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Gunboat Production returning to USA from China

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by brian eiland, Jan 31, 2012.

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  1. brian eiland

    brian eiland Senior Member

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  2. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    It's happening in more and more industries every day.
  3. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Which is a very good thing. Companies are starting to figure out that the quality from China is not good enough, the cost of shipping raw materials there and finished goods back here is eating into a lot of the cost savings, and also the fact that shipping delays are costing money as well. Hopefully it keeps in this direction.
  4. KismetLRC

    KismetLRC New Member

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    A lot of it has to do with the fact that China is not as competitive as they once were. Interestingly, they are beginning to outsource a lot of manufacturing to third world countries.
  5. tirekicker11

    tirekicker11 Senior Member

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    Which industries exactly?
  6. KismetLRC

    KismetLRC New Member

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    Toys, apparel, business accessories, writing instruments, technology, and many more that I deal with on a daily basis. In many cases, one doesn't even know that the Chinese have outsourced the manufacturing.

    Labor rates in China are skyrocketing and they are finding it cheaper to play middle man (much like the Americans), add a mark up and act as intermediary.
  7. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    Don't remember off hand, sorry. But there was a guy on TV 2 or 3 weeks ago saying that he's bringing several jobs back to Alabama, and someone else I read about last week. They were citing basically what Capt. J was saying plus that the the Chinese aren't giving it away anymore. Then you have the recalls and PR like Apple's dealing with right now about labor practices. That's expensive. It's just getting cheaper to bring the jobs back.
  8. NewSouthSailor

    NewSouthSailor New Member

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    "Re-shoring" ... interesting!

    Coincidentally I came across below comment in an email I received yesterday.

    (Author Walter Molano of BCP Securities)

    " ...At the same time, the U.S. is undergoing an industrial renaissance that has not been seen for half a century. The decline in real wages, huge increases in productivity, a well-capitalized corporate sector and an energy revolution is making the U.S. the hottest destination on the planet for manufacturers and investors. "Re-shoring" is the new buzz word in manufacturing. ..."

    I would definitely love to see the industrial renaissance mentioned. May good times come our way !!!
  9. ArcanisX

    ArcanisX Senior Member

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    Many people here are spot-on, I just deal with this exact matter almost daily: China's mostly not as cheap as it used to be anymore.

    Those old enough might recall similar Japanese trajectory - they started off as cheap, too. Or more recently South Korea (remember when Samsung electronics was the cheapest, eh?)

    Thankfully there's still thai/malaysia/etc.

    But as those countries are smaller and less developed in terms of industrial environment, it often makes just as much sense to simply go local.
    (As long as local taxes make any sense at all, at least. Here in Russia the total effective salary tax - "smartly" hidden in several layers - is over 45%)

    Chinese are smart enough guys from the way they are handling economy, but you can't cheat basics. Last decade their country's model was "$100 salary guys make stuff, we export it and sell to $3000 salary guys". Now they are trying to "develop internal market", which makes sense, but it's hard to have both a mass of $100 salary guys and a mass of $3000 salary guys in one same country :D

    P.S. And then there is obviously a price on "Local specifics". The same people who would deal happily in China for 300% raw cost difference wouldn't bother for 30%. Quite rightfully, because 30% is about what all the measures to counter said "specifics" end up costing. Maybe 20%, but for the remaining 10% most prefer their nerves (bear in mind, what is 10% difference in raw M&L cost would end up, like, 3% in final price).
  10. ArcanisX

    ArcanisX Senior Member

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    I certainly seen them trying, but are there really any idi... businessmen falling for it? Not a rocket science to travel to malaysia yourself, without chinese "brand middlemen" :eek:
  11. brian eiland

    brian eiland Senior Member

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    Bill Stevens

    Quite a number of years ago there was a gentleman Bill Stevens who imported a large number of 47 footers that he both sold retail and used in the charter business down in the Virgin Islands.
    Sparkman & Stephens Profile the Stevens 47 Design | Daily Sailing News from North American Sailor

    He imported these boats from Taiwan, and in those days they arrived with such screwed electrical wiring and other details, they had to be rebuilt before they could be put on the market. Bill maintained a 'rebuilding facility' across the bay from Annapolis MD just for this exercise.

    Of course these days most of the production boats that are built in Taiwan are of a good quality,...but it took them years before developing those skills. I suspect over half the production done in China is really done by very inexperienced labor force, and I would have reservations about their working with hi-tech composites, let alone wiring up a yacht.

    I expressed this same concern about the labor force in South Africa. I believe Professional Boatbuilder did an article on building in SA. The total number of 'experienced labors' was limited, and they would move from yard to yard depending upon what projects existed at any one time. So you might have a good crew at some times, and a really inexperienced crew another time. In a hi-tech composite boat this is less than ideal. In metal work boat construction it might be acceptable.

    Look what happened recently with that new hi-tech Tang catamaran being built by TAG ....sounds like a bit of a disaster
    Tang your it, an electric boat. - Multihulls4us Forums
  12. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I was on a yacht that was imported and built in China 2 years back, they installed the microwave sideways, so you couldn't open the door to use the microwave, I guess they'd never seen a microwave before......LOL
  13. Codger

    Codger YF Wisdom Dept.

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    Good to see Gunboat building on the east coast. A lot of skilled people there.

    Just an observation on building anything that's labour and skill intensive anywhere. If you just go somewhere for inexpensive labour without looking at spending the money to train those people properly and take in to account the added cost of knowledgeable trustworthy supervision, there will be problems.

    Brian: Thank you for the link to the Tang project. Interesting read.