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pete240z
pete240z HalfDork
9/7/08 7:34 p.m.

Lincoln, Nebraska - 300 jobs end as plant shuts down and goes to China.

My company imports stuff from China too, but this makes me mad. I love those tools and it seems wrong.

Maybe they can get jobs at Cabela's? Will EVERYTHING be made in China? Should my children take Mandarin in high school language class?

ignorant
ignorant SuperDork
9/7/08 8:57 p.m.
pete240z wrote: Will EVERYTHING be made in China? Should my children take Mandarin in high school language class?

No everything will not be made in china. Their wages are currently going up.. Shoe companies are already leaving china in droves.

Mandarin wouldn't be a bad idea... Gotta be mobile and quick thinking in our new world. My sisters French skils from highschool and college got her a fashion industry job flying back and forth between NYC and Paris.

pete240z
pete240z HalfDork
9/7/08 9:29 p.m.
ignorant wrote: Shoe companies are already leaving china in droves.

where are they going for shoes? all my nikes still say China

MitchellC
MitchellC Reader
9/7/08 9:39 p.m.

Probably Cambodia, Vietnam, and other poorer Asian countries.

Jay
Jay HalfDork
9/8/08 3:12 a.m.

I'm here in Indonesia right now and I can tell you most clothes you buy are made here. Even if the tag says "made in" elsewhere. Seriously, they make it here, then ship it somewhere else where they sew on one button and the "made in" tag.

Incedently I bought a couple of brand new shirts yesterday for the equivalent of $2.50 each.

J

John Brown
John Brown GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
9/8/08 7:01 a.m.

The issue we will have when "Big Red" takes over is that our QWERTY keyboards will all be completely useless.

I like my QWERTY keyboard.

wreckerboy
wreckerboy SuperDork
9/8/08 7:37 a.m.

My company imports a disturbingly large amount of it's product from China. We must excell at finding the low bidder, because it is uniformly crap.

Then again, Japanese products were renowned for how bad their quality was in the 1960's and they now are highly respected for the high quality product they produce. Many Japanese products are made/sourced with Chinese and other Pacific Rim components.

Perhaps all of those newly unemployed Vise Grip employees can get jobs at Wally World selling the products they used to make. Me, I'm going to go out and pick up a bunch of domestic built Vice Grip product before the supply chain fills with the Chinese stuff.

mistanfo
mistanfo Dork
9/8/08 8:07 a.m.

I enjoy the fact that I sell things to China on a weekly basis. And electronics components at that.

BBsGarage
BBsGarage Reader
9/8/08 8:26 a.m.

Maybe they will be stronger once they are covered in lead paint

WilD
WilD Reader
9/8/08 9:49 a.m.
BBsGarage wrote: Maybe they will be stronger once they are covered in lead paint

Stronger? No. More delicious? Yes!

Dr. Hess
Dr. Hess SuperDork
9/8/08 10:34 a.m.

Vice Grips going to China. We are truely lost.

Hey, on an up note: Dell recently announced that they are going to outsource all their production too. That sucks for Dell employees, but here's how to make money from this:

Watch Dell stock. In about 6 months or so, they will have geared up on their outsourcing. We need the details on this deal for better timing. I suspect a boost of the stock price in this period as Dell explains to the street how much money they are going to save by having the Chineese build their computers instead of Texans, and plenty of bonuses for top management. Then, the outsourced computers will start to come in. And, surprise-surprise, after the first test batch, they will have QC "issues" and the stock will start its death spiral. What we need to do is time the peak, then buy some puts about 6+ months out. Just tossin' out ideas here.

neon4891
neon4891 Dork
9/8/08 10:52 a.m.

damn, it sucked when stanly tools went to china, if craftsman goes over then i might just have to go over to snap on

thoe im pretty sure half the items taged craftsamn are made in china, Mostly the work gloves and kanvas tool bags and such. As long as my wrenches and ratchets say USA...

neon4891
neon4891 Dork
9/8/08 10:56 a.m.

on second thought, this is part of the contiuos shift west in economic super powers. 100 years ago, europe was on top. this past century the balance shifted to the US and now it is and has been shifting to the other side of the pacific.

just my $.02

GregTivo
GregTivo Reader
9/8/08 11:13 a.m.
neon4891 wrote: damn, it sucked when stanly tools went to china, if craftsman goes over then i might just have to go over to snap on thoe im pretty sure half the items taged craftsamn are made in china, Mostly the work gloves and kanvas tool bags and such. As long as my wrenches and ratchets say USA...

