Richard P, 80 volt units are used generally on 2-ton machines and above and generally took over from 72 volt many years ago. 48v are still very present in the global market and will be for a very long time to come. 24V is also used on light duty counterbalance units.
Hydrogen fuel cells are still not a reality in the marketplace, but more and more hybrid trucks are and will enter the market over the coming years. What you should note is that outside of North America diesel trucks are as or more popular than LPG, and you will find very few machines that can run on gasoline.
Emissions regulations for Europe are the reverse of the US, with LPG emissions not regulated where as Diesel emissions are....
The issues highlighted in this thread are not new and have been leading to this point for a long time and it is unfortunate that many a good engineer has had to go elsewhere over the years. (Do I hear bring back the Leverton/Finning days?)
A union in the UK differs massively to that stateside and only comes in to play for specific issues i.e. pay disputes, dismissal, and is their to protect a large number of employees. In the US union workers have a bad rep, which is not the same with the UK due to the way in which the unions operate.
What you should also note is that Briggs in the UK has more service technicians than Briggs in the US does over the 5 or so states it covers, however all the UK technicians fall under one labour law....so this is where a union is a good thing.
Times are hard, but too many companies are reactive rather than proactive in these times. This is the time to take a loss in order to make sure your business is ready for when the market bounces back, by buying market share and spending time on staff training.
Neither sales or service is a standalone business, but you can only do so many new customers, so after that your service staff (controllers, engineers (field and workshop) and parts guys) are what make the biggest impact on the biggest impact on the next sale.....and this is where emphasis needs to be put back to.
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