Ploughshares to swords: a call to arms for industrial Europe

{"text":[[{"start":5.15,"text":"Switching track from cars to weaponry is gaining traction. France’s Renault is teaming up with Turgis Gaillard to produce drones at a couple of sites while in Germany Volkswagen is looking to convert a plant to missile defence for Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems."}],[{"start":24.14,"text":"There is logic to this idea. European factories are not exactly humming: manufacturing capacity utilisation is running at 77 per cent, according to Eurostat, and lay-offs are mounting. In Germany, Europe’s cradle of industrial might, even a sausage factory has pulled down the shutters. And while citizens’ appetite for cars is waning, their governments are shelling out more on arms."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":51.730000000000004,"text":"Carmakers, current funk notwithstanding, are no slouches at innovation. They have revolutionised factory processes, from Ford’s conveyor belt assembly lines to Toyota’s just-in-time manufacturing. Many run highly efficient supply chains, be it Toyota’s agglomeration of suppliers in Nagoya, Japan or Chinese electric-vehicle maker BYD’s battery-to-auto vertical integration."}],[{"start":79.47,"text":"There’s precedent too. Scotland’s shipyards birthed the Cutty Sark and other legendary vessels, but were no match for Japanese competitors that began arriving in the 1970s. Defence contractor BAE Systems stepped in, buying up the yards to make frigates and support ships. Now the Glasgow shipyards will make warships for Norway too. Some 50 miles away, Silicon Glen performed a similar pivot from consumer to defence electronics under the ownership of defence conglomerate RTX Technologies. "}],[{"start":116.96000000000001,"text":"True, repurposing factories and retraining staff entails costs. But so does shutting down — with the added burden on the state of having to support the unemployed. "}],[{"start":129.45000000000002,"text":"Of course, companies considering a conversion should bear other — less quantifiable — risks in mind. Making munitions attracts the sort of unwelcome attention from protesters and activists that making cars doesn’t. Choosing foreign partners, especially when collaborating on sensitive defence technology, is also a delicate endeavour. "}],[{"start":153.85000000000002,"text":"As big defence companies know, the skills and facilities required to make modern weaponry such as low-cost drones and interceptors are not easily grafted on to legacy plants and mindsets. Not for nothing is Anduril, at the forefront of modern warfare, the brainchild of Palmer Luckey whose last gambit was virtual reality headsets."}],[{"start":176.94000000000003,"text":"But without any changes in the trinity of woes underpinning Europe’s industrial demise — high energy costs, rife competition and weak demand — changing focus is worth a shot. As Brad Pitt’s Billy Beane put it to the old-school baseball scout in the movie Moneyball: adapt or die."}],[{"start":206.88000000000002,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1775181089_5065.mp3"}