U WANTED MADE IN U.S.A., or SHINN FU??

Well at first I was pleased to bring to the forum {finally} a line of Automotive, Made in U.S.A., engine stands, lift cranes { cherry pickers } , jack stands etc. The company is Hein-Werner Automotive. Everything was looking good until I saw now a "SFA" company. In the lower left hand corner, there is the meaning of SFA- Shinn Fu Company of America. You folks looking for this type of equipment, check out the site, and draw your own conclusions. Its nice to know its a ISO 9001 graded company, but I doubt these products will be Made In America for much longer. Me personally, I'm pretty much done at this point looking for Made In America for automotive machinary and repair equipment of this type. I hope someone finds some use and benefits from this thread. TR

 

I too can't waste my time looking for Made in America. I have gone on to things that are more likely to happen like looking for Unicorns!

 

It's a shame that American products are almost unheard of anymore. We really dropped the ball on this one.

 

"ISO" gradings are a paper trail.

 

they did a story on the news the other day about the port of Oakland. This is where the containers from overseas are unloaded and put on trucks.

guess what the main thing is being shipped back out??? empty containers.

we don't build anything anymore.

 

Because we can get it cheaper from over there, than we can from building it here. Business is all about profit.

The only time people in (big) business have "ethics" (for lack of a better word) is when they're trying to make everything "eco-friendly."

 

Proud to say I was an arm-set builder for JLG Industries that was located at Weber Rd,Bedford Pa,USA.
They purchased their steel from Canada and only a few pieces from international vendors.All assembly in the USA.
The company is now owned by Osh Kosh and still operating in these fine United States of America.
The machine was traditional as it was an industry first (John L. Grove) and you could hot rod them with a bit of sleighted fine tuning....

 

Trust me, there's only two reasons big business even "cares" about the environment. Government regulations and customer desires. Right now, being "green" is hip and trendy. I'm not saying being green is wrong, but big business doesn't care about being green.

 

I have been contemplating the reissue of my Dodge Dakota based IFS kit for a week or so now. Part of the problem is finding parts to make complete hub to hub kits. I need bushings, cross shafts for the control arms and spindles/brakes and a rack and pinion.

So much of what was available for these got ash-canned with the Daimler buyout and the progressive gutting by FIAT so I have to look to alternative sources to make some of these parts for me.

Take a look at these two catagories, Cast & Forged both on Thomasnet which generally features many US/Canadian companies and Alibaba which features world wide sources

http://www.thomasnet.com/prodsearch.html?cov=NA&which=prod&what=cast+and+forged

http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search...ed+&IndexArea=product_en&ssk=y&fsb=y&Type=BUY

Thomasnet used to be the standard for small industry outsourcing but look at how Alibaba is just killing it. I mean take a look at the manufacturers listed for just China vs US! Mainland China 93,273 listed manufacturers vs 92. And if you click on the USA link you will notice that a fair percentage of those listed "manufacturers" are in fact trading companies and not really manufacturers (outsource). If that doesn't qualify what we have lost I don't know what does.

I really want to try and keep my products US based. It's getting more difficult to do.

So far the biggest request for my kits is to keep the cost of a base crossmember kit under $500.00 and a complete hub to hub kit with brakes, tube arms and coil overs in the 2-3K range. I don't think any of that is possible even if I work for free unless I outsource also.

At least McDonald's is still hiring!

 

Looks to me its time for you an I to team up.

The shipping will be a bitch and we are a long ways apart but cherry pickers and engine stands are not rocket science.

 

Hence the quotations on the word "ethics."

 

Thanks for that contribution ELpolacko, those numbers are STAGGERING!!!! 93,000 plus vs 92, its very, very sad.

 

That is a myopic view of the world my friend, Walmart didn't get as big as it is just by outsourcing goods. Price is king and people are cheap.

Sorry to disagree with you guys on the hip slant of greening the world. It's not as popular as you would be led to believe. The next time you see a company like GE dry humping the green bandwagon, remember who their CEO is and what a sweet deal they get with the gov.

 

I still find all sort of Made in the USA tools. I buy everything I need at auctions, yard sales and flea markets.

Chinese tools are NOT cheaper when you have to buy three of them in the time the Made in the USA one is just getting broke in. I don't know how many Chinese shit jacks I went through before giving up and buying used ones at auction.

 

Actually, Shinn Fu brought Hein Werner, Lincoln, & Marquette production back to the United States from overseas...it happened about four years ago, as I recall.

 

I might have to take a trip out to MO., and take you to a business lunch my friend!! The only problem I see, is you and I arguing what brand engine do we use for the display model. I'm pretty sure we have at least one customer- groucho, a few months back he was looking. Already one unit sold- Who's next???

 

Let's just call them "Made in the USA"

That way if we fail we can blame it on the Govt.

 

Thanks homespun and interesting you say that. The Hein-Werner web-site still has the " Made in USA " logo. I hope for all of the U.S. you are correct. Like anything, It's usually just a matter of time until that old bastard Mr. Greed takes over, and the shareholders sell out. He's kind of like Mr. Grinch, but with a really bad attitude.

