In the media: Euronews: Auto industry evaluates its future outside the EU single market
Euronews featured Goodfish Group in an article exploring how the UK automotive industry was preparing for life outside the EU single market.
The report highlighted the challenges facing manufacturers dependent on the seamless movement of components across Europe, with new border controls expected to impact just-in-time supply chains.
Goodfish Group Chief Executive Greg McDonald discussed how the company adapted following Brexit, noting that reduced demand from a UK-based customer led to operational changes and a long-term strategy to maintain European market access. He also explained that establishing a facility in Slovakia would enable Goodfish to continue supplying customers across Central and Eastern Europe with minimal disruption.
The article positioned Goodfish as part of the wider conversation on how UK automotive suppliers are responding to evolving trade conditions and ensuring continued service to global customers.
In the media: Bloomberg Businessweek
The Day After Brexit: What a Crash Out of the EU Might Look Like
“9:30 a.m., near Stafford, West Midlands, central England
The smell of melting acrylic fills the factory floor at Goodfish Ltd. Machines whir noisily, pumping hot plastic into moulds to make handles for violin cases, rake heads for golf bunkers, fog-light holders for Mini automobiles.
“Owner Greg McDonald is perched on a silver medicine ball in the boardroom, watching a video feed of the operation. Before the Brexit referendum, he wrote a note to his 126 employees about why leaving the EU would be bad for jobs. The majority ignored him, voting for it anyway. Now his staff is down to 96. Goodfish’s sales have fallen 20% so far this year. Meanwhile, the weak pound has made his remaining employees’ annual holidays more expensive, and they want a raise. He hasn’t been obliging.
“McDonald pulls out a MacBook Pro and loads the PDF of his Brexit contingency plan. Line item 2 reads, “Push button on investment to CEE”—Central & Eastern Europe. Goodfish’s major European customers don’t want to risk a production shutdown due to a delay in parts leaving the U.K. or to bear the costs of new tariffs. He knows they’re ready to shift supplier contracts to factories on the Continent and wants to preempt the loss of business. Setting up a factory in Slovakia will cost half a million euros, a major outlay when sales are falling.
“McDonald closes the laptop and glances back at the monitor. He’s already had to cut working hours from 48 hours a week to 40, hitting his employees’ take-home pay. He wants to keep jobs in the U.K. if at all possible, but if the calls start coming from his big clients demanding action, he’ll have no choice.”
Read the full article here
Mayes, J., & Morales, A. (2019). The Day After Brexit: What a Crash Out of the EU Might Look Like. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-09-25/what-happens-the-day-after-a-no-deal-brexit
In the media: Yahoo Business News
“There is no good Brexit!” insists Greg McDonald, chief executive of Goodfish Group, a UK-based company making plastic components for the country’s key car sector.
Read the full article here
In the media: Divided Kingdom on Sky TV
Listen to Greg McDonald, Goodfish CEO, interviewed on Sky TV’s documentary, Divided Kingdom.
In the media: Falling investment in the UK automotive sector
Listen to Gregory McDonald, Goodfish Chief Executive on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, 31 July, commenting on the dramatic fall in investment in the UK car industry, against the backdrop of Brexit.
In the media: Planning against Brexit uncertainty
Greg McDonald interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, 25 June, discusses the “perfect storm” hitting the automotive sector in the UK, and the difficulty of planning against Brexit uncertainty.
In the media: Interview with Deutschland Funk
During an interview on German Radio, Goodfish Chief Executive, Greg McDonald explains the advice he gave to his personnel ahead of the Referendum.
In the media: The Economist, Feb 19
“Some firms are preparing to move production, distribution and warehousing. Take Goodfish, a medium-sized manufacturer of plastic injection mouldings, which ships a third of its products to the EU. Greg McDonald, its boss, has registered the company in Slovakia and is ready to transfer some production there in the event of no deal”.
Britain’s manufacturing heroes named in Liverpool
We are proud to announce that we have been selected in The Manufacturer Top 100 2018.
The Manufacturer Top 100 2018 most inspirational individuals working in the UK industry were announced last night at a drinks reception at the Exhibition Centre, Liverpool.
The Manufacturer Top 100 annual scheme is run by The Manufacturer magazine, in partnership with Cranfield University, one of the country’s top centres of business education.
Now in its fifth year, The Manufacturer Top 100 project, run by The Manufacturer magazine, in partnership with Cranfield University, one of the country’s top centres of business education, publicly recognises the most dynamic leaders and innovators in manufacturing. Its goal is to help dispel popularly-held myths that vibrant manufacturing in the UK is a thing of the past.
Awardees are drawn from every walk of the UK industry, from the top floor to shop floor. From Sanjeev Gupta, who is singlehandedly transforming the British steel industry, to Amy Druce, Production Team Leader at BMW MINI Plant Oxford.
They are selected from hundreds of nominations for the examples they set to young people aspiring to a career in industry; 100 unique and uplifting stories of struggle, grit, determination and success against all the odds, personal tales of individuals helping to change popular perceptions of careers in manufacturing and draw young people into the sector.
Nick Peters, Editorial Director of The Manufacturer and of The Manufacturer Top 100 report commented, “The individual stories in the report published today (available from www.themanufacturer.com) are a compelling reminder of how strong and vibrant UK manufacturing really is. We need to keep saying that, because as a nation we seem to harbour the notion that no one in the UK makes things anymore, and young people are discouraged from considering careers in manufacturing. The truth is we do make things – we are the world’s 9th largest manufacturing nation – and careers are very well paid. But there are too few skilled young people coming through the system. It is on behalf of that new generation that we do this. We want to break down the decades-old prejudice against manufacturing. We want parents to get excited about recommending a career in manufacturing to their offspring, not see it (so erroneously) as an occupation of last resort. We must not let the prejudices of yesterday poison the opportunities of tomorrow.”
The Manufacturer Top 100 judging panel includes:
- Paul Everitt, CEO, ADS
- Jenny Holloway, CEO, Fashion Enter/Fashion Capital
- Nigel Fine, CEO, Institution of Engineering and Technology
- Dr Hayaatun Sillem, CEO, The Royal Academy of Engineering
- Jane Robinson, Former Director Cutting Technologies
- Harris Makatsoris, Professor of Manufacturing Operations, Cranfield University
- Steve Evans, Director of Research, University of Cambridge
- Bernard Molloy, Global Industrial Logistics Director, Unipart
- James Selka, CEO, MTA
- Carl Perrin, CEO, Institute for Future Transport & Cities
- Colin Brown, CEO, Institute of Mechanical Engineers
- George Edwards, Founder, Gas- Sense Solutions
- Bill Williams, Chief Executive, CEME Ltd
- Stephen Phipson, CEO, EEF
- Jan Ward CBE, CEO, Corrotherm International Ltd.
