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Scottish engineering
蘇格蘭的工程
From ships to satellites
從輪船到衛(wèi)星的發(fā)展
How high-end engineering escaped industrial meltdown
高端工程如何在崩潰的產(chǎn)業(yè)中逃過(guò)一劫
Box me up Scotty
把我組裝成箱，蘇格蘭人
SCOTLAND may not have broken off from Britain last year, but at least it got into space. Overshadowed by the ballyhoo over the referendum, the first satellite built in Scotland, UKube-1 (pictured below), was launched. The same dimensions as a boxed bottle of whisky, it was assembled on the banks of the river Clyde in central Glasgow by the country's first satellite manufacturer, Clyde Space. It is but one example of Scotland's surprisingly healthy engineering industry.
蘇格蘭去年未脫離英國(guó)，但至少進(jìn)了太空。它大肆宣揚(yáng)全民公決獨(dú)立與否一事，聲勢(shì)之大，蓋過(guò)其制造的第一顆衛(wèi)星UKuble一號(hào)發(fā)射太空。該衛(wèi)星大小與威士忌裝盒相同，由英國(guó)首位衛(wèi)星制造商克萊德航天公司在格拉斯哥中部的克萊德河河岸上組裝而成，是蘇格蘭唯一健康發(fā)展的工程。
The clean room where Clyde Space makes its satellites affords an excellent view of Govan, once a centre of world shipbuilding and now a reminder of how quickly huge industries can collapse. Rather than trying to build everything, therefore, as the Clyde shipyards used to, Craig Clark, the founder of Clyde Space, is trying to master one small, but growing, niche of his industry. He builds only the smallest satellites, often costing as little as $50,000 (33,000) each, and also makes parts for bigger ones. The company was the first such to sell its products online. Mr Clark's firm, which employs 45 people, turned over 3m this year, and expects to double that next year.
克萊德航天公司制造衛(wèi)星的地方寬敞明亮，可以欣賞到高灣的美景。高灣曾是世界輪船制造中心，而如今只是龐大工業(yè)迅速崩潰的受害者。因此，克萊德航天公司創(chuàng)始人克雷格·克拉克努力掌握航天業(yè)中不斷發(fā)展的小眾業(yè)務(wù)。他僅制造微小型衛(wèi)星，每顆的花費(fèi)通常只有5萬(wàn)美元（3.3萬(wàn)英鎊），同時(shí)還制作稍大衛(wèi)星的零部件。該公司是同行中首個(gè)在網(wǎng)上銷售產(chǎn)品的公司。克拉克的公司共有45名職工人員，今年的營(yíng)業(yè)額為300萬(wàn)英鎊，預(yù)計(jì)明年?duì)I業(yè)額翻一番。
A few big engineering firms remain in Scotland, such as Babcock Marine and Thales, both of which supply defence equipment. But most of the country's 7,500 engineering companies belong to a long, thin tail. Often family-owned and generations old, the best of them combine technological savvy with a strong entrepreneurial spirit. Often, they are niche manufacturers to the world.
蘇格蘭仍有柏布考克海事集團(tuán)（Babcock Marine）、泰利斯（Thales）等一些大型工程企業(yè)，這兩家企業(yè)皆銷售國(guó)防設(shè)備。然而，在英的7500家工程企業(yè)中，大部分都不成氣候。而其中的精英往往是世代相傳的家族企業(yè)，它們將技術(shù)方面的悟性與強(qiáng)烈的企業(yè)精神進(jìn)行結(jié)合，往往是世界上精準(zhǔn)定位的制造商。
One such is Castle Precision Engineering, in south-west Glasgow. It started out in 1951 making machines for the giant local Singer sewing-machine factory, then moved into car parts, medical equipment and aerospace—now its biggest market. On March 9th it created the fastest wheels ever made, for the “Bloodhound” car that will try to set a new land speed record next year. The wheels are strong enough to take a driver to 1,000mph in 55 seconds, rotating 177 times a second.
