LETTERS

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LET'SLAUGHTOGETHERMadam- PE Jordan's letterappearing in the July edition ofManufacturing Engineer forcesme to put pen to paper in sup-port of Ernest Heptonstall.

The British sense of humouris admired throughout the worldand is an excellent mediumthrough which serious topicscan be introduced and discus-sion stimulated. Far from criti-cising Mr Heptonstall's con-tribution, I think many of ourcommittees would do well toemulate his plain language andentertaining style.

The suggestion of 'qualifica-tion of intent' against individualarticles is not only a slight onthe intelligence of your reader-ship, but also superfluous asthere is a general disclaimer onpage one of each issue.

Eur Ing IM BergmanCEng MIEE

SolothurnSwitzerland

QUALITYWIDEMadam - I find it difficult to un-derstand Sam Kinchin's viewthat only core activities of abusiness are covered wherecompanies achieve BS 5750registration (Bridge over theGap -July 1992).

The requirements for a sup-plier to implement and maintaina policy for quality at all levelsof the organisation is fun-damental ly specif ied inBS 5750. TQM may be selec-tively applied to departmentsand, where appropriate,amendments may be made tothe quality system.

To use CWR (company wideregistration) as an optionalmeans of improving quality willno doubt reap results, but to seeit as a bridge from BS 5750 toTQM is misleading.

David Nash lEngKnowleBristol

JIT AND THE ARTOF CAR SELLINGMadam - The recent accountof Rover principles (A NewDeal? - July 1992) prompts meto describe experiences I havehad in attempting to buy one oftheir products (a Rover 800Series diesel).

These relatively expensivepieces of hardware - about£23 000 - are not available totest prior to ordering and theonly way to obtain one, or so thedealers tell me, is to place a£500 cash deposit. They willthen quote a delivery timewhich is a minimum of eightweeks as all orders are placedwith the factory, no cars beingbuilt for stock.

While this JIT might be goodfor Rover's books, it is not goodfor the customer who could findthat in the meantime the dealerhas gone into liquidation takingthe £500 with him. (The dealerwould not accept a credit cardor a cheque to a third party

which would protect the buyer).The dealer explained that

Rover's new policy was tomake these cars more difficultto obtain so increasing theirvalue. This marketing policyonly works if other manufac-turers follow, but I was able toobtain almost immediate testdrives on equivalent Volvo andMercedes diesel models withdeliveries quoted in firm days.

As you may guess, I did notbuy a Rover, which is a pity asI believe in supporting UK in-dustry where possible and theproduct had good reviews. It isyet another example of a verypoor customer policy that manyUK companies are prone todespite the claims made to cus-tomer orientation.

If JIT applies to companysuppliers, should it not apply tobuyers?

B SeymourAddress supplied

WE GOTTHERE FIRST!Madam - I write with referenceto the News Digest section inthe July issue of ManufacturingEngineer.

Under the heading Softwareit is claimed by Kewill Systemsthat, due to their agreementwith the Scheduling Technol-ogy Group, for the first time the'most modern manufacturingtechnology management meth-ods will now be within cost ef-fective reach of small and me-dium sized companies'.

Cimtek Ltd was formed indirect response to difficultiesfaced by a small companystruggling to gain any benefit

from the very expensive systempurchased from Kewill in the1980s. Cimtek has been on themarket since 1989 and hasmany happy users making themost of modern manufacturingmanagement methods and thelatest 4GL relational databasetechniques.

I realise that the informationprinted in this section of yourjournal is taken from informa-tion sent to you by readers andsuppliers to industry. It wouldbe gratifying to have the oppor-tunity of response!

Adrian DavyCimtek Ltd

ASSOCIATESARISE -THERE ISLIFE AFTERMERGER!Madam- Enough of themoans and groans about asso-ciate issues highlighted inmanufacturing matters andelsewhere. Please can we asan active group of individualsadvise of the positive side of theareas being investigated.

For those associates whowish to be active, whether lEng,Eng Tech, or otherwise, let it beknown that a committee ap-proved by Council exists andhas met on three occasions tolook at ways that the interestsof some 10% of the institutioncan be bettered. This associ-ates committee, with nationalrepresentation, has recently es-tablished a working party withspecific terms of reference thatinclude investigating the needsand aspirations of the grade.To this end it is proposed to findout what associates requirefrom the institution via a postalsurvey over the next fewweeks. When you receive yourform, fill it in and return it, other-wise things will not change!

We would like to add that theresponse to our involvement incentre activities has been posi-tive and encouraging to enableassociates to take an activerole in the institution affairs.

More information throughlEENews will be forthcoming inthe near future. (See IEE News,September 3rd, page 3 - Ed.)

If you individuals have apoint to be raised regarding as-sociates please write to any ofthe following via the editor.

S Long (Chairman)C Blanchard

MFoxM Halliday

G JohnstonD Fullwood

(Please address letters c/o TheEditor, Manufacturing Engin-eer, Michael Faraday House,Six Hills Way, Stevenage,Herts SG1 2AY.)

MANUFACTURING ENGINEER SEPTEMBER 1992