Made in the U.S.A.
09-07-2010, 07:03 PM
#21
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I know this is one of those "Hot Topics" that can easily get people upset....but I did want to throw this out there just to open the horizons of the discussion a little.
Stuff being "Made in China" is not ALL bad. We need to keep in mind that we are in a "global" economy like i previously mentioned. So there is actually an up side to things being made in China that people tend to overlook. More jobs are being created in China and China has one of the largest population groups in the world. So since there are more jobs being created in China, more people in China are now able to purchase products. So currently, China is the biggest emerging markets that U.S. companies are trying to sell products to. The U.S. companies who fail to recognize this global economy and fail to expand their business into these other countries are the ones who will eventually fall.
I'm proud to say that I work for a U.S. based company and the majority of our products are made right here in the U.S.A. We have expanded our business by selling our products into that emerging Chinese market, which in turn has provided more jobs here in the U.S. So it's really a 2 way street. Yes, products are made in China and sold to us here in the U.S. but that doesn't mean that products can't be made in the U.S. and sold in China.
You only hear about how the American car manufacturers are opening plants in China and Mexico, which then most people just jump to the conclusion that those cars are being made over there and sold to us in the U.S. Well, they're also doing it so they are manufacturing the cars there, to be sold over there so they don't have to pay all the import taxes by building them here and then having to ship them over there.
Here's a little irony though. The company that I work for is a Tier 1 supplier to most of the automotive manufacturers. It's a U.S. based company like I said earlier, but for years we haven't been able to sell our products to GM until recently. U.S. based GM have been buying similar products that we make from foreign companies. We're now selling our products to GM for GM cars which are built and sold in China. It seems the Chinese have this perception that American built products are better quality.
Stuff being "Made in China" is not ALL bad. We need to keep in mind that we are in a "global" economy like i previously mentioned. So there is actually an up side to things being made in China that people tend to overlook. More jobs are being created in China and China has one of the largest population groups in the world. So since there are more jobs being created in China, more people in China are now able to purchase products. So currently, China is the biggest emerging markets that U.S. companies are trying to sell products to. The U.S. companies who fail to recognize this global economy and fail to expand their business into these other countries are the ones who will eventually fall.
I'm proud to say that I work for a U.S. based company and the majority of our products are made right here in the U.S.A. We have expanded our business by selling our products into that emerging Chinese market, which in turn has provided more jobs here in the U.S. So it's really a 2 way street. Yes, products are made in China and sold to us here in the U.S. but that doesn't mean that products can't be made in the U.S. and sold in China.
You only hear about how the American car manufacturers are opening plants in China and Mexico, which then most people just jump to the conclusion that those cars are being made over there and sold to us in the U.S. Well, they're also doing it so they are manufacturing the cars there, to be sold over there so they don't have to pay all the import taxes by building them here and then having to ship them over there.
Here's a little irony though. The company that I work for is a Tier 1 supplier to most of the automotive manufacturers. It's a U.S. based company like I said earlier, but for years we haven't been able to sell our products to GM until recently. U.S. based GM have been buying similar products that we make from foreign companies. We're now selling our products to GM for GM cars which are built and sold in China. It seems the Chinese have this perception that American built products are better quality.
Last edited by Rednroll; 09-07-2010 at 07:07 PM.
09-07-2010, 07:05 PM
#22
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Too bad more industries weren't unionized.........then it would be hilarious.
Last edited by Drsalee; 09-07-2010 at 07:08 PM.
09-07-2010, 07:06 PM
#23
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"Made in the USA", and "Assembled in the USA" are very different things. Many things that are claimed to be "Made in the USA" are really "made" somewhere else and "assembled" here. I am not gonna lie looking at it from a business perspective if I can have a product made here for $15 a unit, and the same made overseas for $1 a unit, well I, like many others will chose to export the labor. That's just the reality of it for me. Also quality products can be made anywhere in the world. Just my .02
09-07-2010, 07:28 PM
#24
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Union or Non-Union doesn't matter.... American Jobs
I support having an organized labor organization that looks out for the best interests of the workers. Great. I also support employers being able to stay in business.
However, that was not the topic.....
Do you go out of your way to Buy American made goods? Does it matter to you? Are you conscious of the effects on the American Job Market?