格拉斯哥西南部的城堡精密工程公司即為其一。該公司始創(chuàng)于1951年，為當(dāng)?shù)貏偌遗拼笮涂p紉機(jī)廠生產(chǎn)設(shè)備，之后轉(zhuǎn)向汽車零部件、醫(yī)療設(shè)備以及現(xiàn)在最大的市場(chǎng)——航空航天產(chǎn)品的生產(chǎn)。3月9日，該公司為“尋血獵犬”汽車制造出史上最快車輪，該車明年將傾力創(chuàng)造陸地行駛速度的新紀(jì)錄。車輪功能強(qiáng)大，汽車完全可以在55秒內(nèi)達(dá)到1000英里的時(shí)速，且車輪每秒旋轉(zhuǎn)177次。
In one respect, these firms are exceptions to the British rule. In a kingdom with a balance-of-trade deficit in goods amounting to fully 10 billion a month, they are fierce exporters. Castle sends about one-third of its wares abroad. Another niche firm, Clark Tracks, which makes caterpillar tracks for forestry vehicles, sells 90% of its products to Europe. Overall, engineering and technology companies account for over one-quarter of Scotland's exports.
一方面，這些企業(yè)不符合英國(guó)的規(guī)則。英國(guó)的商品貿(mào)易逆差每月高達(dá)100億英鎊，而這些企業(yè)的出口量極大。城堡公司三分之一的商品出口國(guó)外，另一家小型公司Clark Tracks（克拉克履帶公司）生產(chǎn)林用車履帶，其中90%的產(chǎn)品銷往歐洲。總體而言，工程技術(shù)公司占有蘇格蘭出口量的四分之一。
But in another way they illustrate a familiar weakness in British industry. The country's firms tend to remain small or medium-sized—smaller than the German Mittelstand of export-orientated businesses. Even before the financial crisis Scotland's small engineering companies found it hard to raise money locally to expand. Some looked overseas instead. Clark Tracks was bought in 2007 by a Swedish company. The defence giant Thales acquired the illustrious old Glaswegian firm of Barr and Stroud in 2000. Its factory, now employing about 700 people, still specialises in submarine periscopes and optronics for the military.
但另一方面，這些企業(yè)自身具有英國(guó)工業(yè)的普遍缺陷。英國(guó)企業(yè)往往保持中小型規(guī)模，但小于德國(guó)中小型出口企業(yè)。金融危機(jī)爆發(fā)之前，蘇格蘭的小型工程企業(yè)發(fā)現(xiàn)難以在當(dāng)?shù)鼗I集用于擴(kuò)大規(guī)模的資金。有些企業(yè)將目光轉(zhuǎn)向海外。2000年，國(guó)防設(shè)備生產(chǎn)大戶泰利斯買下格拉斯哥著名老牌公司斯特勞德，其工廠現(xiàn)有700名工人，繼續(xù)從事軍用潛艇潛望鏡和光電產(chǎn)品的專項(xiàng)生產(chǎn)。2007年，瑞典一家企業(yè)收購(gòu)Clark Tracks。
Now change is coming to Scottish engineering, via the North Sea. The oil and gas industry is both a blessing and a curse for engineers. It is a big market for their products, but it also competes fiercely for labour. Glasgow-based companies complain about the shortage of skilled workers even more than do firms elsewhere in Britain. Yan Tiefenbrun, the boss of Castle, got involved in the Bloodhound project to create publicity, hoping talent would be drawn to his apprenticeship scheme. The current woes of Aberdeen's offshore industry, facing tumbling oil prices and squeezed margins, could be a boon for the country's other engineers.
但是，蘇格蘭工程即將借助北海迎來(lái)轉(zhuǎn)機(jī)。油氣工業(yè)對(duì)工程商來(lái)說(shuō)是福亦是禍。這一巨大市場(chǎng)可用來(lái)銷售其產(chǎn)品，但對(duì)于勞動(dòng)力的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)也很激烈。在格拉斯哥，投訴技術(shù)工人無(wú)法勝任工作的企業(yè)數(shù)量居全國(guó)之首。城堡公司老板Yan Tiefenbrun為了提高企業(yè)知名度，參與了“尋血獵犬”工程，同時(shí)希望為其學(xué)徒計(jì)劃招攬人才。亞伯丁海上石油開采業(yè)當(dāng)前面臨油價(jià)下跌、收益縮水，它們的禍可能是英國(guó)其他工程商的福。翻譯：石海霞 校對(duì)：周雨晴
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