Irwin Tools is going to be making Vice Grips in China

beau5278

beau5278

Joined
Jun 7, 2007
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In case anybody is interested and wants to stock up on Vice Grips while they are still made in the US,Irwin Tools just announced that they are closing the plant in Dewitt,Nebraska that has made Vice Grips for the past 87 years and is going to be making them in China.I just sent Irwin tools an email telling them what I think of their decision.:thumbdn::grumpy::mad:Here's the articlehttp://journalstar.com/articles/2008/09/03/news/business/doc48be9f5d68146877416499.txt
 
While I understand your unhappiness with the decision, we are going to ahve to come to grips with ever-increasing Chinese manufacture. As their quality control improves -- particularly under the watchful eye of foreign interests, such as American companies overseeing production of their products in China -- they are making large gains and are poised to make larger ones. This is good for consumers wishing to buy an inexpensive import product of decent quality (such as the CRKT imported knives) but of course makes things more difficult for those few American manufacturers who remain to compete.
 
F -- that, I am glad I haVE enough to last the rest of my time here. I feel sad for anyone younger growing up....that is for sure. Phil I like your posts and glad your back but I do not have to come to grips with sh1t
 
It ends when it becomes prohibitively expensive to ship stuff here and/or when China lets go of the dollar as a basis of their currency value (then the goods become too expensive).


But, China will suck as much know-how as it can from us and every other country dumb enough to give it.

China, unlike many "third world nations" seems to have the will to succeed.

"That sucking you here is American jobs being lost" or some such.
 
Amusing responses from my fellow forumites.
Irwin are top notch people for holding out this long- don't you agree?
Tsk Tsk- the Made in China syndrome. One member asks "Where the hell does this crap end?!" Easy answer is it ends when we're ready to:
1) Stop consuming so much stuff
2) Start paying our own people what they're worth
3) Spend less time attacking foreigners and spend more time exporting to them.
#1) is the biggest problem and lest you think it's just us, it's not. Many Western Countries have outsourced much manufacture to Chindia.
See, in the 'old days' A person only needed so much 'stuff' to get buy. Now, NOPE! Gotta have a COLLECTION of everything and a house to hold it all. The minute we stop collecting toys, the jobs will come back.
 
Well, it's a bummer that more American jobs are being sent to China, but face it, Vice Grips are crap anyway. Great idea, crappy product.
 
Planterz said:
Well, it's a bummer that more American jobs are being sent to China, but face it, Vice Grips are crap anyway. Great idea, crappy product.
Click to expand...

Gotta admit I prefer Knipex and Facom products, but Vice-Grips work well when welding and such.
 
I have a pair of 6" Vise Grips (note that vice is something naughty...) that I've owned for about 40 years. Wonderful tool.

I'm of the same mind as Moodino; soon the Chinese will want better wages and benefits, and the shipping prices will become prohibitive due to the fuel costs.
 
Guys, I know it seems bad, and in many ways, it is. I do, however, firmly believe that the key to better relations with China in the future, as well as an opening up of China's gods-awful totalitarian state, rests in trade between the two nationss. The more we become economically intertwined, the less likely we are to go to war with eachother over future resource tensions (which is a very real possibility).
 
I'm for economically intertwined - with other nations dependent upon our goods and services.

Doesn't seem bad, it is bad. There is no such thing as a successful economy that does not export more value than it imports. But that is another issue.
 
China bashing, India bashing, etc. needs to be viewed in a less biased way. I feel for the people loosing jobs to the Pacific Asian regions. Chinese, Indian, and other nations have recently had a reputation for bad quality but, that is changing.

It wasn't that long ago that Japan was known for poor quality cars and other goods and now they are a world standard in many ways. In more recent times, Korea has come on strong with high quality cost effective products.

In broad general terms, we Americans consume a disproportionate share of everything. The basic fact of most of these foreign import/export and bashing issues it that WE BUY their stuff of our own free will and ignore our local companies. Wal-Mart didn't become the giant it has selling locally produced items. Wal-Mart is driven by low prices and that can be seen on every label of every item you buy with countries of origin being largely from China but also from other areas of the world with low price points. We American's are driving this behavior with our disposable high consumption lifestyle.

If we adopted a more European lifestyle where we paid a little more to buy quality and durability, kept and used the item much longer to offset the higher INITIAL price, we too could support our local companies and people. Until OUR lifestyle and spending habits change, we will not see a major change.
 
