Overseas manufacturing???

This same thing is happening in the watch world. I am a watch collector and moderate a Suunto collecting website. Suunto has always made its product in its factories in Finland. But when they came out with their Core model (a higher end model), they moved the production to China. I think there were some bad apples in the first run which soured many collectors.

But the company had a similar philosophy to what Sal expressed earlier. Most of the line is still made in Finland. They also remained steadfast in their production quality levels. And last but not least... they stood behind any products that experienced a glitch.

Im afraid this is simply the way things are done now. We are a global economy, like it or not. Manufacturing will likely be done elsewhere but if the company stands behind its tools and the quality is still there, and they dont simply ship all manufacturing overseas, then maybe its just life in 2011.

On the other hand I do still think about this a lot. Im not suggesting its "ok".... but maybe it can be done right. Sounds like Sal has done it right. :)
 
I'll add one more thing. a Royalty sized percentage of each Sage sold goes to Alzheimner's research in the USA.

sal
 
if i ain't wrong, the golden age of japanese-made production knife imports began in the 1980's.
numerous cutlery had been outsourced by US-based companies then because the exchange was right, but more importantly the weren't many outfits statesside which could match the price and quality of those imports.
one might even be of the opinion that a number of US-based companies built their success through brilliant american marketing, as most had their start basically through importation and their core products are still very much outsourced as this is the basis of their business model.
 
Yeah i know it is a great knife but i will gladly as will many americans pay a little extra to help ourselves. What ever happened to having some pride in ourselves instead of pushing china and other countries to bettere themselves and put them on the fasttrack to being ahead of us in the global economy. Sure i know business is business and the little guy like me wont change how most companies do business but in the end its my .02
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I've served my country and am a patriotic american. I'd still give my life for it yet I wouldn't pay an extra penny for an American made knife. When it's the best knife for the money, sure. When the knife I want is cheaper somewhere else than that's the knife I'll buy. Whoever earns and deserves my money is who will get it.

I grew up in a place where the american workers and unions drove the american business out with pure greed and yes, lousy work ethic. I saw it happening in front of my eyes. Nope, no free money from me to a worker just because he's american. Let them earn it like everybody else in the world does. Joe/raleigh
 
The Mastiff said:
I've served my country and am a patriotic american. I'd still give my life for it yet I wouldn't pay an extra penny for an American made knife. When it's the best knife for the money, sure. When the knife I want is cheaper somewhere else than that's the knife I'll buy. Whoever earns and deserves my money is who will get it.
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But at what cost? I can appreciate that the unions may have hurt the NC textile industry (though I think there were a lot of other factors at work), but do you want to turn our country into China, where they have made the environment in parts uninhabitable for the sake of low production costs?

One of the big shifts in textiles for shirts was the move to non-iron, which you can't make here because of environmental concerns. Would you have rathered NC lose its beautiful environment and become a place so polluted that the groundwater is poisoned and it is actually hard to run long distances because of the air quality (I'm not saying no-iron shirts are responsible for this, but just pointing out that this is a reality in parts of the world that have insufficient laws/ignore their own laws for the sake of low production costs)? I'm not one of those greenie meanies, but there is a limit. A good example is solar panels, which are far cheaper to make in China...because the solar panel factories there dump toxic waste just outside the factory gates.

Then you have to look at the actual cost differences. There was a study a while back that compared New Balance's China-made shoes to the higher end US-made shoes. They looked at all costs involved, and found a difference of only a little more than $4/pair of shoes. As it turned out, the China-made shoes are, whoops, made in sweatshops. Is $4/pair savings worth paying children $0.40/hr to work 10 hour shifts in a factory?

These are the things we would have to do to make our labor costs competitive. Do you think it'd be worth ruining our society for the savings?
 
But at what cost? I can appreciate that the unions may have hurt the NC textile industry (though I think there were a lot of other factors at work), but do you want to turn our country into China, where they have made the environment in parts uninhabitable for the sake of low production costs?
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I grew up in a different state. I moved here to find a job at lower wages rather than take handouts. All else is getting too political and most certainly not suitable for this section of BF.

The rest of your post really sounds like slogans given to you and repeated, commentary to cut and paste here.

Sweat shops and environmental concerns aren't the issue anyway.

I'm curious. Do you have fantasies about being smarter than others? You sounded more like a person lecturing a school kid, not someone dialoging with one likely older and more experienced than them. joe/raleigh
 
I guess I did go off on a bit of a tangent, but the way I got these is that to me sweathshops and environmental concerns are the reason I'm generally opposed to overseas manufacturing in certain countries.

I didn't do any copy and pasting.

