So far, there are a few tower manufacturers left state side, but if you
want a really big or heavy duty crank-up, they are probably made in Europe.
Most antennas now come from across the pond again with just a few
exceptions.
A welder fresh out of a 2 year trade school starts at almost twice the
wages of the average 4 year Liberal Arts degree, so the tower builders
have a good pool to choose from, while most industries need certified
welders. The trade schools provide welders that require little training.
Many of the big names in Ham Radio have either closed their doors, or
have been bought by larger companies because they couldn't compete with
foreign companies on price, quality, and finish. There are a few exceptions.
As I've mentioned in previous posts, the quality of new hires is far
less than 30, or even 20 years ago. Work ethic, attitudes, desire to get
ahead, and the ability to communicate just aren't there. Many expect to
hire in on their desired job and stay there until retirement. I changed
jobs three times in just over 3 years.
I retired 19 years ago, If the slide has continued and I hear no
indication from working friends that it has changed, then today's new
hires must be pretty bad. One PHD Chemist told me that he thinks that is
a fair assessment.
I read that only 16% of US students go for degrees in the STEM fields
and many of those who make it to the degree, come to our doors with poor
attitudes, poor work ethics, poor, or dismal communication skills
whether written or spoken. Then they complain when they can't get a job
yet industries are asking for more green cards. We want those workers
because they want to work. In general they have better attitudes and
work ethics.
Many applicants act like spoiled kids who never bothered to learn how to
communicate.
73
Roger (K8RI) With my Japanese radios, European antennas, and American
made towers
BS in CS and Math minor
On 8/22/2016 Monday 4:01 PM, Patrick Greenlee wrote:
Kudos to you for this terrific commentary. We share the same
opinions, point by point. I voted with my feet at the turn of the
century breaking a 30+ year sojourn in San Diego and moving to Rural
Oklahoma. In my "spare time" I was an adjunct prof teaching S/W Eng
and senior projects in evening classes at the 3rd largest private
university in California. I worked at a large (over 5000 civil
servants) Gov lab. The quality of applicants for scientific and
engineering not to mention Comp Sci was in a death spiral.
Patrick NJ5G
On 7/11/2016 10:06 PM, Grant Saviers wrote:
I would second these views having had plants in the US, Asia, and
Europe. While local politics often "encouraged" local manufacturing,
in the end the most efficient producer environments win. When
countries make it an objective to be competitive on a global scale
and have good leadership they often achieve that goal - witness
Singapore's history.
Engineering as a profession is "too hard" for many US students,
PolySci is easy but then graduates wonder why their jobs are in
retail or food service. A recent major magazine article was about
the "crushing college debt" of many students and their inability to
pay. NOT ONCE did it mention the career choice of the students
profiled - DUH. When I introduced 6-Sigma statistical process
control to my operations and checked on "how is it going?" at a
plant, the plant manager said, "we've hit a snag, we have to teach
much of the workforce how to add and subtract." The failure of US
public education to produce a workforce educated for the jobs of
today is appalling. In Asia, the skills needed were there and the
techniques enthusiastically embraced by the labor force. The "top
5%" are a much larger population besides.
Consider that the Philippines graduates more engineers (5 year
program, accredited) than the USA. There aren't the MIT, Stanford,
or Berkeley PhD level institutions, yet. The degrees granted focus
heavily towards the semiconductor industry (BS/MS EE & CS). Now they
are rapidly up-skilling into test design, design spins, and then
original designs and that work is being off-shored by US companies.
TSMC (Taiwan) didn't become the largest semiconductor company in the
world by accident.
Cheapest labor is less important as automation has reduced the
handwork. Years ago the garment makers realized that computer driven
sewing machines were changing the game. The latest and most
productive machine tools cost the same everywhere in the world and it
is the innovation in them and the workforce skill to optimize their
performance that makes a difference. That takes a very skilled
labor base. Then there are the regulations and bureaucracy. Many
years ago Andy Grove (SK) promised California he would not build
another Intel plant in CA unless the state fixed its bizarre
permitting and tax/regulatory burdens. I had to LOL when the press
and politicians 10 years later bitched that Intel was building all
plants elsewhere. It took me 6 years and many dollars to get a
single family home building permit in Santa Clara County, on a large
property with ZERO issues. Now I don't live in CA. People and
companies can vote with their feet. Especially with the incentives,
skilled labor, low taxes, and streamlined permitting offered by
competing political entities. SiVly is propping up CA finances for
now, watch out when startup stock options aren't "in the money". The
rest of CA is in the tank, just drive through the Central Valley.
