I’ve slightly more than a passing interest in the current US Presidential Election. It might seem a touch odd that an Englishman writing a sheet metal blog should want throw in his two penneth, or indeed, two cents worth. But it isn’t just a cursory interest in politics, I’m actually married to an American and intend to move myself and to the Cleveland area – part of the which is currently one of the most hotly contested areas within this current campaign.
We get a great deal of interest from America regarding our , but the price of shipping can be quite prohibitive. In some cases it would be as cheap for me to fly over with them myself.
We’re looking at three possibilities when it comes to opening up our little American operation. We can ship over container loads of the planters in one fell swoop, ship them over in smaller numbers, in parts, then source a sheet metal fabrication firm to weld them for us, or just source a stainless steel fabrication company to manufacture the whole planter from start to finish. Personally I favour the second option as we’ve designed and invested in specialist tooling to be able to produce the bends that our require.
Everytime I’ve gone on one of my fact finding missions/conjugal visits I’m increasingly taken by the similarities between my native part of Lancashire and my adopted North East of Ohio. They are both depressed economically, having seen the best days of their respective former industries – Lancashire built on cotton and Cleveland built on steel. They are also surrounded by fantastic natural beauty – Colne overshadowed by and but a stone’s throw away from and Cleveland on the banks of . They also boast some of the worst haircuts known to man; both areas sport the mullet as freely and unashamedly as Kerry and Bush sport a fake tan.
Jimmy Greaves, the Tottenham and England striker once noted that driving down into Burnley and seeing the dark, satanic mills was so ominous and depressing that the team felt 1-0 down before they even entered Turf Moor, the Burnley stadium. And this might be the key to understanding some of us round here. Yes, everything might be a bit crap, but we’re 1-0 up and that’ll do. We’re self-deprecating optimists and that leads to our self-styled ‘gallows humour’. The glass might be half empty, but it means there’s less to drink to my next pint and it’s your round – so get ‘em in.
The last place I expected to find this world view was America. And I must admit I’ve never encountered it at all anywhere down South where I’ve spent a bit of time. But round Cleveland way you find it by the bucketload. I can cope without Pendle Hill – you can always take a picture, but I do need the dark, satanic mills and Cleveland has more than its fair share. Their humour might be more ‘electric chair’ than ‘gallows’ but who am I to quibble. And this is the clincher for me and the reason I’m more than easy to move everything over lock, stock and barrel.
So, if you just so happen to be a who specialises in stainless steel fabrication around the Cleveland area I’d be delighted to hear from you regarding the manufacture of our
Oh and don’t worry, we’re only expanding to cater for our American customers. will just have another base in Cleveland aswell as its current one in the UK.
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