Those were the days!

On Sun, 19 Jun 2011 21:21:10 +0100, "Rick" wrote:

Hard to believe, but once upon a time Britain actually sold TV Equipment to
Japan...

When I worked in a TV factory in the 1960's we made a few hundred TV's
for export to Japan.

Steve

--
Neural network software applications, help and support.

Neural Planner Software www.NPSL1.com

In message , charles
writes
In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
Ah, but now Japan imports most of its TVs as well, from China etc. I can
recall some many years ago in the early 70s, we had Japanese folk working
in our factory, learning, as it was later obvious, how not to make TV
sets!

actually we could make tv sets very well. What killed the industry was the
story put about by Which? that Japanese sets were far more reliable. There
was a factory in South Wales jointly owned by GEC and Hiatach with the sets
leaving 'badge engineered'. No-one wanted to buy the GEC ones (unreliable
British), so they sold out to Hitachi.

My Welsh-assembled Sony 18" set failed four times in the first year (the
first time being a couple of weeks after I bought it).
--
Ian

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...
In article , charles
wrote:
In article , Brian Gaff
wrote:
Ah, but now Japan imports most of its TVs as well, from China etc. I
can recall some many years ago in the early 70s, we had Japanese folk
working in our factory, learning, as it was later obvious, how not to
make TV sets!

actually we could make tv sets very well. What killed the industry was
the story put about by Which? that Japanese sets were far more reliable.

Which may have been true overall, alas.

I can't say wrt the TV industry. But in the ancient days when I worked in
audio it rapidly became clear to me that as a generalisation the
electronics components made in the UK for 'mass production' were much less
reliable than the ones I could source from elsewhere - mainly Japan at the
time. Especially true for anything with a 'mechanical' aspect like a
pot/switch/socket. And even for things like coils and transformers.

There certainly were exceptions. But these tended to be either fairly
expensive or only available in limited numbers.



A lot of Japanese reliability was simply built around nothing more than
common sense, where say a TV manufactured in the UK would use an absolute
minimum requirement one watt carbon resistor, which would run warm and
eventually reduce in value, ending up by burning a hole through a flimsy
printed circuit board or at best developing dry joints, the Japanese would
simply have fitted a three watt wire wound resistor mounted well away from
the PC on legs, similarly if a boost rail ran at somewhere over 900 volts
one could almost without exception expect to find a short circuit capacitor
rated at a 1000 volts, again the Japanese would simply have fitted one with
a 2000 volts rating, just as panels would have been either hardwired, or if
plugs and sockets were fitted, they would have been very substantial and
well up to the job.
Bean counters ruining British industry through penny pinching and couldn't
give a damn workers, have been around for as long as I can remember.

charles wrote:
In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
Ah, but now Japan imports most of its TVs as well, from China etc. I can
recall some many years ago in the early 70s, we had Japanese folk working
in our factory, learning, as it was later obvious, how not to make TV
sets!

actually we could make tv sets very well. What killed the industry was the
story put about by Which? that Japanese sets were far more reliable. There
was a factory in South Wales jointly owned by GEC and Hiatach with the sets
leaving 'badge engineered'. No-one wanted to buy the GEC ones (unreliable
British), so they sold out to Hitachi.

But Jap sets were more reliable, surely?

Bill

Rick wrote:


"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...
In article , charles
wrote:
actually we could make tv sets very well. What killed the industry
was
the story put about by Which? that Japanese sets were far more
reliable.

Which may have been true overall, alas.

I can't say wrt the TV industry. But in the ancient days when I
worked in
audio it rapidly became clear to me that as a generalisation the
electronics components made in the UK for 'mass production' were much
less reliable than the ones I could source from elsewhere - mainly
Japan
at the time. Especially true for anything with a 'mechanical' aspect
like
a pot/switch/socket. And even for things like coils and transformers.

There certainly were exceptions. But these tended to be either fairly
expensive or only available in limited numbers.

A lot of Japanese reliability was simply built around nothing more
than
common sense, where say a TV manufactured in the UK would use an
absolute
minimum requirement one watt carbon resistor, which would run warm and
eventually reduce in value, ending up by burning a hole through a
flimsy
printed circuit board or at best developing dry joints, the Japanese
would
simply have fitted a three watt wire wound resistor mounted well away
from
the PC on legs, similarly if a boost rail ran at somewhere over 900
volts
one could almost without exception expect to find a short circuit
capacitor rated at a 1000 volts, again the Japanese would simply have
fitted one with a 2000 volts rating, just as panels would have been
either
hardwired, or if plugs and sockets were fitted, they would have been
very
substantial and well up to the job.
Bean counters ruining British industry through penny pinching and
couldn't
give a damn workers, have been around for as long as I can remember.

Up until the late 1970s the majority of TV sets, especially colour, were
rented. The 'customer' for the TV manufacturer wasn't the person who
would be watching it, it was the buyer for Radio Rentals etc. The rental
companies were not interested in long life, they wanted a set which was
easy and cheap to maintain for the three years or so before it became
obsolete.