I've been buying machine tools and tooling for the last 25 years. The
three most scary words 15 years ago were "Made in India." In the
past year, several items I've purchased had that dreaded marking, but
are first class. Maybe not Hardinge or Starrett level yet, but so
close as to not be important to me. Several of the well known but
lesser brands are now India made.
Grant KZ1W
On 7/10/2016 20:27 PM, Roger (K8RI) on TT wrote:
Overly simplistic with the reasons for ham gear as well as many
products off shore include all the things someone said were
unrelated. Unions, politics, skilled and unskilled labor, work
ethics, unrealistic expectations and attitudes taught all the way
through the school system. Add to that the global market system.
The company I worked for had numerous plants around the US. There
are many states that welcome new industries with minimal regulations
and taxes. Unfortunately the Feds regulations can make starting a
new business anywhere, more than a little difficult.
We had plants on nearly every continent to take advantage of those
"local markets"
"Ham Radio" is no where near a large enough market to support that
kind of business model.
"Off Shore" does not mean junk, but as long as most hams are cheap,
someone, here or there will build and sell "cheap stuff". Let's face
it. If WE didn't purchase enough cheap stuff to support the making
of cheap stuff, then they'd stop making cheap stuff.
You don't need to be very old to remember when Japan was synonymous
with cheap stuff.
Those producing cheap stuff soon learn there is a lot more money in
building "good stuff"
"Cheap labor" has a way of becoming expensive labor.
Japan was replaced by Korea and Mexico. Now why would Japanese
companies start building cars in the US? It doesn't take long for
an open mind to find those answers.
Korean cheap labor is being replaced by Chinese and Indian labor.
A thought:
I read that in another generation or two, India will have more
people with 4 year college degrees than the total US population. Can
China be far behind? They have highly qualified people who WANT to
work, while we have many college grads who want to tell their
employers what they will do. I've seen a drastic change in new hire
attitudes in my 50 plus years in industry
Whoever remarked about the falling # of Hams needs to read
http://www.arrl.org/news/amateur-radio-showing-steady-growth-in-the-us
True, fewer build their own HF and VHF rigs, but LF and SHF are now
the domain of the home builders. OTOH many of the new hams with
store bought equipment understand the programming and protocols for
some very sophisticated communications that leave old time CW and
SSB hams scratching their heads?
All of these things/topics affect Ham Radio, one way or another.!
73
Roger (K8RI)
On 7/9/2016 Saturday 3:55 PM, David Gilbert wrote:
That's a bit simplistic. I spent over 30 years working for a huge
North American based semiconductor company, and there were a
variety of reasons we ended up moving most manufacturing
elsewhere. Labor cost was certainly one of them, but rarely the
deciding factor. Others included:
1. Availability of trained engineers. Places like China and India
have a far greater pool of highly skilled and dedicated engineers,
and engineers in the U.S. tended to think of manufacturing as being
"unglamorous."
2. Proximity to local markets. As the world economy became more
global, being able to be closer to your customer had tremendous
advantages in terms of customer relationships and cycle time
reductions, not to mention trade (many countries lower tax rates
for local content) and currency issues.
3. Bureaucracy and overhead issues. At one point we wanted to
significantly expand a wafer fab locally, but were told by the city
that it would take at least 18 months simply to get the approvals
for it ... in spite of the fact that we had already proposed every
safety and environmental upgrade imaginable for it. Markets don't
wait for that kind of crap, and we ended up having to build the fab
offshore where some other entity actually wanted it.
Other industries faced different issues ... tax burdens in the
U.S., ridiculous union requirements (much less of an issue now, of
course, at least in most places), availability of raw materials,
etc. The problem as many of us recognized even back then was that
once such manufacturing migrations begin they are very difficult to
curb. How many colleges and universities in North America offer
engineering courses specifically geared toward manufacturing? Damn
few, if any. In Asia they are everywhere. Compare tax rates.
Compare transportation costs to major markets (North America is no
longer the only one).
The list of reasons why such "big box" products are built elsewhere
is almost endless, and while it may be convenient to blame the
manufacturers for that it is simply scapegoating. Consumers who
tend to buy the cheapest available product regardless of quality
(and they are still the majority, to which I can attest having
worked for a while at a big box store) share the blame, as do most
other elements of the economic system that ignored cost and
efficiency in favor of other factors. I'd even bet that your own
investment funds lie with companies that make as much profit as
possible, as opposed to some company that tried to fight the system
by paying higher wages, paying higher taxes, training it's own
engineers, paying higher transportation costs ... etc, etc, etc.
Manufacturers mostly follow ... they don't really lead the parade.
I can say with great experience that moving manufacturing offshore
is one of the riskiest, most traumatic actions a manufacturer can
take. It doesn't happen without significant outside pressure from
one place or another.
73,
Dave AB7E
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73
Roger (K8RI)
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