Why be proud to be a manufacturer in the USA? Besides keeping more workers employed during a difficult financial time, it is an important part of a company's success in each venture to be able to accurately produce what the customer wants - exactly. Although keeping manufacturing facilities open and busy is not always easy, we believe we must operate where we have the most control over the manufacturing process and materials.
Most of our custom buyers are also resident in the United States, so it makes sense to manufacture close by to have ready access to the client. Any kind of custom manufacture needs open and easy communication between the factory, the end users and any other interested parties, like the corporate office, engineering or design firms. Communication in the manufacturing is the key to making design and material decisions or changes in a timely manner. Imagine trying to access a factory on the other side of the globe when the specifications change at the last minute on a short run of production! Language barriers become obstacles that are difficult to overcome when there are deadline pressures. If the product has to be shipped from a great distance, it is critical that it arrives undamaged and completely conforming to the specifications. Often there are problems with delivery, with damage, and with the product quality. This is the greatest reason to use a manufacturer who can work with your needs in a timely manner, even when there are last minute changes in materials or other specifications. When time and quality are of the essence, better to speak a common language to be able to explain the deadline.
Custom manufacture often requires sophisticated labor skills that take years to develop. Having an experienced work force is a critical factor for short run production because the products must to properly designed and constructed with very little error. In a mass production situation, the learning process might produce several hundred products that are not of the best quality - some of those products may still make their way into your shipment, even though they could be flawed. A smaller production run in an experienced factory must be able to product the highest quality of product very quickly in order to keep their manufacturing losses to an acceptable level. Once your order is shipped to you, if there are any problems with the parts, you can immediately begin to work with the manufacturer to correct any problems. It is a usual practice to ship a sample to the customer to sign off on before the entire production run is completed.
Materials and labor can be much cheaper outside of the country. This has persuaded many companies to close their American manufacturing facilities and to start production relationships with companies in countries which offer lower employee costs and material costs. Some American manufacturers have suffered dramatic loss of patronage from American consumers because of the use of slave and child labor in foreign factories. This is one of the risks of taking jobs out of the USA and sending them to other countries. Another risk is the one that faces many American companies today: the workers that were laid off due to these manufacturing decisions can no longer afford to buy these products even though they were cheaper to manufacture. The prices for these products often stay at about the level making larger profits for the company - except their customers no longer have jobs and income to buy those products. In many market segments, companies have cut the legs out from under their own sales by reducing the ability of their market to purchase their goods Whatnews.
As a manufacturer, one has to be sure that the materials that are used for the products are both of a sufficient quality and can be reliably duplicated in a foreign manufacturing plant. Unreliability of the quality and "same-ness" of the raw materials can cause tremendous problems when the products are distributed. For instance, if a fabric is to be dyed before construction of a garment, but the quality of each dye run is not consistent, manufacturing the garment will not be a smooth process. This example can be applied to many different raw products: metals, fabrics, glass, food stuffs, and hardware to name a few.
An American manufacturer is committed to keeping workers working, to giving customers consistent high quality products that conform to their specifications, at a reasonable price. These commitments make sense in a company that typically manufactures custom goods in small or short runs. We can be proud to be able to keep our factory open, our workers busy and our customers happy, and to display the sign: Made in the USA.
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