The famous London taxis are going to be made in China.

At present 3,000 taxis a year are manufactured in Great Britain - by hand! Hand welding, hand painting, etc.

The new factory in China will manufacture 6,000 taxis a year - using robots.

Jeep, Ford and General Motors are spending billions to build factories in China and yet they are looking for a hand-out from the US government to keep their operations going here in the USA.

Crazy world.
 
At some point in the future, I expect the US will become cheaper to make stuff in than China so the Chinese will export all the manufacturing jobs back to the US but I think the pay might not be too good.
 
Choke Spew! Cough cough! "Vice Grips are crap anyway" Well there are interesting alternatives NOW but for 20 years they allowed us to perform feats no other tool could. So what compels you to say they're crap? I still have all 5 of my vice grips and they'll keep performing long after I'm gone.:mad:

Planterz said:
Well, it's a bummer that more American jobs are being sent to China, but face it, Vice Grips are crap anyway. Great idea, crappy product.
Click to expand...
 
Well. I partly agree with you on principle.Surely it makes sense that trade is the peace-pipe that goes around the campfire. Arrogant trade, however, has a way of coming back to bite the concessionaire. Japan springs to mind. We showed Japan how to make ashtrays so our Vets could have them to fill with ashes from their victory cigars after the WWII. Took Japan no more than 30 years to eat our lunch. Germany the same. China will eat everyone's lunch if we're not careful. It's not the trade that we do so much as the arrogance with which we construct foreign policy and the dubious judgments that trade negotiators arrive at in negotiations. Iraq is another example. We suckered ourselves into believing that Saddam was gonna be our good whipping boy after we helped him defeat Iran. Look at what that's cost in the end. We need better diplomats and trade negotiators. Then the China equation will profit us as well as them.


Sharp Phil said:
Guys, I know it seems bad, and in many ways, it is. I do, however, firmly believe that the key to better relations with China in the future, as well as an opening up of China's gods-awful totalitarian state, rests in trade between the two nationss. The more we become economically intertwined, the less likely we are to go to war with eachother over future resource tensions (which is a very real possibility).
Click to expand...
 
Moodino said:
Then the China equation will profit us as well as them.
Click to expand...

The "China equation" as it stands now does profit us. We get to buy quality Chinese-made locking pliers cheaper than we could buy equivalent American-made locking pliers.

The Chinese have the ability to make as high quality products as anybody in the world. This is particularly true for simple products such as hand tools. Assuming Irwin makes quality a priority the Shenzhen products will almost certainly be as good as the DeWitt products. Better, if they invest in new tooling.
 
fishbulb said:
The "China equation" as it stands now does profit us. We get to buy quality Chinese-made locking pliers cheaper than we could buy equivalent American-made locking pliers.

The Chinese have the ability to make as high quality products as anybody in the world. This is particularly true for simple products such as hand tools. Assuming Irwin makes quality a priority the Shenzhen products will almost certainly be as good as the DeWitt products. Better, if they invest in new tooling.
Click to expand...

I disagree. Quality tools from China are no cheaper than their American made counterpart. Look at a pair of Kobalt brand linesman pliars next to a pair of Kleins. They both cost $30+ a pair, but the kobalts are made in china. I carry kleins. Its not until you get into mid or entry level stuff that the chinese are cheaper.
I buy quite a few tools, and I almost exclusively use American made. In many cases, its just a matter of looking harder instead of spending more. I bought a new johnson aluminum rafter square last weekend for about $6, made in the USA. I might be able to buy one at harbor freight for $4, but why?
Craftsmen screwdrivers can be had in sets averaging about $1 a piece, they're garaunteed for life and the last 2 sets I bought were made in USA.

You're not talking a huge investment and you're getting tools that were made by workers earning fair wages who just might be your neighbor. If you really want reasonable quality tools you're not getting any bargains from china.
 
Matt Shade said:
If you really want reasonable quality tools you're not getting any bargains from china.
Click to expand...

I disagree. The set of Chinese made ball-type impact swivels that I bought at Harbor Freight for less than ten bucks have performed flawlessly after more than two years of regular heavy usage.

This is a fraction of what they would cost from a US manufacturer, and the quality certainly appears to be equivalent. This is not an isolated case.

Do you not consider this to be a bargain?
 
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