cliff Design & Models to name but a few have shed people not the hard and fast contractors who simply move on, but employees tired of the OEM's and dreaming of a better life on the other side of the green stuff.

What these companies did not tell them is that having tried to emulate the OEM's by marketing themselves as the best thing since the proverbial slice. Gods gift to the automotive business.A certain amount of arrogance has prevailed.

They simply lost the thread and its now payback time.

Unlike my friend Arthur who works for one of the afformentioned companies.

Arthur .A legend in his own lunchtime !!!!

Arthur is one of lifes weelers and dealers who can bend company rules to and often beyond breaking point....and get away with it for the sole interest of making money and keeping the customer satisfied.
The customer will receive something that he is entirely happy with and maybe not aware that he has just been shafted.

Another character who was the pioneer of of the contracting business as we know it was John Shute, sadly no longer with us.

John founded the company International Automotive Design ( IAD ) in the late 70's and built a full service design and engineering company with facilities worldwide.
Like many I will always be indebted to John and he will always have a place in my memories.
John was a "large " jovial man who looked remarkably like Henry VIII.

His secret to success became opening design studios and pulling in the engineering work as a result. John always maintained that when you were discussing engineering projects with customers you were talking to the engineering community or the buyers.
When you were selling design on the other hand you were talking to the guy that owned the company.
IAD had studios ( and I mean lots ) 2 in Germany 2 in Spain, Claifornia and Detroit and 3 in the UK.
The irony and probably little known fact ( Other than to those who worked for IAD at the time ) is that the Kia's Hyundai's, Daewoo's all started their first own branded vehicles at IAD.
Sadly in being so ambitious he took one too many risks and the company folded in 1993 as a result of another automotive bankrupcy.
The 2000 plus designers,engineers and technicians evaporated to the four corners of the earth and there is probably not an OEM that does not have an ex IAD contact. Wherever I go I meet or hear from ex IAD colleagues.

True respect.

The Swedish and European contracting industry can learn a lot from people like John and Arthur.
The business is about not being an OEM. The business is about innovation, flexibility and finding the niche that the OEM's need.
Not getting involved with middle management until the deal is done. This was Johns tactic.

The survivors and thrivers in Sweden seem to be the small companies who do not wish to become the IAD's and Semcon's. They have found their niche and probably make a tidy living thankyou.
When times do change , and they will there will be a new generation who need to do a lessons learned on why the contracting business dropped into the abbyss.