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Just a thought

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Steve

Steve

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Can we talk?

There have been many discussions on the BCF about the poor quality of parts for our cars that have been manufactured in China.

I am not going to discuss this policy here, as the subject has been thrashed out in many different forms already, but instead I would like to talk about a thought that occurred to me this morning.

With so much unused manufacturing capacity in the United States, and especially here in Milwaukee, would it not start to make economic sense to have parts manufactured here? I am not alone in stating that I would gladly pay extra for a part that was made in the UK or the USA, and I would imagine that in the face of their manufacturing business rapidly disappearing to South America or the Pacific Rim, companies would be glad to have some new business right now, and quote accordingly.....

Would it work? Could it work? There are plants used by GM, Chrysler, AC Delco and similar standing idle and there are skilled workers on unemployment. The distribution infrastructure is already in place.

Please keep responses on topic. This is not going to be a political discussion, who did what or is to blame for it.... Posts with ANY political comment will be edited or deleted. What do we, as enthusiasts think of getting these parts made here in America, where most of the surviving LBCs reside?

There are members who are current or former professionals in the industry, either wrenching, supplying parts or making them in their own businesses...... Let's get a dialogue going!

Vendors who read this are especially encouraged to contribute!!!
 
I absolutely wholeheartedly believe it would work. I share your sentiment that I would gladly pay more for products manufactured in the United States. Before my father went into the restoration business full time, he was in the machine tool business (and had been for over 40 years). Over the years, he has used his contacts in the machine tool industry to do small production runs of impossible-to-get items that he can't do in his shop (the old man is quite the machinist). He's never done anything on a large scale, but the breadth of what can be done in good machine shops by talented people is amazing. And this country is full of true craftsmen and women with the requisite skills who could crank out a lot of really great stuff.
 
I suspect it'd be an "economy of scale" issue. Not enough demand for any one widget for the tooling and start-up costs to justify it. The market for most LBC parts would be saturated in a month (with an 'industrial' size operation). Then there's "who owns the patent/copyright/trademark" etc. Who do ya pay to make a specific Lucas bit to spec? A BMC 18GB oil pump? Front wing for a BN7... and if you went ahead and just DID it I doubt it'd take long for ~someone~ to come along an' pull th' pinfeathers outta <span style="font-style: italic">that</span> bird.

Right now there's a 'shortage' of distributor parts for V-12 Jags... only so many made in any given run of manufacture, so put in an order and sit on yer mits.

In short, I doubt there'd be incentive enough to attempt the task here.
 
I'm inclined to agree with Doc. :iagree:
I'd be doubtfull that the market would be big enough for a start up manufacturing plant.It is certainly big enough to handle short runs,but doing that,isn't always viable.


Stuart. :cheers:
 
I'm afraid I would have to agree with Doc. Good idea in theory but I doubt the ROI would justify the sunk costs for startup. It "might" work if a company could acquire some of the original tooling on he cheap.
 
Steve, I am going to try stating a fact or reason with out being political. If you think it is over the line just delete it, I will understand.
Having been in manufacturing I can say that US manufacturing is starting to come back. I can also say that there are many things that place road blocks in front of US manufacturing. One thing that happened while our manufacturing was at its strongest and has had one of the biggest effects on it is the "inventory" tax. For those that may not know, it is much less expensive to make parts in large numbers because of set-up costs, better prices for materials in larger volumes, tooling and so many other reasons. That tax takes away all those incentives. The sad thing today is that this tax probably does not even bring in much revenue any longer. It now is not even thought of but the effects have been disastrous.

Many know and many are tired of hearing about this but for nearly a year I have been searching for bearings for my Midget front wheels. I have contacted well over 100 bearing manufacturers and suppliers without success. It was not until last week that I finally found the correct bearings for my car. And they are still being made. During that time I found many reasons besides the one already mentioned that are responsible. But one reason, possibly the biggest, that I ran into constantly was to accept what was being sold. Made no difference that they did not fit, just accept and work it out the best we can. I don't blame anyone for thinking that way. Just to sort out this one little problem has been a major project and involved many people.

But it did work out, and it looks like at least one supplier will be handling them. Yes they are still being made.
 
I concur. And unless the U.S. factory operation could pay its skilled labor about $5 per day with no workers' comp, health or retirement benefits like many Chinese factories do, it would be very hard to earn a profit.

Many reasons why it's cheap to manufacture in China . . .
 
I'm pretty sure there isn't a Federal inventory tax. There are some states who do levy a tax on existing inventories though.
 
just a thought about tooling costs.
My last employment was at a display hook manufacturer. we have an inhouse tool and die shop and the average cost for a new product was $20,000 for the tooling. That didn't cover the setup costs and replacement items and time spent to get the product to spec fo the customer.
 
Where's my "Happy Dance" icon?!? :smirk:
 
ecurie_ecosse said:
I'm inclined to agree with Doc. :iagree:
I'd be doubtfull that the market would be big enough for a start up manufacturing plant.It is certainly big enough to handle short runs,but doing that,isn't always viable.


Stuart. :cheers:
Click to expand...

Although (and remembering that I am a Pastor not an Engineer) my sense is that CAD & manufacturing is advancing to the point that it will be economical to make short runs. I'm thinking of what the Hot Rod folk are doing with billet aluminum and rims and what Print On Demand has done to transform publishing - POD has made small runs economical again.
 
CAD/CAM, CNC have niche appeal in surgical instruments and specialty equipment where cost is a lesser consideration. But when we're talking stamped steel parts, cast metal bits, chromed parts, plastic injection molded parts, things get dicey as to cost-per-unit production on a practical scale. And most of what we LBC junkies are looking for fall into those categories.
 
Good comments all, this is very interesting!

Doc has a point with regard to patent infringement, however this could be overcome with a licence to manufacture those parts. I'm not suggesting that the entire array of parts to build a whole new car should be created but just a few items to start, something that has a reasonably high demand.

There has to be a way, we just haven't figured it out yet..... :wink:
 
Ya'll are livin' in the '70's :laugh:
3D metal printing is something that could do "on demand" production with no real setup costs. Wouldn't work for high strength parts, but an amazing technology non the less with the ability to make parts that up til now were next to impossible.
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I suppose I'm agreeing with everyone on this one. I would gladly pay more for quality parts made here. But like Doc said, the startup costs would probably be prohibitive to a for profit operation. OTOH, if a large enough group of enthusisasts without the usual profit motive could band together and pool resources . . .
 
Even on a "break even" scale it'd be REALLY difficult to scale it up to a production level... better if those same enthusiasts were to pick a part apiece and dedicate resources to that bit. "Cottage industry" on a US basis...
 
DrEntropy said:
Even on a "break even" scale it'd be REALLY difficult to scale it up to a production level... better if those same enthusiasts were to pick a part apiece and dedicate resources to that bit. "Cottage industry" on a US basis...
Click to expand...

I like this suggestion!
 
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