Has King Kutter gone Chinese

[joerocker]

Plus they have their OWN resources. Japan had to import most raw materials, China has their own.

Hot tip...if you're in business...learn Chinese!

 

[scott_vt]

Wow, interesting thread, lots of interesting opinions.

The only King Kutter equipment that I own is a 6ft rear grader blade. I knew it was a light duty import implement when I purchased it to maintain my 800 ft driveway. To date it has done the job I intended for it. If I knew I was going to be doing a lot of heavy duty work with it I would have purchased something with more beef rather than this unit. The blade could be easily bent if snagged on a large stone or other unmoveable object. For light grading of the drive it does great.

 

[Soundguy]

I disagree. 70's era yanmar tractors are consistant in fit and finish with todays standards in some areas.. and head and shoulders above a jinma in fit and finish... Better metalurgy.. etc..

the stuff about labor force sounds right though.

Soundguy

 

[have_blue]

the stuff about labor force sounds right though.

Soundguy

China is at a disadvantage to where Japan was 20-30 years ago. China's political climate is not as conducive to small businesses coming on line and growing. But,,, as they begin to embrace Capitalism, look out!

Although China has much more natural resources than Japan, they are still not a resource-rich country. That's where the good old USA shines. We need to stop the BS, quit taxing businesses to death and let them compete or our economy will eventually tank.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Yea, American manufacturers can't compete. Thats why we all live in poverty like a 3rd world nation.

Hot tip...if you're in business...learn Chinese!

Well all you folks can think that, but there are still SOME of us who avoid buying goods made in communist nations and often choose to pay more to get an American made product. I am one of those. I'm also the first to admit that sometimes it is almost impossible to buy goods that are not foreign made, but it is possible to buy non-communist goods. Yes, the price is a bit higher, but last time I checked, we still are not allies with any communist nation. And since I know the price of freedom is not free, I am willing to pay a couple bucks more to support American jobs if I have the option.

 

[RobJ]

Did you know that for every vehicle GM makes, $5000 goes towards retirement benefits?

Total US sales in 2005 was about 17,000,000. If GM did 10,000,000 that's 50 billion. I'm just curious where that number came from.

BTW I don't work for either. Only have a ford sd, Surburban, and a mustang.

 

[slaveToHorses]

I was at the farm store the other day and looked at the KK attachments in the lot. They all looked like junk to me. No offense to anyone that owns one. The prices were very good and I can see the attraction there but not enough to buy a cheap tool. I hate cheap tools. I always regret buying cheap tools.

As to Chinese, well several key castings on my new wizzbang John Deere are made in China and they look pretty good. I have had some experience dealing with Chinese manufacturing and the number one issue is quality control. The only way to get good consistant quality is to have a QA person on-site.

Most big manufacturers have parts and subassemblies made all over the world. I don't worry too much about it anymore, as a consumer anyway. I just evaluate the quality of the end product.

As China becomes more of a major supplier, they will also become more of a major consumer. It all works out in the end. There are a lot of US/Western/etc. companies out there that are really excited about selling to the Chinese. As that happens, the cost of labor will go up....

 

[joerocker]

OK, let me look around...

Found this on FoxNews: GM's pension liability at the end of 2005 was $10.92 billion, according to its balance sheet.

This was from the Washington Post: GM said its pension obligations totaled about $89 billion, with about $90 billion in assets.

Wikipedia said this: The Canadian single payer health care plan saves automakers $1500 per vehicle produced compared to the cost for health care in the United States.

United Transportation Union: GM and other Detroit auto companies face heavy burdens for pension and health care expenses, which they refer to as legacy costs. The companies estimate these expenses cost them $1,800 per vehicle.

Nashua Telegraph: It is estimated GM’s cost per vehicle is about $3,000 more than that of Toyota. The largest contributor to that disadvantage is labor costs.

Here is another: Every Chevy and Buick, each Hummer, Caddy, Pontiac or GMC driven off a dealer's lot by a happy customer this year has cost General Motors Corp. a bundle.

The company lost an average of $1,227 per vehicle in North America in the first half of the year, according to a new report, and company insiders say the hemorrhaging hasn't stopped.

So, who's to know?

I saw $5000 somewhere a long time ago. Perhaps I remember it wrong...maybe it's TOTAL benefits for ALL workers including retirees.

 

[roxynoodle]

A lot of us are talking about our cars on this forum. I have only owned one that was foreign (though it was built in Tennessee) which was a Nissan truck. I only owned it to 130,000 miles because I needed a bigger truck. At that time it needed a manifold gasket and a new emergency brake. So, not a bad truck at all. My 95 Dodge, however never needed any gaskets up until I sold it in November at 213,000 miles. At 201,000 miles I needed a torque converter and the starter had failed right before that. Never replaced a single suspension part which I thought was amazing with all the towing it did and driving on these country roads. The best part is that I went to 189,000 miles before I had to replace the front brake pads and rotors. At any rate very few repairs, what a great truck. I replaced it with another Dodge and I hope to have similar luck with it. I also have a Ford Mustang with 117,000 miles on it now and had it in to the dealer a couple months ago and it came through with flying results. If a dealer can't find anything wrong with it, then there must be nothing wrong with it! It is only the GMs that hate me. They could probably start producing the best cars in the world but I wouldn't buy one.

I do admit I have seen Hondas and Nissans with 300k or even 400k miles on them. Wasn't there a Honda or Toyota in the news a few years back with a million miles? But, if properly cared for, most American cars should get to 250k miles these days (unless it is a GM and I am the owner)

And yes I own a Japanese tractor but it seems to me I could have bought a Deere and it would still have been a Yanmar with green and yellow paint.

 

[bugstruck]

China will be the # 1 ecomomy in the world in 20 years absolute tops, maybe 15. Not because they are so brilliant, but because we are so stupid. So far they haven't had a tendancy for conquest that most powerful modern nations develop. Let's hope it stays that way cause $$ equals power. Financial and military. I'll deal with unfair business competition until the results are in like everyone else. Then it's probably too late, already is really. You can't turn this back now unless you develop an incredibly advanced energy related technology and guard the technology like we did the bomb. That won't happen and they'll have that technology overnite too. The business we tout so much as a panacea will guarantee that. Business is not the answer to all issues. In fact it's downright terrible at impacting US international policy in favorable ways. If you stop and think, what government entity transferred all this knowledge to China? Believe me education alone couldn't have put a dent in what we see without big corporate $$ behind it. US and other western business has really cut it's head off and doesn't fully see it yet. First the technology and jobs move, with the employee taxes, then the knowledge base in the transit country get to it's own self sustaining level. Then, the set up shop and kill off the US business that endable them. The US corporate taxes go away. In electronics it's already through the entire cycle. Other more important industries to follow. Wish I could paint a different picture but it is going to be rough here inside the next decade. Wow, and I'm generally optimistic. Frankly, we are fast asleep. Big business gentlemen is fully incapable of resolving this.