I have a few thoughts on this, but I may be wrong. Or I hope I'm wrong.
I've watched Schrade, Camillus go away, as did Western. Case had to lay off some workers not long ago. There used to be a lot of manufacure in this country, and we made some of the best stuff there was. But times have changed.
When I was growing up, there was this America, where a man was proud to make something, and he did the best he could. If he was a carpenter, he was the best carpenter he couild be. If he was a factory worker, he was the the best one he could be. Oh sure, there was some slackers about, but on the whole, people used to take pride in what they were doing. Key words, used to.
The old time work ethic is a fast disappearing thing. Today, it seems like every little twerp wants to walk out of school and into a 80 grand a year job sitting in an office pushing buttons on a computer. Nobody wants to get their hands dirty working a blue collar factory job. Today in America, a blue collar job is kind of a shameful thing to have. The young guys who are the next generation want to drive the one of the top five luxury cars, live in a house 5 times bigger than they need, and be the guy on TV.
To get the people to work in factory jobs now, they need to be paid over blown saleries, and that makes the product more expensive. Because of the American life style, we can no longer compete with countries that are hungry. That;s why things are the way they are. The 'other' countries are the hungry up and comers, while we've been sitting on our collective butts basking in past glory. The Romans did that, and it didn't work well on the long run.
American corporate types need to stop making totally outrageous sallaries with more millions in stock options, and take a lot of the profit money and put it back into the business by way of new machines. Companies need to have the absolute lastest in the high speed CNC machining centers if we are going to compete with anyone. Somebody on this thread made mention of Victorinox. There is a great example. When the Leatherman tool came out, and multitools started to push sak;s out of the knife/tool nitch, Victorinox made a decision to put a record amount of money into new machines. The latest of the new generation of CNC machine centers. This enabled them to make more knives per day, at a lower cost per unit, so they could compete in the market. On the other hand, at Schrade and Camillus, the pictures of the equiptment being hauled out of the factory was sad. Old, long out of date machines that were so worn, I wonder if they could have held a tolerance of plus or minus 1/8 of an inch. I'm only joking a little. It was pretty bad. The ruling bosses at Schrade just closed up Ellenville and retired to whatever luxury home in Palm Beach they had. No skin off their noses.
I see companies like Queen going the same way. They keep sending out dull knives that haven't even been sharpened, knives with poor QC. Oh sure, send it back and they'll fix it. But how long can it be till they get a reputation of being a crap shoot; when they're good, their very good. But when they're bad, they suck. People won't keep buying from a company long that way. If all you want is a traditional knife to cut something, a Rough Rider can be had for a fraction of the cost, with no extra charge for the gaps or loose blades. And do you think there are Chinese workers over there going tink, tink, tink, with their little cuttler hammers? NO, they are using the lastest CNC machines to make very exacting close to spec parts that need very little hand fitting to go together. A few gaps here and there don't matter, because they are going for the lower end market that most non knife knut obsessed people go to when they just want a pocket knife to cut something.
But all this does not matter, because America is no longer a hands on skilled worker society. People don't care. The guys I know who own a gun shop here tell me that sometimes half of a U.S. made gun shipment has to go back for warrente work that got out of the factory. I was shown one revolver that got shipped without even a firing pin in it! Real good QC there! No wonder everyone goes to Glock's and SIG's.
We have to start with the next generation, and teach them some sort of work ethic. bThat it's okay to be like our fathers and grandfatheres. To be a welder or brick layer, or factory worker. That a new Chevy Impala or new Ford is okay. That you don't have to ahve the Lexus and 10,000 square foot home with 4 car garage and swiming pool. That they don't have to be the people on the TV. Or we're finished.
Carl.
