- Joined
- Jan 4, 1999
- Messages
- 3,000
Man, talk about a lot of misinformation. Camillus's problems did not stem from the Union. They stemmed from a hundred year old business model driven primarily by OEM manufacturing. You can't keep all these OEM customers happy making knives in the U.S. that they can buy in China for a fraction of the price. And OEM manufacturing was always Camillus' main business. Knives with their brand on it were a minority of the products they made. You don't change a business model quickly or easily. They weren't the victim of union or management. They were a victim of changes in the world that caused what they do to become obsolescent.
The fact that it is still in business also has nothing to do with the union. It has to do with management's desire to save it and save at least part of its manufacturing heritage.
The union workers at Camillus are currently at work making knives, not repackaging knives made by "slave labor." The first production run was the Becker 7. They are readily available for the first time in a long time.
There will be no more Cold Steel Carbon V. All of those products are moving to Taiwan and China and will be made of 1095 carbon steel or an equivalent. I'm sure Cold Steel will never do business with Camillus again. I won't get into the details.
My own opinion is that Camillus would have done well to abandon manufacturing completely. Instead they decided to downsize and that, folks, is a benefit to the union workers that have been recalled. It is a gutsy decision and a hard one to manage to success. If they had done what I thought they should have done, there wouldn't be a union worker left at all.
As it stands now, Camillus has lost most of its major OEM customers - Cold Steel, Remington and others. Their product line is decimated since they can't get anywhere near the production capacity they once had. It is a hard uphill struggle from this point forward. I wish them well. They are an American knife making institution and deserve our help and encouragement. Bad mouthing them won't help anybody.
The fact that it is still in business also has nothing to do with the union. It has to do with management's desire to save it and save at least part of its manufacturing heritage.
The union workers at Camillus are currently at work making knives, not repackaging knives made by "slave labor." The first production run was the Becker 7. They are readily available for the first time in a long time.
There will be no more Cold Steel Carbon V. All of those products are moving to Taiwan and China and will be made of 1095 carbon steel or an equivalent. I'm sure Cold Steel will never do business with Camillus again. I won't get into the details.
My own opinion is that Camillus would have done well to abandon manufacturing completely. Instead they decided to downsize and that, folks, is a benefit to the union workers that have been recalled. It is a gutsy decision and a hard one to manage to success. If they had done what I thought they should have done, there wouldn't be a union worker left at all.
As it stands now, Camillus has lost most of its major OEM customers - Cold Steel, Remington and others. Their product line is decimated since they can't get anywhere near the production capacity they once had. It is a hard uphill struggle from this point forward. I wish them well. They are an American knife making institution and deserve our help and encouragement. Bad mouthing them won't help anybody.
