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Best of luck but to be very honest with you the only real thing I think you may accomplish is raising the price of bicycles...
However if you have any questions regarding the tooling and machinery moving costs associated with set up or the set up of full scale production please feel free to contact me. One of the largest hidden costs of a project like this is the cost of tooling that everyplace else already has in place. Often times this can be offset by purchasing used equipment but due to the fact that so much is done overseas the cost of transport will be a massive issue.
If you are talking about the prevalence of plastic vs all metal low end components, or the high ratio of department store-quality bikes sold in the U.S., or the lack of proper installation and assembly of said bikes (or even those sold through IBDs), then I would agree with you -- but those aren't manufacturing issues.
Sam Van Dellen said:
One of the many reasons that I think this or something like it MUST happen is that quality standards are plummeting in the bicycle industry.
I'll respectfully disagree with this statement insofar as manufacturing is concerned. What metric are you using? Many Taiwanese and Chinese factories are ISO 9001 compliant. The aluminum and cromoly alloys of today are much more reliable than twenty or thirty years ago. And of course even low end component finish work is much improved.If you are talking about the prevalence of plastic vs all metal low end components, or the high ratio of department store-quality bikes sold in the U.S., or the lack of proper installation and assembly of said bikes (or even those sold through IBDs), then I would agree with you -- but those aren't manufacturing issues.
Sam Van Dellen said:One of the many reasons that I think this or something like it MUST happen is that quality standards are plummeting in the bicycle industry.
What I am specifically talking about is the quality of frame assembly and low to mid range components. We have had, in the past year, to create a warranty manager position to deal with the volume of bikes we need to get our manufacturers to deal with.
My intention with the labor aspect is to take a two-prong approach. I am going to aim directly at the entire population of the United States and start an ad campaign that 1. Raises the perceived value of the bicycle, and 2. Makes the support of the bicycle industry a national goal, a patriotic purchase if you will. My intent is to get workers paid what they deserve the world round, not take low paying jobs and bring them to America.
Sam, what do you mean by paying workers what they deserve world round? A decent living wage can vary by an order of magnitude or more in different countries. As an example, 80k a year will give someone a fairly good living in someplace like memphis but the same salary doesn't go as far in san francisco.
I'm not sure how much of a typical bike's costs go to labor but if it's significant then it'll be tough to compete against companies using asian outsourcers even if the asian workers are paid enough to give them a better standard of living than us workers.
One of the reasons Detroit calls for this so strongly is that there is so much left over from the big auto, although not everything will transfer over. One of the many reasons that I think this or something like it MUST happen is that quality standards are plummeting in the bicycle industry. If companies and employees had as their primary goal to provide every customer with an awesome bike, knew their labors were valued, and that it was worth taking the time, I really believe we could turn around the QC problem. Also, my goal is not merely to produce bikes in the US, but to give Detroit a way to once again be an integral part of the US economy. One of my goals is to give Detroit the tools it needs to transform itself, with jobs for everyone who wants one. If real money is flowing into Detroit, the city can revitalize, rebuild, and have infrastructure that will be people friendly, not just car friendly. I see this not just as an opportunity for Detroit, but a model for lots of rust-belt cities. I see a future where youth are trained in manufacturing, not just burger flipping and paper pushing. Any of the aspects of my plan taken on their own would fail. The broader vision is why I see this as a real possibility, as something that can and will alter the way we operate in this country.
notoriousDUG said:Best of luck but to be very honest with you the only real thing I think you may accomplish is raising the price of bicycles...
However if you have any questions regarding the tooling and machinery moving costs associated with set up or the set up of full scale production please feel free to contact me. One of the largest hidden costs of a project like this is the cost of tooling that everyplace else already has in place. Often times this can be offset by purchasing used equipment but due to the fact that so much is done overseas the cost of transport will be a massive issue.
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