How about a wannabe made in USA thread?

[Happy Gilmore]

I'll start with this one, Ingersoll Rand air compressor caught my eye when I saw the USA red, white and blue logo. Further inspection, yep, visual trickery to a degree, "assembled here" of course. China and Mexico components.



Then the electric motor......... "US Motor" you know when you see that it's not made here.

 

[bcp]

I wonder how many factories are in USA.

This one:


Bruce

 

[Gunny]

I bought a barrel stove kit from United States Stove Company, flipped the box over to open it and the first thing I saw was "Made in China"

 

[von-mil]

Harbor Freight has all sorts of these so-called brand names. The one that comes to mind right now is their cheapo hand tools under the Pittsburgh name. Made in the steel city? Nope.

 

[jmc]

My pet peeve too.

I almost bought a battery charger but there was no country of origin listed. Instead, a big label described themselves as "A United States Corporation". Right.

Or a box of fasteners labeled:

"This product is made in one of the following countries:
Switzerland, Germany, Mexico, China, Vietnam, Pakistan, ..."

Why even bother?

 

[Happy Gilmore]

My pet peeve too.

I almost bought a battery charger but there was no country of origin listed. Instead, a big label described themselves as "A United States Corporation". Right.

Or a box of fasteners labeled:

"This product is made in one of the following countries:
Switzerland, Germany, Mexico, China, Vietnam, Pakistan, ..."

Why even bother?

Odds are probably pretty good that the fasteners were made in the C word.

 

[CalG]

I was turning some brake rotors the other day, (all brake rotors at the FLAPS are sourced from China)

Turning exposed many rather large inclusions in the castings. The rotors were NOT under thickness.

Lots of sand in there. Fortunately, I was using old WC tooling.

I hate CRAP!

 

[MossRoad]

Cleaned up the thread title... had ampersands and such...

 

[Garandman]

I wonder how many factories are in USA.

The percentage of GDP from manufacturing is at an all-time high:

The manufacturing sector has a large footprint in the U.S. economy. It employed 12.0 million workers in 2013, 8.8 percent of total U.S. employment.
Manufacturing plays a particularly important role in supporting jobs in a core group of states in the upper Midwest (East North Central and selected West North Central) and South (East South Central) states. The top 10 states ranked by manufacturingç—´ share of total state employment in 2013 are Indiana (16.8 percent, 491,900 jobs), Wisconsin (16.3 percent, 458,400 jobs), Iowa (14.0 percent, 214,500 jobs), Michigan (13.5 percent, 555,300 jobs), Alabama (13.1 percent, 249,100 jobs), Arkansas (12.9 percent, 152,400 jobs), Ohio (12.6 percent, 662,100 jobs), Kentucky (12.4 percent, 228,600 jobs), Mississippi (12.3 percent, 136,700 jobs), and Kansas (11.9 percent, 162,900 jobs).

It just doesn't seem that way, because American manufacturers have extremely high labor productivity.

But the FTC standards for "Made in USA" are clear as mud. We live in a world economy and parts are sourced all over the world: in part because many Americans seek out the absolute cheapest products they can find.

Complying with the Made in USA Standard | Federal Trade Commission

What factors does the Commission consider to determine whether a product is "all or virtually all" made in the U.S.?

The productç—´ final assembly or processing must take place in the U.S. The Commission then considers other factors, including how much of the productç—´ total manufacturing costs can be assigned to U.S. parts and processing, and how far removed any foreign content is from the finished product. In some instances, only a small portion of the total manufacturing costs are attributable to foreign processing, but that processing represents a significant amount of the productç—´ overall processing. The same could be true for some foreign parts. In these cases, the foreign content (processing or parts) is more than negligible, and, as a result, unqualified claims are inappropriate.

I get a kick out of this topic because we own a 2006 Subaru Outback. It was built in Indiana, has a Japanese engine and transmission, and at the time GM owned 25% of Subaru. We also owned a 2001 Ford Transit Connect, made in Turkey as a passenger van. It was then shipped to Baltimore, where the seats were stripped out and it was converted to a cargo van (to avoid import duties). So which one is more "American?"

http://kogodbusiness.com/reports/auto-index/

The current Ford Transit Connect is made in Spain and has 11% rating, while the Outback is 45%.

 

[MossRoad]

The percentage of GDP from manufacturing is at an all-time high:

It just doesn't seem that way, because American manufacturers have extremely high labor productivity.

But the FTC standards for "Made in USA" are clear as mud. We live in a world economy and parts are sourced all over the world: in part because many Americans seek out the absolute cheapest products they can find.

Complying with the Made in USA Standard | Federal Trade Commission



I get a kick out of this topic because we own a 2006 Subaru Outback. It was built in Indiana, has a Japanese engine and transmission, and at the time GM owned 25% of Subaru. We also owned a 2001 Ford Transit Connect, made in Turkey as a passenger van. It was then shipped to Baltimore, where the seats were stripped out and it was converted to a cargo van (to avoid import duties). So which one is more "American?"

My mother-in-law is retired from the UAW and bought a Toyota Minivan that was more American made than a Ford F150 at the time.