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My dad and I were talking about successful British industries today (part of a general lamentation about the decline of the secondary sectory) and I brought up GW: But then he raised the point that I have no idea where they actually make the miniatures; sure the BUSINESS is successful, but where are the models actually made?

Anyone care to tell me? Can't find anything online

The models are made in nottingham at GW HQ. Some of the other stuff like the spraygun and paints are from somewhere chinaesque.

Lenton (UK) and Memphis (US), recently some of their production has been relocated to China.

Ah nice, thanks; anyone know what the plastic is?

Hard Styrene?

Also, I was told by a GW staffer that injection moulding has been (or is being) outsourced to Poland.

The models are made in Nottingham, everything else in Asia

Heh not a clear consensus here eh?

Memphis I believe is nothing more than a shipping hub now. I know they used to spin metal here but I don't think its still done.

Last I knew of (when I took the tour) Memphis produced plastic and metal miniatures. Been 3 years since I lived there, things may have changed.

GW miniatures are produced in New Jersey shudders where they condense the broken spirits of Chaos players into fuel for some sort of diabolical mind control device used to force pregnant teenagers to carve the miniatures out of solid plastic/metal blocks.

Apparently nearly all of the printing is now done in China. And the Foundation paints are also made there. I'd be surprised if the plastics are still produced in the UK, but I don't think it's been moved to China. I think they claimed that their new paintbrushes are hand-made by little old ladies somewhere using hair from free-range sables, but I can't remember where.

I believe the plastic is made of either PP, PS, or ABS. ( poly styrene, poly propolene, or the crap that car bumpers and quater panels)

They are polystyrene.
ABS doesn't stick with liquid poly cement (requiring a more specific adhesive).

Where in China? I might have to go there on vacation with crisp $1 US bills and buy entire kits.

The brushes are from Lowestoft in Suffolk.

I for one would surely shell out their prices with a better feeling if i knew that they were produced with at least some minimum wages and health care for the workers.

You know, I'm that sort of guy. How do you call them in english? Lohas?

Interesting question btw.

Greets
Schepp himself

The factory at Lenton (Nottingham) was directly copied to build the one in the states - so they both produce metal and plastic minis (and have their own built-in distribution centres).

Paints and some other stuff have been made their until recently and publishing has always been outsourced, but an increasing amount of stuff is being made in China and Poland.

Obviously this reduction in costs means they can pass the savings directly back to you, the customer...

..oh, wait

Ha! I was told that was why costs where going up - because they transferred part of the operation to poland! That's why it was MORE expensive! I think that Blueshirts forget when they aren't talking to children....

Chimera_Calvin wrote:Obviously this reduction in costs means they can pass the savings directly back to you, the customer...

..oh, wait

Bwahahahahahhaaa.... that's a scream. "Pass the savings..."

GW have never made their own paints.

I was reading an intersting piece on outsourcing to other European countries the other day, Poland in particular. Apparently many businesses are bringing thier manufacturing/production back to the UK. This is not solely due to the demand for British companies to use British workers, the higher costs of fuel have started to negate savings being made in other countries by avoiding paying the UK minmum wage.

Kraft foods recently tabled an offer for Cadbury's and said as part of the deal they would be reinstating production at the Keynsham factory if the bid was successful (unfortuanately not) as the costs of shipping/trucking it from Poland outwieghed the cheaper labour costs.

Where I work we keep all production in one central place (inside our customers head office) this means they have a greater degree of control and can carry out quality checks as often as they like.

One of many problems faced by companies using cheaper foriegn labour is that if they are producing printed material unless the employees all understand that language, they are less likely to pick up on any mistakes, this is not so much of an issue when you are printing multiple copies of the same document (such as codex's) as you can run a proof and get it checked, however when you are dealing with variable data (such as bills or pricing information) it can be a big deal and mistakes can be very costly.

Seeing as GW have invested considerable amounts in their manufacturing equipment at Nottingham, I think it would be unlikely to see tham move production elsewhere, where they can't keep such a keen eye on quality control which is key to there business, especialy as they use their minatures quality to justify their steep prices, if there is one thing that would stop people buying thier products it would be if they started to produce seriously sub standard products.

From the financial statements released earlier this year:
the distribution /packaging/ FW Resin/ and GW Plastic casting facility in China is located in Shanghai.

squilverine wrote:Apparently many businesses are bringing thier manufacturing/production back to the UK. This is not solely due to the demand for British companies to use British workers, the higher costs of fuel have started to negate savings being made in other countries by avoiding paying the UK minmum wage.

Also the fall in the value of GBP has probably added to making UK production more competitive. That said, I thought the models were designed in UK then all the plastics were made in China. I hope I'm wrong, cos I hate to think of those Chinese girls with no healthcare inhaling chemical fumes while they make me more space marines.

Chinese girls with no healthcare inhaling chemical fumes while they make me more space marines.

Is it wrong to be turned on by this?

Now's its 2015 are any minis made in the UK anymore?

Books are now published in house at lenton. minis are produced in house in lenton also, although the AoS scenery is china cast, so might be a sign of future changes. Wd is printed in Poland I believe. Pretty much everything else is bought externally.

If it comes on a sprue, it's made in Nottingham. If it is terrain that comes without a sprue, it's made in China.

 Breotan wrote:
If it comes on a sprue, it's made in Nottingham. If it is terrain that comes without a sprue, it's made in China.

Bingo! This is almost precisely correct (one exception!).

On all the sprued unit boxes and character packs, right up to this week's Judicator's releases, they say, "Manufactured in the UK and distributed by Games Workshop" -- at least, every one I've ever observed.

On the unsprued terrain, like Plasma Obliterator or Baleful Realmgates, it says, "Manufactured in China and distributed by Games Workshop". All of the sprued terrain used to say UK... but... one exception that I've noticed: The Ophidian Archway is sprued, and says Manufactured in China. There may be others I've not noticed, of course! Until AoS, I didn't really buy a lot of Fantasy terrain.

The paints, including this month's new launches (Retributor and Liberator Gold, Flayed One Flesh) clearly say, "Made in the UK".

 JamesY wrote:
Books are now published in house at lenton. minis are produced in house in lenton also, although the AoS scenery is china cast, so might be a sign of future changes. Wd is printed in Poland I believe. Pretty much everything else is bought externally.

They might be 'published' here but the magazines, packaging and books are all printed abroad. Everyone does it now, printing in the UK is unusual.

All the miniatures, resin/metal/plastic/FC is produced at the Lenton HQ.

 George Spiggott wrote:
Lenton (UK) and Memphis (US), recently some of their production has been relocated to China.

Memphis hasn't had a production dept for several years now, it's all just warehouse and shipping with a retail store attached. Metal casting was shut down first around late 2009, then everything else around 2012 (IIRC).

 Henners91 wrote:
Ah nice, thanks; anyone know what the plastic is?

It's regular polystyrene; not ABS, HIPS or PVC.

The factory at Lenton (Nottingham) was directly copied to build the one in the states - so they both produce metal and plastic minis (and have their own built-in distribution centers).

Memphis hasn't had any production since around 2012, it's all just warehousing and shipping now.

GW did kick around and test having some products produced in China, but for reasons I don't know they never fully went through with it and brought it back to the Lenton HQ.