And no, no delusions of grandeur. Maybe a pedantic personality, or a generally poor e-attitude, but no delusions.
 
It's always intersting to watch a thread about a Taiwan made Sage gravitate to "sweatshops" in China" and "child labor" and "lost jobs". :rolleyes:

sal
 
My new Chokwe just got delivered and the "Taiwan" stamp on the tang is a statement of quality and superb F&F as is the Spydie logo on the other side.

I too was extremely disturbed by the "Taiwan" stamp on my first Sage. The first words out of my mouth was basically, "WTF?" but time and experience using the Sage 1 and Sage 2 soon disproved my prejudices. All the other models from Taiwan has further re-enforced my expectations.

When it comes to my Spyderco knives and tea, I welcome "Taiwan" on the label.
 
Sal Glesser said:
It's always intersting to watch a thread about a Taiwan made Sage gravitate to "sweatshops" in China" and "child labor" and "lost jobs". :rolleyes:

sal
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To be fair, I got there only in response to "When the knife I want is cheaper somewhere else than that's the knife I'll buy," which, if extended to all purchases in general, gets you to where I went. I in no way intended to imply anything about Spyderco.
 
I'm just giving you sh*t Speed. Don't take it personal. It seems that I've read so many of the political arguments for and against China in the past 6 months that come out of Taiwan Spyderco discusions, it's discouraging.

If anyone wants to LEARN more about China and how it relates to America, the world, jobs and money, I could probably shed some light. But, better in it's own thread.

Taiwan is not China.

sal
 
Sal Glesser said:
I'm just giving you sh*t Speed. Don't take it personal. It seems that I've read so many of the political arguments for and against China in the past 6 months that come out of Taiwan Spyderco discusions, it's discouraging.

If anyone wants to LEARN more about China and how it relates to America, the world, jobs and money, I could probably shed some light. But, better in it's own thread.

Taiwan is not China.

sal
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That is so true. :thumbup:

I would like to hear your thoughts on China though. :)
 
Sal Glesser said:
I'm just giving you sh*t Speed. Don't take it personal. It seems that I've read so many of the political arguments for and against China in the past 6 months that come out of Taiwan Spyderco discusions, it's discouraging.

If anyone wants to LEARN more about China and how it relates to America, the world, jobs and money, I could probably shed some light. But, better in it's own thread.

Taiwan is not China.

sal
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Oh, I don't mind, I just want to set the record straight. I'd hate for someone to walk away with the impression that Spyderco does the stuff I talked about because of any lack of clarity in my post.

I can't be blamed for seeing Taiwan and thinking about China though. Even our own government thinks they're the same thing! :rolleyes:
 
The thing that just slays me is that most of those complaining about knives (and other things) made in "China" can't even identify the difference between Taiwan and China. There are lots of issues related to the global and national economies, but there is no favorable future scenario for the US that does not include a well-educated workforce.
 
I can't be blamed for seeing Taiwan and thinking about China though. Even our own government thinks they're the same thing!
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You couldn't be more wrong about that if you tried. More to the point, you sure can't stay on it. :)
 
The Mastiff said:
You couldn't be more wrong about that if you tried. More to the point, you sure can't stay on it. :)
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Uh...
it's a joke guys....
I guess maybe it's frowned upon here, but in general forums I've been on don't mind going OT once the OP has gotten his answer. I'll cease and desist.

And yes, I realize saying that I'll cease and desist is in fact going OT. Sorry.
 
maybe what a lot of knifenuts haven't figured it out as yet;
is that one needs to fully automate to be competitive in the global context.
when hot orders come, buyers want it instantly.
and the chinese of all trades people, truly understand that machines replicate way much faster than what's to be expected from a traditional labour intensive workforce.
it's going to come as shocking news to many that sweat shops in the cutlery industry is a thing of the past...
brutally efficient production methods, especially in lowering the production cost has and will always be a chinese specialty.
(think greatwall and railroads!)
so it's in every individual's financial incentive to seek personal gain and not because of slave labour that one may find the entire workforce happily toiling away past overtime.
because if you let them work on, they surely would, and it's only because that each and every worker is industrious enough to place whatever wages they so earn above all other physical concerns that might otherwise be the cause of great personal inconvenience to everyone else in the entire world because in china, where millions live, personal wealth is prestige and it's money culture that creates one's social standing.
it is quite literary, the only thing that absolutely matters on this earth for all levels of chinese society.
ask any economic migrant why they had chosen to leave their homeland...
it's because they are ready for any job that citizens of their new homeland aren't willing to do any longer for want of better perks or viewed shameful to be publically seen doing.
 
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