http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3815677Oh my.
And the primitives were just whining about the falling American dollar, forgetting that (a) it's both a bad thing and a good thing, and (b) a good thing is that it brings some manufacturing jobs back to this country.
madrchsod Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon Aug-18-08 09:28 AM
Original message
brake drum manufacturer leaving china moving to rockford il
the reason---rising cost of shipping,strengthening of the chinese currency against the dollar ,and the high price of iron ore...
http://www.businessrockford.com/archive/x1822518008/Bra...
40 more jobs when every job counts
yibbehobba (1000+ posts) Mon Aug-18-08 09:34 AM
Response to Original message
1. Hmm...
One of the interesting side effects of the increased cost of transportation and metals might be that people begin sourcing and manufacturing certain items closer to the market. I hadn't thought about that.
There's a lot of things the primitives haven't thought about.
Lasher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon Aug-18-08 09:44 AM
Response to Reply #1
3. That thought has crossed my mind once or twice.
And it's good to see even if it's a drop in the bucket.
Something else to watch for: The Chinese people have been living in abject poverty for decades. They are still not affluent on average by our standards but they have gotten a taste of the good life. Any trend that sends them back from whence they came will be met with a serious upheaval.
Trekologer Donating Member (90 posts) Tue Aug-19-08 08:55 AM
Response to Reply #3
20. That's the reason that there is no cheap labor
Sure it may be cheap in the short run, but eventually the workers demand higher wages because they want to have the goods that they're making, or go to McDonalds and eat cheeseburgers, or whatever the "good life" means to them. Eventually, the labor isn't cheap anymore. We saw this happen with Inida and technical services: it isn't cost-effective to outsource to India anymore because the workers are demanding higher wages.
When you can make a product (quality issue aside) for $5 but it costs $18 to ship it here, its cheaper to make it for $20 here. And we'll start to see more of that very soon because many businesses now employ JIT (just in time) ordering processes instead of holding large inventories of parts, supplies, etc.
napi21 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon Aug-18-08 09:44 AM
Response to Original message
2. I 've been wondering when transp. costs were going to catch up with these "lowerst cost above all else" idiots! The fuel prices are world wide, and are affecting everybody, so they have to have had quite an effect on costs using those hugh carge vessels!
I'd bet it's the topic in every morning business meeting at all the companies who thought it was such a great idea to go after all that cheap labor! My guess is that they would have brought these jobs back to the US MONTHS ago, but were waiting to see this this price spike was going to be a long term thing or not.
TommyO Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon Aug-18-08 10:17 AM
Response to Original message
5. The global supply chain was workable at $20/barrel oil
At $110+, it's not such a rosy picture. I suspect we'll see more production being re-sourced back to the US because of the long-term fuel cost future.
yodermon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon Aug-18-08 01:27 PM
Response to Original message
8. hmm how will he mcpukes spin this
DCKit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Tue Aug-19-08 12:57 AM
Response to Reply #8
10. They'll try to take the credit, of course.
Of course.
Ikonoklast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Tue Aug-19-08 06:31 AM
Response to Original message
14. They didn't tell you the real reason
Brake drums coming from both China and India, as well as many other auto and heavy truck parts, have been showing up below accepted industry standards. The foreign firms bid on these products, then find ways to use sub-standard materials or engineering to cut the cost to make the part profitable.
The first production runs are acceptable, but after they have you as a customer, quality goes out the window.
A good case in point is heavy-duty brake drums for class 8 vehicles. China is trying to corner the world market on manufacturing these; they have flooded the market with them, undercutting competition by as much as one-quarter on price.
The only problem is that they are garbage. The metallurgy is sub-standard. The machining is sub-standard. The balancing is sub-standard. The failure rate is sub-standard.
If you use them, your higher replacement/failure rate will more than make up for the initial cheaper cost. Large trucking companies that previously used these parts based on pricing factors alone are turning to domestic production for supply.
I refused to use Chinese or Indian made parts on my tractor. My life, and the lives of those driving on the road with me, is worth far more than saving twelve or fourteen bucks on a brake drum.
After all, some Chinese manufacturer can be hard to sue when their defective brake drum fails under normal use and someone gets killed as a result. But, what do they really care? they're making money, and that's what's important
madrchsod Donating Member (1000+ posts) Tue Aug-19-08 08:11 AM
Response to Reply #14
15. they did the same thing with valve castings
the oldest "big" valve manufacturer in illinois started buying castings from china. the machinists would be into a 4 hour machine process and the valve would have a huge pocket in the casting. 4 hours and a big piece of scrap. where my daughter works parts from india are always out of spec or can cause skin reactions from the coating..oh i won`t mention the dead bits of bugs and other trash.
Ikonoklast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Tue Aug-19-08 09:39 AM
Response to Reply #15
21. I saw brake drums, direct from the Chinese manufacturer
That were OVAL.
You didn't need a dial indicator either, you could see it with your naked eye.
I would love to see the results of a metallurgical lab test on one.
Hubert Flottz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Tue Aug-19-08 08:38 AM
Response to Original message
19. That's the brakes!
I've said all along, that when the companies can make things cheaper in the US, the jobs will come back. Trouble is those 40 jobs that once paid a living wage here in the US will probably pay minimum wage when the factory moves back. It's all about union busting and the CEO's wet dream of returning to the age of the robber baron having total control over wages, working conditions, environmental and safety concerns and benefits. The corporations want you to owe your soul to the company store again, like it was before FDR.
Corporate greed and GOP deregulation is what is causing about 99.9% of America's economical woes. Thank Saint Reagan for starting us down this road to ruin we find ourselves on today. Reagan was proud of his title, "Union Buster". The sellout of the American worker started in the 1980s and the democrats didn't have the guts to step in and stop the exportation of our industrial base. Obama needs to put a stop to things like NAFTA and "Unstoppable Globalization" and insist on FAIR TRADE! What's wrong with "PROTECTING" the American working class family?
You know, there's something quite disturbing about this anti-Chinese bias of the primitives.
China is a socialist paradise of workers and peasants with free medical care for all.
The primitives should be promoting Chinese products, not slamming them.
