Ed Kelly posted:The economics of this situation is not lost on me but there are locations in this great country where wage rates are low. Why can't the design and production be brought back? Just think of the cost savings in travel to the Orient and back to check on design and production and, of course, the cost of shipping back to the the USA. Seems workable to me. It is up to Atlas, Sunset and others to work out the details and to determine actual feasibility. But a closed factory seems like reason enough to explore the possibility.
Ed
It's happening in the plastic kit industry. A new company has started and is 100% made in USA. The design, tooling, manufacture, packaging ALL done in southern California!!!! Now the price is about 16% more than the China produced kits.......but cost of a totally new start-up needs to be taken into account.
And yes....development time went from 2-3 years for a kit from China to just shy of 12 months for USA kit. I know a powered loco with multiple PC boards, assembled and painted is a apple to orange compare....but it does shine light it can be done stateside.
