DYSON
Industrial location and change case study...
Dyson make vacuum cleaners, but not just any vacuum cleaners...
The company founder is James Dyson. He was born in Norfolk and educated at Gresham's School (who we occasionally beat at various competitions....) An interesting article in 'The Observer' in February 2005 recounts the tale of a young James visiting a stately home in Gloucestershire and saying that one day it would be his. Fifty years and £20 million pounds later and it was....
Dyson made hundreds of prototypes of his cleaner.
Dyson figured that people will always need vacuum cleaners - which is certainly correct. Until the day we all have nano-robots constantly monitoring our houses for dust....just an idea.
To use the jargon, Dyson's decision on factory location was probably BEHAVIOURALIST: he decided where it would be, rather than it being a response to the state of the world economy, or looking for the least-cost location. He moved into a factory in Malmesbury in North Wiltshire in 1995. The factory had previously belonged to a company called Linolite who made gas filled lighting tubes and reflectors for specialist lighting. The factory had closed in 1993.
When Dyson opened his factory, he provided around 1800 jobs. The manufacture of cyclone cleaners was later supplemented by production of his washing machine.
The cleaner began to take over the market in the UK, and has now moved on to the USA, and Japan. Dyson (like most other industrial leaders) has his sights set on the Chinese market.
In 2002, Dyson made the decision to switch production from the factory in Malmesbury, Wiltshire to Malaysia. Around 800 jobs were lost. A (possibly apocryphal) story goes that the redundant workers were each presented with a free Dyson as part of their package. In September 2003, it was announced that more production would switch to Malaysia, although research and development jobs would stay in the UK. Dyson is apparently working on a 'BALL' shaped vacuum...