It is rather strange to have people complain manufacturing in the USA is more expensive while having quality issues. The USA may be having problems with quality engineers, but, that should not exist. I don't buy it. There are graduates coming out of USA universities at least twice a year. Where are they going?
Get the manufacturing quality solved and the productions will go up while the costs go down. The graph of US manufacturing facilities need a little more research. Some, but, not all; may have been purchased by the company contracting with them as the product sales increased.
They are our soldiers and our equipment, it is manufactured at home with USA oversight and regulation. Do you believe this? Imagine what will happen if the trade agreements are passed.
New Balance is marketing what they call a military collection to the public. (click here)
In 1994, New Balance manufactured 70% of its shoes in the United States. In 2006, New Balance stated on its customer help site that "approximately 25% of the New Balance shoes sold in North America are Made in the USA and we will continue domestic manufacturing." According to Fortune Magazine in 2006, "about 70 percent of its shoes are now made in China and the other 5 percent in Vietnam.
July 4, 2014
Last April, (click here) the Department of defence announced military recruits would start using athletic shoes 100 per cent made and manufactured in America, in recognition of a law Congress passed in 1941 requiring the department give preference to American-made goods.
Over a year after the announcement, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines have still not purchased a single sneaker that meets the exacting standards of the 1941 law, known as the Berry Amendment.
Matthew LeBretton, New Balance's vice president of public affairs, is convinced the delays are deliberate "payback" for companies like New Balance that have been vocally lobbying for the change for years.
"We've pushed and pushed to the point where we're at now, and we're still encountering tremendous resistance," he said. "They're not used to being pushed that way and I think that's engendered this animosity."
Mark Wright, a spokesman for the Department of defence, said the department is simply continuing to test Berry-compliant sneakers....
USA small companies were abandoned with their bailouts of 2008-9. It is time to include USA small businesses in military acquisition. They can't compete at all in the USA and are forced to move their manufacturing to China. It is time the USA military place USA manufactured products from small business manufacturers on the top of the preference list.
How are they ever going to compete and create new jobs if this continues. Once the companies are established with a better customer base their manufacturing won't have to leave the USA..
It is July 4th. It is time to bring USA manufacturing home!
October 30, 2014
By Jennifer Alsever
...For companies (click here) whose revenues don’t approach $1 billion, however, the reality has been trickier. Consider Martin Keen. Stiff competition forced him to move production of his shoe company, Keen Footwear, to China a decade ago. So in 2012, when he started his latest enterprise, Focal Upright, a maker of standup workstations, he made it a top priority to manufacture them in the U.S.
His intentions were noble—but the reality was brutal. The North Kingstown, R.I., entrepreneur struggled to find American contract factories that could produce parts for his desks. When he did find facilities, they were slow to respond to inquiries, took months to return bids, and were largely unwilling to make investments to manufacture the parts he needed. “I thought people would be chomping at the bit to build components for us,” says Keen. “But there was a lackadaisical attitude. It was very discouraging.”...
Someone should be talking to them to maintain their manufacturing in the USA. There manufacturing isn't gone forever into China if there is invention that brings their best interests back to the USA.
Get the manufacturing quality solved and the productions will go up while the costs go down. The graph of US manufacturing facilities need a little more research. Some, but, not all; may have been purchased by the company contracting with them as the product sales increased.
New Balance is marketing what they call a military collection to the public. (click here)
In 1994, New Balance manufactured 70% of its shoes in the United States. In 2006, New Balance stated on its customer help site that "approximately 25% of the New Balance shoes sold in North America are Made in the USA and we will continue domestic manufacturing." According to Fortune Magazine in 2006, "about 70 percent of its shoes are now made in China and the other 5 percent in Vietnam.
July 4, 2014
Last April, (click here) the Department of defence announced military recruits would start using athletic shoes 100 per cent made and manufactured in America, in recognition of a law Congress passed in 1941 requiring the department give preference to American-made goods.
Over a year after the announcement, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines have still not purchased a single sneaker that meets the exacting standards of the 1941 law, known as the Berry Amendment.
Matthew LeBretton, New Balance's vice president of public affairs, is convinced the delays are deliberate "payback" for companies like New Balance that have been vocally lobbying for the change for years.
"We've pushed and pushed to the point where we're at now, and we're still encountering tremendous resistance," he said. "They're not used to being pushed that way and I think that's engendered this animosity."
Mark Wright, a spokesman for the Department of defence, said the department is simply continuing to test Berry-compliant sneakers....
USA small companies were abandoned with their bailouts of 2008-9. It is time to include USA small businesses in military acquisition. They can't compete at all in the USA and are forced to move their manufacturing to China. It is time the USA military place USA manufactured products from small business manufacturers on the top of the preference list.
How are they ever going to compete and create new jobs if this continues. Once the companies are established with a better customer base their manufacturing won't have to leave the USA..
It is July 4th. It is time to bring USA manufacturing home!
By Jennifer Alsever
...For companies (click here) whose revenues don’t approach $1 billion, however, the reality has been trickier. Consider Martin Keen. Stiff competition forced him to move production of his shoe company, Keen Footwear, to China a decade ago. So in 2012, when he started his latest enterprise, Focal Upright, a maker of standup workstations, he made it a top priority to manufacture them in the U.S.
His intentions were noble—but the reality was brutal. The North Kingstown, R.I., entrepreneur struggled to find American contract factories that could produce parts for his desks. When he did find facilities, they were slow to respond to inquiries, took months to return bids, and were largely unwilling to make investments to manufacture the parts he needed. “I thought people would be chomping at the bit to build components for us,” says Keen. “But there was a lackadaisical attitude. It was very discouraging.”...
Someone should be talking to them to maintain their manufacturing in the USA. There manufacturing isn't gone forever into China if there is invention that brings their best interests back to the USA.