I personally go out of my way to find where things are manufactured. I have and will walk away from hecho en mexico or china products. I want American Citizens employed. We can not survive on being a 'service oriented' country.
I have found from personal experience that products made here in the United States are superior to the equivelant chinese product. The metals used in the USA are far superior. The welds are better. I will go out of my way to avoid American companies that have moved their manufacturing operations to china, mexico, etc.
One such company is body armor. They used to be based in Texas. Their new bumpers are manufactured in china. The quality has fallen off. The holes do not line up. The fastners are cheap. The welds are ugly...
I shopped long and hard for my rear bumper. I bought M.O.R.E. and it bolted up without issue, the hardware was top notch, the instructions were clear and concise, the welds looked great, and the powder coating was spectacular. I prefer the smooth even look of powder coat. The new "wrinkle finish" is (in my opinion) designed to hide the flaws in materials/workmanship and hold mud tighter.
......continue the discussion.....
However, that was not the topic.....
Do you go out of your way to Buy American made goods? Does it matter to you? Are you conscious of the effects on the American Job Market?
I personally go out of my way to find where things are manufactured. I have and will walk away from hecho en mexico or china products. I want American Citizens employed. We can not survive on being a 'service oriented' country.
I have found from personal experience that products made here in the United States are superior to the equivelant chinese product. The metals used in the USA are far superior. The welds are better. I will go out of my way to avoid American companies that have moved their manufacturing operations to china, mexico, etc.
One such company is body armor. They used to be based in Texas. Their new bumpers are manufactured in china. The quality has fallen off. The holes do not line up. The fastners are cheap. The welds are ugly...
I shopped long and hard for my rear bumper. I bought M.O.R.E. and it bolted up without issue, the hardware was top notch, the instructions were clear and concise, the welds looked great, and the powder coating was spectacular. I prefer the smooth even look of powder coat. The new "wrinkle finish" is (in my opinion) designed to hide the flaws in materials/workmanship and hold mud tighter.
......continue the discussion.....
09-07-2010, 07:36 PM
#25
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labor unions built america as you know it. Yes some have taken advatage of a good thing and gave us all ( union members) a bad name. Buy american and support union labor. Maybe you should work in a over seas factory and then see if you still feel the same about union labor. And dont forget the jeep you love so much is union made .
09-07-2010, 07:38 PM
#26
Super Moderator
That's not necessarily true. The U.S. is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world and that includes the technology that goes into manufacturing to be able to mass produce a quality product. That also includes Quality Control processes and know how.
There's usually a long supply chain that goes into building any product and all those things when put together contribute to the overall quality.
Here's a true story. The company I work for makes electronic component products. They decided to open a manufacturing plant in China so the plant is located in China where the products are being sold. We designed the products here in the U.S. and had trial builds of those products in our U.S. manufacturing facilities and everything was good. We gave the Chinese plant all the component suppliers, the manufacturing tools, Quality control processes etc...etc...etc. So they get the plant all up and running in China and their job is to make some sample builds and ship parts back to us in the U.S. so we can verify the functioning and quality of the parts.
It ends up that ALL the parts they built failed the end of line production build quality checks, but they couldn't figure out why. So they sent the parts here to us in the U.S. to see if we could diagnose what was wrong. So looking at the parts, everything looked fine....but functionally, they were generating a ton of electronic noise which was causing them to fail the end of line quality checks. Upon further investigations we found that the components like resistors and capacitors where not made by the manufacturers that we originally specified in the design. So we call up the Chinese plant and ask them, "Where did you source these components from?" Their reply was, "Well, we where having trouble getting parts imported from those specified suppliers, so we decided to source them from a local Chinese component supplier, where they where more readily available and cheaper. Since the components where the same values, functionally the same and we where saving the company money, we figured we where safe to source from these local Chinese component suppliers. WRONG!!!!
Here......build us some parts with these components from the suppliers we specified and send us those. What do you know.....these parts now pass all of the end of line quality inspections and don't have all the noise being generated.
There's usually a long supply chain that goes into building any product and all those things when put together contribute to the overall quality.
Here's a true story. The company I work for makes electronic component products. They decided to open a manufacturing plant in China so the plant is located in China where the products are being sold. We designed the products here in the U.S. and had trial builds of those products in our U.S. manufacturing facilities and everything was good. We gave the Chinese plant all the component suppliers, the manufacturing tools, Quality control processes etc...etc...etc. So they get the plant all up and running in China and their job is to make some sample builds and ship parts back to us in the U.S. so we can verify the functioning and quality of the parts.
