Made in ?????

[wkrp]

I wish that the rod and reel manufacturers would come out and let us know where their products are manufactured and not just where they are engineered. Are they ashamed to admit that most of their product lines are now made in China?

[Crimsongulf]

Penn did that.  A few of the big winches are still made in New Jersey but all of their spinning reels are now made in China.  I have three old Senator 4/0 level wind bottom level winds that I just have rebuilt.

 

I have now switched to Shimano.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Crimsongulf

[captpierre]

Not sure it matters any more unless you’re patriotic. 

You’d be hard pressed to find other than precision  equipment  not made in China.  

Even Apple makes their phones there

Chinese factories are amongst the most modern and high tech in the world.  

pretty sure most if not all Shimano is not made in Japan any more. 

[Woodsman]

The "Made In" rules are quite lame.

You would be surprised how much "Made in Canada" or "Made In USA" were they just put it in the final packaging here. 

[OhioFisherman]

Made in the cheapest source of labor country, it's the trend that won't end.

[wkrp]

I understand all of the above but the retail prices have gone up while production costs have plummeted along with quality.

[LeXXington]

22 minutes ago, wkrp said:

I understand all of the above but the retail prices have gone up while production costs have plummeted along with quality.

And like everything in a global market there will be a shift from China to the next low cost area.  China was raising the labour costs while reducing quality to maintain operations. 

If Canada or USA could have done it cheaper and better it never would have left.  You do find some companies bring stuff back so you never know.

[grimsbylander]

3 hours ago, wkrp said:

I understand all of the above but the retail prices have gone up while production costs have plummeted along with quality.

Manufacturers did not go offshore to make the same margins. The cost of goods sold and retail prices really have nothing to do with each other. The cost of goods sold is measured as contribution margin and like any company the higher the CM the better. Retail pricing is what the market will bear based on the value proposition of the product..ie quality, service or reliability.

Companies are finally seeing that the costs associated with offshore manufacturing are far greater than initially calculated. The cost of shipping has increased, scrap rates, warranty work, training, logistics management, supply management, and the one we all hate...cost of quality. Hence many companies are in fact retreating to N. America and using technology to lower the cost of goods sold instead of cheaper labour. The really smart manufacturers are increasing the number of key performance indicators (KPI) and starting to measure things like machine and labour efficiencies, and setup variances. Productivity is key.

Good news for Canada is the exchange rate...yes i know it kills us for buying US products, but US companies see Canadian businesses as a great place for sourcing product. This good news for Canadian manufacturers and their employees. US companies get roughly a 15% discount on exchange alone when they buy Canadian.

Sorry for the long winded explanation...I spent a lot of time working to fix manufacturing companies that were too fat and inefficient to make money. 

[Bill]

I agree completely with grimsbylander.

I am employed by a major auto restoration company. Quality and productivity are the reasons for our continued success.