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Well said, T Mullen. Disgusting what they did. In my mind Dennis are - sorry - were the only true purpose-built fire appliance. And I'm betting that there's never EVER been a bad word said about Dennis fire vehicles by anyone that ever used them. And you can't say that about the cheap imposters that these huge immoral corporate giants have subsequently rammed down our desperate, ignorant throats - preying on our shrinking budgets like vultures.
Some firefighters at my local station used to cheer when their Scania went off-the-run because they knew they'd be getting a spare Sabre to use while it was away! Sadly now even our fire services's spares and reserves are swamped with these poor, cheap, foreign imports.
But Dennis didn't really help themselves though. And they must accept that they played a huge part in their own downfall. They always failed to see the bigger picture. For instance, their spares department was woefully inadequate to cope with cash-strapped fire services' demands and requirements, and their attitude was very blasé. For instance, our brigade's mechanics could wait for weeks for the guys at Guildford to pull their fingers out and get a part to them. And a very expensive Dennis was no good to anyone parked up at workshops for days on end. Now, more often than not, the mechanics at workshops just nip up to their local Scania dealer in a van, and pick up the part there and then. Far less down-time. Despicable price-fixing aside, It's easy to see why the likes of Scania, Volvo, Mercedes and M.A.N. have proved so popular with the single-minded bean counters at HQ.
But I strongly believe the awesome men and woman at the end of 999 call, and the general public who pay for the damn things, deserve much MUCH better.
P.S., and Dennises looked better!!! Lol.
Added by Yelp Bullhorn on 18 August 2017.
Some firefighters at my local station used to cheer when their Scania went off-the-run because they knew they'd be getting a spare Sabre to use while it was away! Sadly now even our fire services's spares and reserves are swamped with these poor, cheap, foreign imports.
But Dennis didn't really help themselves though. And they must accept that they played a huge part in their own downfall. They always failed to see the bigger picture. For instance, their spares department was woefully inadequate to cope with cash-strapped fire services' demands and requirements, and their attitude was very blasé. For instance, our brigade's mechanics could wait for weeks for the guys at Guildford to pull their fingers out and get a part to them. And a very expensive Dennis was no good to anyone parked up at workshops for days on end. Now, more often than not, the mechanics at workshops just nip up to their local Scania dealer in a van, and pick up the part there and then. Far less down-time. Despicable price-fixing aside, It's easy to see why the likes of Scania, Volvo, Mercedes and M.A.N. have proved so popular with the single-minded bean counters at HQ.
But I strongly believe the awesome men and woman at the end of 999 call, and the general public who pay for the damn things, deserve much MUCH better.
P.S., and Dennises looked better!!! Lol.
Added by Yelp Bullhorn on 18 August 2017.
Yelp - As far back as 1967, when I sold the first Ford D series fire appliances to Gloucestershire, the transport officer told me that the Dennis spares situation was so bad that they were going to buy all of their future appliances on either Commer or Ford chassis.
I agree you can't blame the imports exclusively, because Dennis was on a slippery slope even before any imported brands turned up to compete with them.
When in 1972 I was interviewed by Hestair for the job of Managing Director at Dennis, it was already obvious that the firm was in deep financial trouble. My strategy would have been to go into a joint venture with Magirus - and develop a large scale Worldwide business. But Hestair was only interested in milking the UK market, believing that Dennis had such a strong position in the British fire service that they could do no wrong.
This was the main reason their prices were so high - which might have been justified if they had invested in a competitive parts backup service, but they didn't!
In my decades as an automotive industry consultant, I have seen quite a few cases of companies that really deserved to fail, including American La France, Yugo, General Motors, Chrysler, Merryweather and Saab. Unfortunately I believed for most of my career that Dennis was also one of them...
Even Magirus, with its wonderful integrated fire appliance product range and one of the largest fire appliance markets in the World, could not go it alone, and joined Iveco.
In the US, ALF, Ward, Crown, Maxim and many other smaller custom fire truck manufacturers have folded. Some of it was bad management, but a major contributing factor was that to invest in the latest technology, keep prices affordable and provide a good spare parts service you just have to have a large scale operation selling high numbers of units.
Dennis was never able to achieve this kind of focus, and by concentrating almost all of their efforts on a single market they condemned themselves to relying on too few sales at too high prices - a guaranteed recipe for eventual failure...
Added by Rob Johnson on 22 August 2017.
I agree you can't blame the imports exclusively, because Dennis was on a slippery slope even before any imported brands turned up to compete with them.
When in 1972 I was interviewed by Hestair for the job of Managing Director at Dennis, it was already obvious that the firm was in deep financial trouble. My strategy would have been to go into a joint venture with Magirus - and develop a large scale Worldwide business. But Hestair was only interested in milking the UK market, believing that Dennis had such a strong position in the British fire service that they could do no wrong.
This was the main reason their prices were so high - which might have been justified if they had invested in a competitive parts backup service, but they didn't!
In my decades as an automotive industry consultant, I have seen quite a few cases of companies that really deserved to fail, including American La France, Yugo, General Motors, Chrysler, Merryweather and Saab. Unfortunately I believed for most of my career that Dennis was also one of them...
Even Magirus, with its wonderful integrated fire appliance product range and one of the largest fire appliance markets in the World, could not go it alone, and joined Iveco.
In the US, ALF, Ward, Crown, Maxim and many other smaller custom fire truck manufacturers have folded. Some of it was bad management, but a major contributing factor was that to invest in the latest technology, keep prices affordable and provide a good spare parts service you just have to have a large scale operation selling high numbers of units.
Dennis was never able to achieve this kind of focus, and by concentrating almost all of their efforts on a single market they condemned themselves to relying on too few sales at too high prices - a guaranteed recipe for eventual failure...
Added by Rob Johnson on 22 August 2017.
Nicely put, Rob. Very interesting insight from somebody on the inside. Must be a British thing: Blasé attitudes, ignorant short-sightedness, and a breathtaking arrogance. These traits have completely destroyed the motoring industry in this country starting in the early '70s. Well, that and the unions!!!
Added by Yelp Bullhorn on 22 August 2017.
Added by Yelp Bullhorn on 22 August 2017.
Dennis
Added by T Mullen on 15 July 2017.