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Sir,

I have read with interest your article 'Men in Black' (CJ 19 August) 1998. I find it somewhat amusing to say the least that once again the seventh cavalry has arrived to save the day - or so it would seem. However, we seldom, if ever, ask ourselves why do we need assistance in the first place? The answer is quite simple - mentality.

If you look at British industry you will generally find complacency is rife. Sir John Egan was appointed to head up the Deputy Prime Minister's Task Force for all of the right reasons - his attitude of mind and approach to BAA projects, present and future. Yet I am constantly reading of apparent conflict, reservations, doubts and the apparent unwillingness of the industry to change. This all emphasises failings of intellect and mentality. We in this country have a knack of forecasting gloom and despondency and looking for problems - what we cannot do rather than what we can.

Now take the American way of thinking. You create a company or a project, call it what you will. You instil a feeling of pride and professionalism - an environment where managers, supervisors and workers, even down to the man on the end of a brush all consider themselves an important cog in the process. Your managers and foremen are there to organise the technical aspects and not act as policemen. The craftsmen carry out their assigned tasks in a professional manner with a schedule in mind. They are all part of a team, all shooting toward a common goal. You will never find a shirker because they stand out like a sore thumb and are simply not tolerated, whether they are a manager or the man on the brush.

In the UK there are a lot of like-thinking people suffocated by protocol and the worker loyalty syndrome. It is this suffocating mentality that stifles and suppresses the future good they can reap.

I seem to remember recently an article in Contract Journal suggesting that the construction industry should take a lesson from the manufacturing industry in respect of planning and approach.

That suggestion should be taken up. But, who in the manufacturing industry should be used as an example? Two come to mind - Ford Motor Company and a company formerly known as Cross International then Giddings and Lewis. I mention this company as it is a shining example as to how management should work.

Based at Knowsley in Liverpool this company started life in 1969, producing special purpose machines, a third branch of the Cross Company of America and Germany.

Today that branch has virtually superceded its American and German counterparts and is now what can only be described as the 'Jewel in the Crown'.

And it's all down to a totally professional approach from floor to ceiling of the workforce structure - and which has produced the vice president of the entire group.

We would do well to have a look at that company and perhaps achieve some answers as to how a company in whatever form can achieve excellence of international standards.

David C Pickard

Mariner Tool Hire

Staffordshire