I got a small surface plate from an internet source, and it looks as if its
OK. The shocking part is that it was made in China.

This is a 12 x 18 x 3 piece of granite, that's somehow made
extraordinarily smooth and flat on one side. Also, it weighs 80 lbs.

It shocks me to no end, that its cheaper to import something
like this from China. This is not a complaint about Chinese products, it's
just an observation that this doesn't seem right.

Can't (or won't ) American companies compete in something like this?

Thanks,

Ford2go

 

Labor intensive jobs of all sorts are done cheaper offshore than here. It all adds to the trade deficit when we buy the stuff and I am as guilty of buying imported stuff as anyone. I purchased a imported transmission jack a few weeks ago and after a simple modification it works well.

 

It's pretty cheap to ship stuff over in container boxes. I've heard the price is by volume, not weight. So, it doesn't matter if it's ping pong ***** or generators - you pay the same for the volume, up to the capacity of the container. Once it hits the states and the dock/trucking get involved - that's where the shipping costs jump.

Prices I was told range from $1800 - $3000 from China depending on the container type/size.

Like Eric said, it's cheaper over there. I'd like to add easier, too.

My old boss and I overheard an entrepreneur talking once. He had an idea for a toy plane. Spent some time working the bugs out of his prototype, then went looking for a manufacturer. He wanted his toy built totally in the US. He went to several places and some wanted over 100 grand for initial tooling, with production and packaging costs making the item price beyond the reach of the market. He had a hard time even getting most of the manufacturers to even take his seriously, he was a small time guy. He found the cheapest manufacturer and gave them the specs, then waited over 6 months to see an example of the first production. Then had a limited number produced.

He tried hiring his own people to put the things together and package them. He didn't even break even.

On a whim decides to fly over to Hong Kong.

He finds a whole area devoted to intial prototype development for the different manufacturers over there. Plenty of people willing to talk. Found someone he liked and gave them the specs. They were like, "No problem, we'll have an example ready in a couple days."

Two days later they had one built. He spent a few more days going over changes he wanted and a production day was set. Get this, at this point he was only out a couple grand, not counting airfare and lodging. It didn't cost him much to have them built and you can stuff a lot of toy planes in a 40' container.

Back stateside he spent his time on marketing with the only hassle being having to wait a couple months for manufacture and shipping.

If the manufacturing process were a mousetrap, those guys over there have built a better one.

 

My father makes, and distributes wood flooring. Oddly enough, we carry a prefinished line, (the wood is from the US) but moulded and prefinished in china, and its By far cheaper than any prefinished stuff we carry from the US. The quality is very comprable.

ALSO we were having a very hard time finding walnut lumber and logs. It turns out that Lots of it is being shipped to china, in thier own containers to be turned into goods, AND shipping a containeer to china, is ALMOST free, since so many containers are sent here, they need to get them bsack somehow....

 

It's real simple economics. It dosen't make sense for the U.S. to spend our resources on producing things that can be done cheaper overseas. Past that, Asia is a very competitive market right now. They can have a product rolling off the line faster than American companies. And don't even get me started on Europe. Slowest in the world by a long shot. Sure, American quality is superior, but it comes at a price. The quick connects for my compressor are made in the U.S., much better than the Chinese models, but alot of my less crucial fittings are from Taiwan. You get what you pay for.

 

Hmmm, I wonder if the governmental regulations of the US vs. China play a part in all of this?

 

Thanks for all of the feedback. The 'container' price for shipping really caught me off guard. I find this just amazing. It also seems distressing that we can't seem to
do competitive startup manufacturing.

The less that we can do for ourselves, the more vulnerable we are. It makes sense
to trade goods and services, but we seem to be running out of things to export.

Finally, I wonder if some of this is also because other places don't deal with all of the environmental restrictions? I know that labor rates are low, but other costs would go down significantly if they just dump and vent waste. I don't know this, I'm just curious. Would seem to be a bad thing, if it's true.

Maybe this is a bit much for a tool forum, but it started me thinking.

Thanks for listening,

ford2go

 

Don't forget a large cost to american manufacturing is Liability. Whatever a manufacturer makes, you can bet someone is going to sue him and he has to build in these costs. We all pay. Thats one reason prescription drugs are much cheaper in Mexico or Canada. Same product just less liability.

 

Yep, liability and medical overhead costs too. Take those away, and we just might be competitive in this country. Heck, throw in a flat tax to do away with too many bean counters and you just might have a world class competitive economy.

 

Yea, well, when you pay some 9 year old kid 5 cents an hour to work 16 hour days in you non-air conditioned sweat shop, you too can build really cheap stuff.

 

[QUOTE=pay some 9 year old kid 5 cents an hour to work 16 hour days in you non-air conditioned sweat shop, you too can build really cheap stuff.[/QUOTE]

I'm glad someone got around to mentioning this!

 

China-Mart (Wal-Mart) actually pushes their suppliers to choose this route if they incur new production costs, and talk about increasing thier supply price to China-Mart. Which BTW they will not go for. They will set you up with all the necessary contacts ect. ect. So much for their slogan that "you will always have a choice" between American made, and Imported.


Ryan

 

Even more surprising, I once bought a large surface plate (1200 lbs.!) that was a little over $300 retail. It not only had to be shipped from China, but then it went from NY to FL by truck. They wanted $80 to ship it the remaining 20 miles to my shop, so I went and picked it up. I'm trying to avoid the whole 'outsourcing' discussion, but I honestly don't know what Americans are going to do for a living in years to come. I am a toolmaker, a trade that has already been gutted by foreign competition. A friend's sister recently went to India to train her replacements in customer service. Even engineering tasks are going offshore. I have a friend at Honeywell, and they outsource engineering, and it's defense-related! I only see a few job classifications in the future- service-related, such as A/C, electric, lawn service, etc.; Fat-cat executives, making a killing off cheap imported goods, and of course, politicians. We'll never run out of those!

 

Anyone look into the Fair tax plan thats in the house and senate now(hr 25 and s 25). It removes all corporate and individual income taxes. This would help a lot in keeping Co. in this country

 

This is true,however not all shops are struggling. Carefull planning and automation intergration are reaping rewards for alot of shops and they are still competitive.