Andover Norton do not run a machine shop, and never claimed to do, we run a spares organisation. It is not unknown of suppliers of complete vehicles- Volkswagen, Daimler Benz etc come to mind- to produce as little as possible in-house, and to leave component manufacture, even the development and procurement of complete assemblies, to their suppliers.
The majority of our spares are made exclusively for us, to our original Norton engineering drawings, in the correct materials often provided by us (f.e. fork tube material we need to buy and stock 2 years worth to get the correct steel seamless tubing). Often using our tooling (dies, forging tools etc) by machine shops most of which are in the Birmingham area. I can show you the drawings and the tooling, but no machine shop.
Whilst we do buy spares from outside England- ignition coils from Germany, electronic ignitions from New Zealand, components that were procured even in Commando production times from Italy- you'd be surprised how many of our spares are made in England still, including some that were bought from far afield in the 1970s. Our Commando frames come to mind, now made in England, but in the old days made by Verlicchi/Italy.
We have a quality control for incoming goods and reliable suppliers most of which we have had for many years. Why we should run our own machine shop, forge and foundry with the variety of parts that make up our spares portfolio escapes me, but I am sure you can give me a perfectly good, financially viable reason for it.
By the way, we are not in the ceramics industry- though we do sell coffee mugs occasionally- we are in the motorcycle industry.