I thought Craftsman was already making its tools in china?

neon4891
neon4891 Dork
9/8/08 11:35 a.m.
GregTivo wrote:
neon4891 wrote: damn, it sucked when stanly tools went to china, if craftsman goes over then i might just have to go over to snap on thoe im pretty sure half the items taged craftsamn are made in china, Mostly the work gloves and kanvas tool bags and such. As long as my wrenches and ratchets say USA...
I thought Craftsman was already making its tools in china?

last time i looked, the standard hand tools with the life time warranty are domestic. But you can get them at Kmart now. I'm unsure about the electric tools and air tools. As for air tools, i prefer IR.

MitchellC
MitchellC Reader
9/8/08 2:31 p.m.

MAKING MONEY 1. Move manufacturing overseas. 2. Start "premium" company using same tooling/manufacturing equipment 3. Profit... BIG profit (or at least big price)

Off the top of my head, here are some of the biggest apparel companies producing in the USA and the off-the-top-of-my-head prices:

American Apparel: Plain t-shirts $17/ea Lucky Jeans: $90-$150 pair (jeans) Vanson Leathers: $600 msrp. for most leather motorcycle jackets, available new online for about $450

At least within the clothing industry, it seems like the only way for domestic production to survive stateside is to mark it as a premium brand. This is probably not-so-good for overall production quantities, but at the same time, it probably opens up more international demand.

belteshazzar
belteshazzar Dork
9/8/08 6:14 p.m.

Good thing our (nebraska's) unemployment numbers are low. Bad news is, in such a small town, a lot of people are still probably going to have to move, at least a little.

grtechguy
grtechguy SuperDork
9/8/08 6:19 p.m.

Guess I'll be buying a new set of VG's before they start becoming Harbor Freight hammers.

ignorant
ignorant SuperDork
9/8/08 6:31 p.m.

MitchellC:

It need not be premium.. It needs to be a niche or another market that provides competitive advantage.

Think of the tata Nano... They are undercutting everyone and opening up an untapped market.

44Dwarf
44Dwarf New Reader
9/8/08 6:55 p.m.

Craftsman tools are made by the danaher corp. I don't know where there made just that danaher makes them. They bought my company two weeks ago and made a point of telling use they owned the tools, fluke, raytec, etc 12 billon $$ company... Will see how it shakes out.

I like vise grip i've had other brands in the past and they all sucked even my new craftman ones i got last x-mas sit while i use my old vise grips.

44

JohnGalt
JohnGalt New Reader
9/9/08 10:44 a.m.
neon4891 wrote: on second thought, this is part of the contiuos shift west in economic super powers. 100 years ago, europe was on top. this past century the balance shifted to the US and now it is and has been shifting to the other side of the pacific. just my $.02

So if we wait long enought it will come back around?

SupraWes
SupraWes HalfDork
9/9/08 4:26 p.m.

So many good things have been ruined by ham fisters with vice grips, I wish they would just go away for good.

Toolpen
Toolpen New Reader
9/9/08 5:22 p.m.

I did some R&D work with a tool company on a wrench and the pre-production tools were well made. The manufactured results that came from China made you want cry. When you use tools all day, you know the difference.

ignorant
ignorant SuperDork
9/9/08 5:42 p.m.
JohnGalt wrote:
neon4891 wrote: on second thought, this is part of the contiuos shift west in economic super powers. 100 years ago, europe was on top. this past century the balance shifted to the US and now it is and has been shifting to the other side of the pacific. just my $.02
So if we wait long enought it will come back around?

it will

Ireland is starting to develop a very lucrative pharmaceutical and medical devices industry

jl1rp
jl1rp New Reader
9/9/08 6:48 p.m.

The brass at one more company feels like the money needs to go to them and not the normal worker.

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