Stock Photo - 1968 - The 'Other' Clyde shipbuilders: There can hardly be a man or woman in Britain today who is unaware of the ups and downs of Scotland's upper Clyde shipbuilders. Drily, through the media of Press, radio and television, the saga continues. But meanwhile only a few miles away, teh bustling and expanding yards of the Lower Clyde are successfully building giant ships. The area's most obvious success symbol is the huge straddlecrane under construction at Lower Clyde's Scott Lithgow yard. Its twin 200-foot towers amply demonstrate the strength and confidence of Scotland's quiet shipbuilders. Its 225-ton lifting capacity will in time, enable Lower Clyde to build ships of up to a million otns eight times size of the QE2. At Greenock and Port Glasgow, a thousand jobs and a welcomes to skilled UCS workers are offered as part of the overall expansion plan. Today, two giant tankers are being built by Scott Lithgow for Korea orders won almost in the shadow of the Japanese Yards' cranes. More and More apprentice ship builders are being taken on. Each Year, the Scott Lithgow Training Centre has an intake of 400 boys most of the area's school leavers. Why, you may ask, all this success when just up-river there seems to be nothing but troubel. The answer seems to be in a word, Communication with a capital C. Leading shop stewards can see the managing director at any time, and there are regular meetings of top and middle management with the stewards, printed minutes being distributed throuhgout the yards. And so problems can be quickly dealth with before they have time to become a nuisance. Surely here is a lesson for everyone? One thing the continuing success of Scotland's other Cycle shipbuilders is certain. (Credit Image: © Keystone Pictures USA/ZUMAPRESS.com)