Having done business over there for many years now, usually things happen for straight forward reasons and not conspirical, government blaa blaa (is that a real word?) reasons.
I met with KK on two separate occasions over the last 8 years. Once in Hong Kong to see if we could use them as a new builder and recently a social visit when he was here in California.
He's a straight forward guy, in his 60s now. We discussed the in's and out's of manufacturing in China. KK is Canadian and speaks english fluently. I think his family lives here in CA too.
From my other contacts in China I know that local governments are making sweeps of small businesses that support these factories (Etching, Plating, Painting) to make sure they are not violating new EPA style rules. In some cases they shut down these small business permanently. This was causing the remaining subcontractors to raise their prices, making all these models more expensive to make anywhere in China.
AFFA tech was not immune to this. I think i remember KK telling me me that they had a forced shut down for 3 months due to these kind of issues. But you never know the real reason. It could have been cash flow, or owing subs who won't cooperate until you pay them in full. I doubt it is a government conspiracy over trade issues.
So I read KK decided to throw in the towel or retire. I think there is a good chance that an internal manager or several employees will open their own factory and continue to support those left in the lurch. Why wouldn't they? There's money to be made. If I were any of these importers affected I would run over there and camp out of a few weeks. Get a translator and meet with as many employees / managers as they can to secure their tooling / parts / drawings, what ever they can. You can have it moved, stored nearby, people there are generally honest, kind and helpful.
I wish them the best.
Scott Mann
