I am sure labor was a part of it like you point out especially because the different unions had a pretty solid hold on the manufacturers in New England. I think and hope that american workers without the unions could offset ther cost with increased production if ithe right incentives were in place (piecework ect..). American Workers do better with a carrot versus a stick.
Sorry, but American workers can't do more work than any other. Now, many plants in central and South America are very inefficient, but that's not due to the worker ability. I've been involved with incredibly efficient plants in Jamaica and, also American but off shore, in Puerto Rico. One of the least efficient I ever was involved with was in Australia but it wasn't because the workers couldn't or wouldn't. The plant had 9 unions in one plant.
Now, I will agree the typical Asian plant for chips and boards and computers is very efficient but the apparel plants are not. They don't provide the workers a lot of basic tools and use old equipment and don't engineer much as the cost of inefficiencies is small. Still 60% efficiency at $250 per month wages versus 100% at $2000 per month is still 80% less cost.
Now, I do believe I could build boats in the US and deliver to US customers competitively to building in China and delivering to US customers. They aren't labor intensive. Same with farm machinery.
Hearing all this then why do we have apparel plants here? We wanted to. I still hurt from the elimination of US jobs even though I was very late in the process. Also, had a young idealistic girl who got me into this whole mess on top of my young idealistic wife and it was decided.
How do we make up for the cost differential? We don't compete on price, we compete on styling and quality. Is there an identical garment made cheaper elsewhere? We don't think so, because we don't think there's an identical garment. We're not producing huge volume basic long running styles, not the same thing season after season. We also priced from the outset knowing our production costs. We have incredible industrial engineering and have invested in the best automation and most efficient equipment. We haven't replaced operators with equipment but given them equipment that allows each to produce more. Same equipment would work anywhere, but manufacturers elsewhere aren't going to pay the price. So we close some of the cost gap.
We don't have the shipping or import costs.
Then a huge one, turnaround time. From cut to deliver to customer, we can do in less than 8 weeks, as little as 4 or 5 weeks if we must. We can design and prototype today and start producing it tomorrow. Overseas you have to develop and finalize the line months ahead. We have a style that's selling great and we need more, we can get more and maximize sales. Overseas, often what you plan initially is all you can get. Also, we can wait and if we put in a style that's not selling we can reduce the forecast and not make more. Overseas you contracted long before you have sales data. So maximize sales and reduce closeouts. None of that is reflected in product cost but sure impacts the bottom line.
We produce most of our product in our own plants, but one exception and you'd never guess. We bought a company that was in NY and contracted a lot there. Well, small run, low quantities, amazing what they can do. There's a new facility set up with many manufacturers in Brooklyn, many that were forced out of Soho. We play around with exclusives and items costing double our normal lines and small orders on them but we can turn them around so fast in those NY shops and we've examined them all and none of them are sweat shops, all employees legitimate and all paid right.
We only sell in the US and Canada so no exporting which would eliminate many of our advantages. We are very proud of our quality and it's not you can't equal it elsewhere, but all of management is here. We're not trusting third parties or people on the far side of the planet.
Perhaps we could still make more manufacturing elsewhere but we couldn't be as proud or happy of what we're doing and we're establishing something for the long run, not to make money and run. Our CEO turned down a lot of business this year.
There are some small successful textile and apparel operations still here but not many. If you're going to do it, you have to do it better. I know a knitting mill that is successful as I've known the owner for years. His knitting machines will produce nearly double what the old machines will and because of how they operate, one operator can handle more machines. He can service the apparel company that is 50 miles from him and his largest customer in ways no one overseas could.
Here's a business that can't move away. T-shirts can be made anywhere. Just knit, die, sew. Simple, right? What about T-shirts for sporting events, like those you see on the shelves immediately after the Super Bowl. You knit the fabric and wait until the last minute to die it. You follow the games. You decide at the start of the playoffs what colors to bet on but you watch closely each round. You're happy if the teams are basic teams using Navy or Blue. You don't want the Redskins to win as maroon isn't one of your main colors and they aren't that popular as a team. The Giants or Cowboys are who you want. You premake enough to ship the day after the game but you must have more within 10 days. I'm not in that business but once knew a girl who was in customer service for a company that was. She and her husband were watching the Super Bowl. She didn't like football and he was shocked she was watching. Also, she had a rooting interest. She told him she was rooting for team x because their color was navy and had tons made and ready since it was a very popular color. She knew the primary and secondary color of every team in the league. The team no one ever wanted to win and so far it hasn't been a risk is the Cleveland Browns. Brown T-Shirts? What would you do with them if they didn't win? And their secondary color of Orange isn't much better. Patriots are great with Nautical Blue. But even better, if they lose, every store in the NE will still sell out, you just screen print at the last minute as AFC Champs or Super Bowl Participants. Some stores have even sold Super Bowl Champion shirts when they lost.
Point is that you can't produce here for what you can elsewhere and freight doesn't equalize light products. But you can take advantage of other things you can do. If I'm producing hundreds of thousands of Levi 501 though I can't afford to do it in the US, if I'm producing a hundred thousand sheets for Marriott, I can't afford to do it in the US.
Doubt there was much in between about boating either. Look, ot don't look for me elsewhere on TF.
Seems the admins need to check the IP Address of "first ever post" Real Economy and Pro Maritime or Boat.
