Some workplaces are surely worse than others, but this must have been something in its own division. Although this foundry passed away several years ago, signs of the graphite dust are everywhere and it is apparent that it was a very old-fashioned workplace.

The death of this foundry seems to have followed the very common trajectory where the three forces globalization, steeply increasing energy prices and increasing wages ultimately made it all implode.

As these three forces went into effect with increasing power in the late 1960’s, investments were held back to cope with the falling profits. The 1970’s and 1980’s then posed a long descent towards the point where the plant was so old fashioned and there was simply no way that anyone could take the investments to bring it up to current standards to be competitive.

Well, there is not very much to say except that the story is just too common in the industrialized world.
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