It ends up that ALL the parts they built failed the end of line production build quality checks, but they couldn't figure out why. So they sent the parts here to us in the U.S. to see if we could diagnose what was wrong. So looking at the parts, everything looked fine....but functionally, they were generating a ton of electronic noise which was causing them to fail the end of line quality checks. Upon further investigations we found that the components like resistors and capacitors where not made by the manufacturers that we originally specified in the design. So we call up the Chinese plant and ask them, "Where did you source these components from?" Their reply was, "Well, we where having trouble getting parts imported from those specified suppliers, so we decided to source them from a local Chinese component supplier, where they where more readily available and cheaper. Since the components where the same values, functionally the same and we where saving the company money, we figured we where safe to source from these local Chinese component suppliers. WRONG!!!!
Here......build us some parts with these components from the suppliers we specified and send us those. What do you know.....these parts now pass all of the end of line quality inspections and don't have all the noise being generated.
09-07-2010, 07:51 PM
#27
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I try to keep as much of my old Craftsman stuff as possible as the new stuff just isn't near what it used to be. Sad to say but the engineers for Craftsman used to huddle around a table and discuss how to make a tool that would last a lifetime.
Nowadays, they huddle around the table and discuss how cheaply can we make this tool to increase profitability and how many times can we expect to replace this tool and still remain profitable.
Seems like almost everything we touch these days is made in China, Mexico, Taiwan and every country in between but the good ol USA. Sad.....
09-07-2010, 07:56 PM
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labor unions built america as you know it. Yes some have taken advatage of a good thing and gave us all ( union members) a bad name. Buy american and support union labor. Maybe you should work in a over seas factory and then see if you still feel the same about union labor. And dont forget the jeep you love so much is union made .
09-07-2010, 07:56 PM
#29
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labor unions built america as you know it. Yes some have taken advatage of a good thing and gave us all ( union members) a bad name. Buy american and support union labor. Maybe you should work in a over seas factory and then see if you still feel the same about union labor. And dont forget the jeep you love so much is union made .
The unions are antiquated institutions which are choking this country to death. Go down the list....the unions have killed almost every trade they have infected. Teachers, auto mfg, electronics, textiles, construction, law enforcement, healthcare........the list doesn't end ! If I see a union label, I will buy Chinese if the option is available.
In the case of my Jeeps, i had no choice.......so I held my nose and wrote the check.
09-07-2010, 08:00 PM
#30
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I was part of a union in conjunction with General Motors for years. I had it made. I could come to work and do a half ass job and the worst that they would do is find a different area for me to work in with less responsibilities. When the economy crashed and GM restructured I lost my job along with many others strictly because of my poll position, not on the half ass work I did.
It's now 3 years later and after college to get my RT degree I make less now, I'm in debt to make less, and if I cut corners in ANY way on what I do at work I'm canned.
So I can see why some people don't like Union based labor. Maybe not so much these days, this I don't know, but when I had a high school education and an Uncle in the union to get me in I had it made. I did nothing to "earn" the job so I abused it every day and the union covered my ass.
I've seen it all. Bubble gum to patch pin hole leaks on Saturn's gas tanks so they will pass pressure tests. And these people make more than me now, and I run the life support ventilators in the cardio vascular critical care unit.
Buy American? I wish I could have more confidence in what we put out. How do I get past it? I think about what the other countries are giving us. Remembers Hundai's reputation?
It's now 3 years later and after college to get my RT degree I make less now, I'm in debt to make less, and if I cut corners in ANY way on what I do at work I'm canned.
So I can see why some people don't like Union based labor. Maybe not so much these days, this I don't know, but when I had a high school education and an Uncle in the union to get me in I had it made. I did nothing to "earn" the job so I abused it every day and the union covered my ass.
I've seen it all. Bubble gum to patch pin hole leaks on Saturn's gas tanks so they will pass pressure tests. And these people make more than me now, and I run the life support ventilators in the cardio vascular critical care unit.
Buy American? I wish I could have more confidence in what we put out. How do I get past it? I think about what the other countries are giving us. Remembers Hundai's reputation?