When I briefly worked for a TV maker in the early 1970s a lot of thought
went into making sets easy to maintain, with a pull-out chassis and
panels which could be replaced by undoing connectors.
--
Dave

"Dave" wrote in message
...
Rick wrote:


"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...
In article , charles
wrote:
actually we could make tv sets very well. What killed the industry
was
the story put about by Which? that Japanese sets were far more
reliable.

Which may have been true overall, alas.

I can't say wrt the TV industry. But in the ancient days when I
worked in
audio it rapidly became clear to me that as a generalisation the
electronics components made in the UK for 'mass production' were much
less reliable than the ones I could source from elsewhere - mainly
Japan
at the time. Especially true for anything with a 'mechanical' aspect
like
a pot/switch/socket. And even for things like coils and transformers.

There certainly were exceptions. But these tended to be either fairly
expensive or only available in limited numbers.

A lot of Japanese reliability was simply built around nothing more
than
common sense, where say a TV manufactured in the UK would use an
absolute
minimum requirement one watt carbon resistor, which would run warm and
eventually reduce in value, ending up by burning a hole through a
flimsy
printed circuit board or at best developing dry joints, the Japanese
would
simply have fitted a three watt wire wound resistor mounted well away
from
the PC on legs, similarly if a boost rail ran at somewhere over 900
volts
one could almost without exception expect to find a short circuit
capacitor rated at a 1000 volts, again the Japanese would simply have
fitted one with a 2000 volts rating, just as panels would have been
either
hardwired, or if plugs and sockets were fitted, they would have been
very
substantial and well up to the job.
Bean counters ruining British industry through penny pinching and
couldn't
give a damn workers, have been around for as long as I can remember.

Up until the late 1970s the majority of TV sets, especially colour, were
rented. The 'customer' for the TV manufacturer wasn't the person who
would be watching it, it was the buyer for Radio Rentals etc. The rental
companies were not interested in long life, they wanted a set which was
easy and cheap to maintain for the three years or so before it became
obsolete.

When I briefly worked for a TV maker in the early 1970s a lot of thought
went into making sets easy to maintain, with a pull-out chassis and
panels which could be replaced by undoing connectors.


That was the very reason 'why', when people started to see that it was
possible to 'buy' a TV that didn't require half a dozen annual service calls
and in many cases could work for years without ever having the back taken
off, then that's what spelt the death knell for the TV Rental business,
something I spent a good part of my working life in.
It wasn't difficult to see in the late seventies exactly where it was all
going to end, although many companies were apparently too stupid to see or
believe it and ended up getting their fingers badly burnt, or as in many
cases going out of business altogether.

In article ,
Bill Wright wrote:
charles wrote:
In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
Ah, but now Japan imports most of its TVs as well, from China etc. I
can recall some many years ago in the early 70s, we had Japanese folk
working in our factory, learning, as it was later obvious, how not to
make TV sets!

actually we could make tv sets very well. What killed the industry was
the story put about by Which? that Japanese sets were far more
reliable. There was a factory in South Wales jointly owned by GEC and
Hiatach with the sets leaving 'badge engineered'. No-one wanted to
buy the GEC ones (unreliable British), so they sold out to Hitachi.

But Jap sets were more reliable, surely?

It's also possible the Hitachi chassis were 'selected' out of the
production line and nearer to spec than the ones sold under the GEC brand.

However, Which would merely report on what they found. As they do with
cars. Which to this day upsets some car makers.

--
*Half the people in the world are below average.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article , Dave wrote:
When I briefly worked for a TV maker in the early 1970s a lot of thought
went into making sets easy to maintain, with a pull-out chassis and
panels which could be replaced by undoing connectors.

Now of course they don't need to be easy to maintain. They just need to be
easy to throw away. :-(

Rod.
--
Virtual Access V6.3 free usenet/email software from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtual-access/

"Rick" wrote in message
...
Hard to believe, but once upon a time Britain actually sold TV Equipment
to Japan...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11815200/pye1%20%281142%20x%201686%29.jpg




It did not take long for them to copy it and then get ahead - first
transistorised design (except the tube obviously) by 25/12/1959.

http://www.oobject.com/12-classic-so...301-1959/2700/

"the dog from that film you saw" wrote in
message ...
On 20/06/2011 3:11 AM, Bill Wright wrote:
Rick wrote:
Hard to believe, but once upon a time Britain actually sold TV
Equipment to Japan...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11815200/pye1%20%281142%20x%201686%29.jpg



The page is interesting for other reasons.




I like the story about the local children's home being denied the gift of
a tv in case it damages their eyes.

Same reason they mustn't have mobile phones...

didn't realise they showed that kind of thing on tv in those days.

--
Gareth.
That fly.... Is your magic wand.