Why aren't your tools made in the USA?
Support the effort 100%, but I'd like to see more US-made tools and parts if possible. Thanks.
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We offer many USA made tools. Our Pro ESD safe screwdrivers are made in the USA for example. We also manufacture some of our specialized tools at our headquarters in San Luis Obispo, California, and have a packaging and assembly operation here too.
Some of the reasons that many of our popular tools are not made in the USA:
- The Pro Tech Toolkit would cost $200+, not $65, and we want to enable as many people to repair as many things as possible, that would not happen at that price point. Only very serious professionals who care where their tools are made would purchase it.
- For better or worse, the majority of USA consumers do not know or care about country of origin. They are driven by price, pretty packaging, and quality. We work very hard to provide a quality product at a price point consumers will consider.
- We have made many tools in the USA in the past, unfortunately it has not been cost effective or successful. Manufacturing facilities in the USA also do not have the capabilities we require or are owned by very large tool conglomerates and not available to us. Most are very specialized, something that can be made in one manufacturing facility overseas might require 4+ sub contractors in the USA. We need to have laminating, packaging, laser cutting, die cutting, CNC machining, plating, heat treating, and more all under one roof to produce many of our products.
We have a very good relationship with the people who make our tools — as a matter of fact, we've got two of our team working with them in the factory right now. They're skilled workers, and more importantly, great people. They've earned the work.
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Kyle, you didn't mention where this factory is. After your company salvages the usable parts where do the remnants go? I'm sorry but we seem to have a major trade imbalance with the rest of the world. Made In the USA used it be a mark of excellence. I for one, would be willing to pay more for tools made in the USA, but I'm old and more than slightly nationalistic. If the people in our country can't compete, I can try to understand, but I don't have to like it.
Mayer, we have a team that is almost full time traveling all over to do QC. Right now they are in Taiwan overseeing driver production. We produce product all around the globe, North America, Europe, Asia, and even Pakistan.
If we have left over parts from a device we cannot sell, we work with the best electronics recyclers to make sure they are responsibly recycled.
You have to sell a whole lot of screwdrivers to that much traveling ;-)
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Wouldn't we all, in the USA, like to see this. Made in the USA was the mark of quality for a long time. Detroit would love it. This article may help explain it: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08...
This lost of jobs to China closed down a lot of manufacturing in the USA but the trend may be coming to an end as the Chinese currency has risen by 25% and other costs increase. But the US will have to reopen and start up new plants as the old ones got priced out of the market and had to close down with a subsequent loss of jobs. See this article on the reversal: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/19...
But for now, are you willing to spend that extra 25% to 100% more for the same screwdriver?
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In Germany, when they fix the roads, they will block off five miles of road for about six to seven hours. At the end of the seven hours, it looks like a new world in front of you.
In New York, they will block off a certain lane and twenty years later, they are still working on that lane, and the road still feels like crap You can come by to check it out. Half of the workers will be walking in circles, playing on their cellphone. I moved to bed stuy six years ago. Nostrand avenue gets torn up on the same stretch between lafayette and gates every few weeks, for six years. The road still feels like crap.
It's not all about cheap. You get genuinely better work out of people in other countries. There is this myth that all the work being outsourced is just due to price. Price is one reason, but there are many cases in which America beats another country in price but falls very far behind in productivity, output, and human resources issues(drama, work issues, management issues, etc).
Eric Schmidt of Google had a speech about this in 2008 or 2009 regarding cellphone manufacturers. He was talking about how some companies will open up a plant or factory in 15 different countries and measure across different metrics how they do. America was not always the most expensive, but it was often amongst the bottom performers.
If you want to know why this is, just watch a crew of workers in Manhattan tearing up the roads. Or go to the average American college/high school class.
I would pay whomever is best for the job. I love America but I am not going to pay people here to do the same work to a lower standard for more money just because I live here.
This is, btw, totally ignoring the fact that in this industry no one cares about anything but CHEAP! Put an iPhone 4S screen on eBay for $33 and free shipping, report sales, and tell me I'm wrong.
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I've found that unions don't really promote exceptional individual achievement.