The China/Asia problem has hit the mold industry especially hard. I have worked in Michigan and in California in the past sixteen years and have seen shop after shop go under. I am currently working for a company that is surviving by offering to manage offshore tooling as well as building tooling in house. I know first hand the differences in labor costs and they are staggering not to mention the EPA, local government energy and regulatory cost of doing business in the USA. I also know first hand of a autoclave company in Michigan that built a mag wheel heat treat assembly line for a Chinese company with the promise to build three more. When the 1st was up and running and the blueprints delivered the rest of the orders were canceled. Anybody seen cheap mag wheels for sale lately? I certainly do not have the solution but with our big multi-national companies contributing huge amounts of money to both political parties I wouldn't expect to see any change soon. Just look at the U.S. steel companies, it took 15 years to get any kind of help for the Asian dumping.
By the way I heard last week the U.S. has imposed tariffs on imported Canadian lumber while we continue to rack up a huge trade deficit with a communist country. What the hell is that about? Sincerely, George C. Simpson ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2002 9:13 AM Subject: [mfg-smartcam] China problem does exist > Hi all, > It is good practice to verify the facts in these internet chain letters. > But, regardless of the authenticity of the sources in this particular letter, the problem is real. Shops are going out of business. Work formerly done here in the USA is now being outsourced to China. You don't see the Dell, IBM, and Compaq ads stating that you get such a great deal on a pc system because they outsource the stamping operations overseas for labor rates around $.27/ hour, do you? > In my opinion, the problem is different now than when the tariff laws were enacted. Originally they were intended to protect US businesses from unfair competition. Now, it's THE US businesses that want to take advantage of the cheap labor rates. Please correct me if I'm wrong on the tariff laws. > We build progressive stamping dies. The same projects quoted in China come in cheaper than what the steel alone would cost us here. This is true. They don't need a beautiful, complex progressive die to do a job. They will instead build a series of easy to design and build stage tooling and pay extra workers the low wages to move the parts from one stage die to the next. > I can verify the Caterpillar part of the letter. I read about it in a TMA newsletter here in the Chicago area. > Regards, > > Chris Kocourek > Tool & Die Designer > Flextronics Tool & Design > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2002 9:48 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: [mfg-smartcam] China > > > Likewise I could find no listing of a Scott R, Sando nor Elite Mold & Design > in Erie, Meadville, or anywhere else in Pennsylvania or neighboring Ohio and > New York. > > Couldn't find a lead on Glenn Caspary either. > > Apparently a hoax/chain letter, just more bull in the China shop. > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Chris Simpson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: Rick Kerr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2001 2:29 PM > > Subject: Enlightening info > > > > > > > > BANKRUPTING THE UNITED STATES > > > > > > > > June 17, 2001 > > > > > > > > Tool shops in the U.S. are going down due to the Chinese > > > > connection. > > <SNIP> > > > > > Talk to Caterpillar, they hit on the Chinese connection two years > > > > ago. Their D-9 diesel motor was tolled up and built In China. > > > > When Caterpillar buyers went over to check on progress they saw > > > > several sets of duplicate tools. Now, two years later, the > > > > Chinese version of the D-9 diesel sells for about 20 cents on the > > > > dollar. > ====================================================================== > To find out more about this mailing list including how to unsubscribe, > send the message "info mfg-smartcam" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ====================================================================== > ====================================================================== To find out more about this mailing list including how to unsubscribe, send the message "info mfg-smartcam" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ======================================================================
