Is anything made in the U.S.A.

[MossRoad]

Power Trac Tractors are made in America.

 

[3RRL]

This phenom is not just limited to tractors or cars. Highbeam touched on the fact that you can hardly buy any clothes made in America any more. Look at the electronics industry and see where that stuff is made. And as rdnl said, "you are preaching to the choir".

I am an American mold maker. I machine all my components, mill, lathe, grind, EDM, polish etc... I buy American made steel from a company back East and American components such as Allen socket head cap screws, Miller hyd cyls etc ... at least I think they are American made. Everything else I make myself and heat treat locally. Well, this is came to a screeching halt.

My prices were not competitive with off shore mold makers from China, Korea, Indonesia, India Hong Kong, etc. Both myself the engineers I dealt with had our hands tied because the decision was not up to them anymore. The corporate bean counters were making the decision where to have this tooling made ...based on PRICE and not necessarily capability, reliability, warranty, service or reputation anymore. And guess what? Their product is pretty good now.

I sold my business in 1996 and retired. It was a large manufacturing business with 35 toolmakers and a 27,000 sq ft plant to go with it. Then I opened a small garage business. I only do occasional work and only for those who want to pay the prices I charge. I don't actively look for work but some of my old customers call me to make molds for them.
I got them back and bought a really good Chinese tractor.
Now I have modified it so much it's more American than most others.

 

[scott_vt]

I got them back and bought a really good Chinese tractor.

This toolmaker is hangin on for dear life !

 

[dqdave1]

new holland boomers are asemblied in USA.

 

[daTeacha]

Rayco makes their stuff in Wooster, Ohio. See the thread in this forum about their forestry mower.

One reason so many heavy components like engines are made outside the country is EPA regs. The Chinese, dor example, pollute with abandon, hence it's cheaper to run foundries there than to do so in the US.

Reason 2 is retirement pensions to former union employees. On that $36K SUV, about $12K of the price goes to paying pensions of retired workers.

Reason 3 is health insurance costs and union wage/benefit packages. The costs have to be passed on to the customers.

The foreign owned companies are locating in the Southern states because the labor is cheaper than in the traditional auto manufacturing states -- again, no big union wage/benefit packages to pay for.

 

[shane]

Boy, has this ever been discussed here before. Reminds me of the Andy Griffith episode where they are sitting on the porch and Barney tells Andy no telling how many times how he is going to walk down to the filling station and get a soda.
I was naive back when I bought my first JD. But, hanging out here my eyes have been opened to much learning. You guys keep up the good job of teaching and I'll try to keep learning.

 

[dgl24087]

I would be amazed if a foreign manufacturer would locate in Michigan, too much union support there, as well as virtually every northern industrial state. The south will continue to attract facilities because of the anti-union sentiment. Factor in better weather, lower cost of living, lower taxes, cheaper labor, why would anyone consider locating anywhere else?

 

[RobJ]

We are in global economy now and it is just going to get more that way. I can't find any clothes made in the US at the Farm and Fleet store. I just buy the stuff I like and don't worry about it any more.

Is this what they are calling cheap labor overseas for more company profits now?

 

[bill6]

There is a larger point: competition forces increased quality. Way back during WWII, our country's design & manufacturing engine was in high gear. HUGE progress was made, because we HAD to do it.

But since then, many product designs have been lax, to say the least. For example, as a pilot and aircraft owner, I'm really into small planes. Do you realize that small aircraft engines have NOT improved since about 1946? Aircraft interiors, avionics, instruments, etc, are much better, but not the standard engines. Avco-Lycoming and Teledyne-Continental still produce the same old horizontally opposed 4 and 6 bangers. The reasons are: no competition from Japan, and high cost of change because of high liability insurance costs and government (FAA) regulation.

During the early 70's and 80's, the U.S. car industry suddenly had big competition from Japan. That's a GOOD thing, because it forced the "big 3" to re-think their quality and build some cars people wanted!

I believe rather than only buy American, we should buy the BEST, high-tech product, at the most competitive price; then the others will HAVE to improve their game.........

 

[N80]

There is more to the foreign companies coming to the South than cheap labor. It might be cheap-er, but it isn't cheap. Most eastern seaboard southern economies are booming, but the general cost of living is so much less than the rest of the country that the cost of labor is less. The main reason is an ingrained distrust of unions and union politics in the southern US.

We don't like unions.

Mack truck thought they'd give the south a try back in the 1980's. The county where my property is prostituted itself to get Mack to build a truck plant there. So Mack comes in and builds this enormous facility and starts hiring and training locals. But the unions won some sort of lawsuit and Mack had to offer jobs to the people from the plant they were closing (up north) and they came down and took all the local jobs, voted the union in and the dang thing has been closed and dead for nearly 10 years now! I know for a fact that unions served a great and noble purpose at one time, but that time seems to have passed.

Contrast that with the BMW plant in Spartanburg, about an hour and a half up the road. They came in and built a world class facility. The brought world class training for the locals, it pays them extremely well with good benefits and that place is booming.

I think these two examples say it all.

Problem is, that good old American self sufficiency is a thing of the past and we are weaker for it.

And in my opinion, paying more for a inferior product just because it is made in the US makes things worse. Its bad news all the way around.

I own a Kubota.