How Germany Wins At Manufacturing — For Now

[hollodero]

(01-09-2018, 05:37 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: This is in German so you and Hollo will probably be the only other ones able to read this so I won’t quote it.  

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/eu-deutschland-baut-seine-macht-in-bruessel-aus-1.2588651

Can you?

This is quite the unspectacular article. Yeah Germany is a big part of Europe and they have a considerable amount of influence and also a considerable amont of appointees in the commission. 
But the article also states how Germany intends to depolitizice the institutions and that they are actually underrepresented in some branches.
That Brits do not aim for EU positions is also not that surprising.

[Belsnickel]

(01-09-2018, 05:37 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: Well when you send more MEP and have more Germans in key positions coupled with the most votes that’s a pretty good cocktail to show control.


This is in German so you and Hollo will probably be the only other ones able to read this so I won’t quote it.

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/eu-deutschland-baut-seine-macht-in-bruessel-aus-1.2588651

And they still don't have enough to act unilaterally. But, you know, facts.

[StLucieBengal]

(01-09-2018, 06:06 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: And they still don't have enough to act unilaterally. But, you know, facts.

Yet they have the most votes and in turn have the most sway on issues. Even if Germany gets a little lean their way on everything it’s still using the EU to do it’s bidding. When is the last time they did the best for Hungry?

[JustWinBaby]

If it's not German it's crap!!!

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

Germany is starting to lose that quality/reliability shine, though.

Doesn't help that their automotive manufacturer was caught in a massive cheating scandal on emissions testing.
One of the biggest airbag recalls ever happened with their cars.
Their multi-billion dollar airport that was supposed to open in 2011 still isn't open for every thing you could think of going/being wrong.
Their steelworkers union is trying to get a 28 hour work week.
Berlin is the only EU capital that is a burden on their country's economy.


It's just not what it used to be. That said, one thing I saw in the articles you linked that I think there should be more of is apprenticeship. Obviously don't want us to go back to worker guilds and such, but apprenticing and OTJ training has really been cut back in the US and I feel like that's terrible, because there's so much that is being lost that is not being handed off from one generation to the next. Some stuff you simply can't learn in a school as they have to make everything as widespread and all-encompassing as possible.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

Back to the OP.....I find this very interesting on a personal level.  Several years ago, at a Super Bowl party, a friend and I were discussing this very thing concerning American Manufacturing.  During its hey day, much like Germany, smaller companies made small contributions to a bigger whole.  They were exceedingly family owned, and had been in their towns for generations.  With that, came civic pride in their home cities/states, and a pride in quality work.  You didn't want your hometown associated with shoddy work, and you not only want job security, but a good place to raise a family as well.  The companies reinvested into their locales, and often generations worked in these factories.  Then, larger firms began gobbling them all up, and consolidated a lot of the processes under a few roofs, and the decay began.  These smaller factories shuttered, and moved to larger urban areas.  Civic pride gave way to numbers on a time sheet.  Then came the trade deals, and shareholders' profits became more important than those numbers on the time sheets.

One thing to consider in all of this, Germany also practices more of a fair trade commerce than a free trade commerce, from what I've read.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(01-12-2018, 07:49 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Germany is starting to lose that quality/reliability shine, though.

Doesn't help that their automotive manufacturer was caught in a massive cheating scandal on emissions testing.
One of the biggest airbag recalls ever happened with their cars.
Their multi-billion dollar airport that was supposed to open in 2011 still isn't open for every thing you could think of going/being wrong.
Their steelworkers union is trying to get a 28 hour work week.
Berlin is the only EU capital that is a burden on their country's economy.


It's just not what it used to be. That said, one thing I saw in the articles you linked that I think there should be more of is apprenticeship. Obviously don't want us to go back to worker guilds and such, but apprenticing and OTJ training has really been cut back in the US and I feel like that's terrible, because there's so much that is being lost that is not being handed off from one generation to the next. Some stuff you simply can't learn in a school as they have to make everything as widespread and all-encompassing as possible.

Continued, because I saw this over the weekend and thought of this thread:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/german-engineering-yields-new-warship-that-isnt-fit-for-sea/ar-AAuAMwV

Quote:BERLIN—Germany’s naval brass in 2005 dreamed up a warship that could ferry marines into combat anywhere in the world, go up against enemy ships and stay away from home ports for two years with a crew half the size of its predecessor’s.


First delivered for sea trials in 2016 after a series of delays, the 7,000-ton Baden-Württemberg frigate was determined last month to have an unexpected design flaw: It doesn’t really work.

Defense experts cite the warship’s buggy software and ill-considered arsenal—as well as what was until recently its noticeable list to starboard—as symptoms of deeper, more intractable problems: Shrinking military expertise and growing confusion among German leaders about what the country’s armed forces are for.

Quote:A litany of bungled infrastructure projects has tarred Germany’s reputation for engineering prowess. There is still no opening date for Berlin’s new €6 billion ($7.2 billion) airport, which is already 10 years behind schedule, and the redesign of Stuttgart’s railway station remains stalled more than a decade after work on the project started.

Quote:But after the ship failed sea trials last month, naval officials refused to commission it. The German Navy said the Baden-Württemberg’s central computer system—the design centerpiece allowing it to sail with a smaller crew—didn’t pass necessary tests. The Kieler Nachrichten, a daily in the German Baltic fleet’s home port of Kiel, has reported problems with its radar, electronics and the flameproof coating on its fuel tanks. The vessel was also found to list to the starboard, a flaw a project spokesman says has been corrected. The Baden-Württemberg is now set to return to port next week for an “extended period,” the navy said.