 

I'm filing out the forms for a bailout as we speak

 

How about Traditionaly Made in the USA?

 

Seems the only thing built in America now is import cars. Seems most the Japanese car companies have assembly plants to put together parts they build in Japan.
When will the construction kits for homes be imported from China?

 

Johnboy understands it Eco= Profits , not me I run all my carbs fat so I can use as much gas as I can before I die.

 

If I can't find something that is new and made in the USA, I look for the item used.
Slightly OT, but when I call some customer service number and get someone from India or wherever they outsource these call centers, I simply demand I want to speak to someone in the US. It's worked every time.

 

pork-n-beaner, I just received a PM, a nice gentleman asking what we have for sale MADE IN U.S.A., GOD bless him!! The power of the HAMB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You know this retirement thing is getting a little boring?

 

People want "Made in The U.S.A." quality at a "Made in China" price. . . and that's never gonna happen.

I look at it this way, I'll pay more now for a quality item that's made in America that's gonna last. . . instead of paying more when I buy the same cheap tool three times after it keeps breaking. . .

. . .plus I have the satisfaction of knowing that I helped keep a job here in the U.S.

 

Maybe you're right. I'm a college student, and in all of my business courses they really preach on "going green."

Stupid public schools...

 

Maybe I'm making an association between two entirely different things, but I recall that when I was growing up in the 60's, I listened to all of my uncles at every family gathering bragging about how they were making time and a half and double time at their union jobs at the steel mills and railroads by staying late every day and going in on the weekends, but for a lot of those hours they were just there sleeping, reading the newspaper or playing cards.

Later, when I worked at a company that built coal barges & tugboats (under the steelworkers union's umbrella), I was quickly instructed on the way that the union had set up the maximum amount of work that an employee could be given to do on an eight hour shift. It was pitiful. I was making really good money for being there on the job for eight or ten hours, but actually only "working" about four. The rest of the time we'd sleep or play cards or sit by the fire...

Of course, take a look at Pittsburgh now. How many steel mills are there? The company that I worked for went out on strike in 1980 for even MORE money and two years after we got it, the company closed for good. The plant is still sitting there locked up tight and frozen in time just like it was back in 1982. The cranes & buildings are slowly rusting back into the soil.

People want to make a hundred thou a year for doing as little as possible at their jobs, and they want the cheapest price tag that they can get on their consumer goods. The Japanese and Chinese are industrious entrepreneurs just like we USED TO be, and have given us just what we asked for.

But on the OTHER end of the spectrum, it USED TO be that Japanese cars were piles of crap that you drove because you couldn't afford a better-made, AMERICAN-made car. In the eighties and especially the nineties, the smart consumers got tired of knobs breaking off in their hands and having their brand new Cadillac or Dodge in the dealer's shop more than it was at their house and they sought out better engineered, longer lasting cars or trucks. Unfortunately a lot of them were Japanese cas & trucks.

When I worked in northern Illinois I got sick of hearing the endless stories about the slack attitudes and the old "union" mentality that my uncles had that were all over the Belvedere Assembly plant (Dodge / Plymouth Neons were built there in the 90's). Anyone want a used Dodge Neon these days? You just about have to give them away.

I used to be a DIE HARD Dodge truck fan until I did a lot of research before buying my first brand new vehicle back in 2004. Seven of my friends and co-workers all traded in their relatively new Dodge trucks on Toyota's and Nissan's and ALL of them swore that they'd never go back to driving a Dodge because of the vast improvements in quality and reliability that the imports offered. Hate to say it, but I joined that club and bought a Tundra for my wife, and I agree. My Dodge pickup that I use as a work beater has roughly the same mileage on it as my Tundra, but the Dodge is CONSTANTLY needing attention and the Tundra just keeps on rolling. To be fair, I did buy the Dodge used and have no idea how well that it was cared for, but the things that are breaking now really aren't relevant to how well the original owner cared for it.

Bottom line: They saw an opportunity and jumped on it. The sheep all pile into the Wal Marts to buy the inexpensive crap because the American counterpart is too expensive even if it is of similar or better quality (probably a result of the high labor costs to produce a quantity of an item here vs. there?). Cars & trucks went the opposite way. American unions made the workers lazy and careless, and for the same amount of money, or less, you could get a much better car or truck from Toyota or Nissan.

So, stop bragging about sitting on your butt all day at work and doing nothing and getting paid for it. Put out a better product for a similar price and the SMART consumers will beat a path to your door. I don't like dealing with stupid people who don't understand quality or the "price shoppers" anyway.

Just one guy's opinion!

 

I've noticed that a lot of made in china shit is selling at what used to be a made in USA price.
Also beware. Not all things that say made in "America" means made in USA. Some of that stuff comes from Mexico or further south of the border. Still, I'd buy that stuff before I'd buy any crap from China.

 

They just gave you the Indian guy who has an american accent.

 

Actually the people that answered after that identified themselves from a city in the US.