Folks:
This was from the June newsletter.
Just a quick-buck importer now, I guess. Bah. It’s Accurail for me from now on.
What one generation builds up, the next knocks down. It happens in so many companies. Now it’s happened to Bowser. I guess, looking back, you can see it coming. Well, let another take their place.
too bad, i really liked their freight car kits. i won’t be buying any more of them. glad i have enough stuff on the shelf to last me for the rest of my life. still have a bunch of unbuilt kits with american flag stickers on the boxes. guess it was all hype anyway. about the only things i buy anymore are kadee couplers and consumables like paint and glue. with walthers becoming the walmart of model railroading and another american manufacturer going out of the country i guess about all we can make in this county now is babies.
grizlump
OK, now what? Everyone goes to China to get their mfg’ing done? Well, probably they’ll find the same issues that a lot of others are now finding. That the QC issue will bite them hard.
This actually is not all that surprising but it does irritate me that the only solution anyone finds is running out of the N.A. sphere and going to the Pacific Rim countries. Maybe the process is cheaper( pay about 10% of the pay here) but the question will end up being will the QC take a hit? It may–depending on how far down the food cycle they go. Environmental law may be the other reason they left although that kind of makes me wonder. There are a number of excuses, I mean reasons[:-^] for doing the deed aren’t there?[:-^] And, yes, Accurail will benefit from this. If one wants to continue buying from N.A. companies keep on top of the situation—there may not be so many if this rigmarol pops up more–
Watch for the developments people----[sigh][:-^]
Other than Accurail, Kadee, and Exact Rail, what brands are there today that are not of Chinese manufacture?
There was an article in Model Railroad News a few months ago about a Chinese company named Sanda Kan that manufactures over 50 different brand names for the U.S. model market, so this is probably who Bowser has turned to.
Gosh, I guess Bowser just can’t win. They should fold up.
First they announced that they weren’t getting the orders for steam kits, so that part of the operation would cease. Hew and cry! Hew and cry! Gnashing of teeth and wearing of sackcloth. Long and loud lamentations from those who had demured for years and now had lost their chance to build one single kit.
So, Bowser relents a bit and tries to keep that part of the operation going, but announces they’ll have to change “something”…and that will have to be to move production to PRC. Now, folks indulge themselves the same way with the tearing of hair and wearing of sackcloth lamenting that Bowser has sold them out.
Really, they should just hang it up, take their money and run. They owe nothing to the ingrates.
-Crandell
I was shocked when I get this bit of news in the email today. I can’t see how an established company that already owns the machinery and molds can find it cheaper to outsource to China. I am new to the injection molding industry and I don’t believe raw materials are any cheaper in China either. And let’s face it, injection molding is not real labor intensive.
I do wonder if their is actually a capacity problem in the U S. I know hard to believe but there does appear to be a growing industry in China of mold production, maybe Bowser can’t find the mold maker’s in this country that are required for the newer detailed models. That would explain why Exact Rail is entering the market possibly, they started out designing and making molds for other manufacturers.
Or heck, maybe I’m just exhausting steam and smoke…
Chris
selector:
Nice accusation, but wrong. Also, that’s “hue and cry”.
The facts are that Bowser saw this sudden demand for kits, and took the opportunity to assemble and sell a few H9s out of leftover spare parts. Their newsletter says as much. B6 kits are next. That’s what happened to the kits. That much I had guessed before, and the letter only verified it. It’s a way to quickly wrap up the need to support kit buyers with parts, as much as possible, and earn a few bucks. “Take the money and run” is exactly what it is, in effect. Nothing unusual.
Now here is my theory.
I don’t think Lee English was that interested in Bowser as they were. The kits have been de-emphasized by stages ever since he took over. What we are seeing Bowser become now, an importer of limited-run plastic like every other company, is probably what his vision was from day one.
It’s a low-down shame that all the hard work Lew and Shirley did in building up the place is now come to this. It’s a sad day for the workers who were undoubtedly given their walking papers when this came about. It’s a small company, but they DID something, and that’s becoming a quality to be valued and treasured nowadays.
Because American labor is one of the most expensive in the world, of course it is cheaper to produce overseas. Injection molding is very labor intensive, most machines require an operator and an available mechanic to maintain machines and molds. The problem is not US capacity but the low value of the product and limited sales volume which makes it very difficult to make a profit.
A P, it depends on your usage and origin. In Canada it is as common to use “hew” rather than “hue” since the latter indicates a colour (more Canadian/British usage with the spelling just now). Googling “hew and cry” will net you many hits on the first couple of pages from Canucks using that spelling.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-hue1.htm
I don’t see it as an accusation so much as a comment, an observation that Bowser, or any other corporate entity trying to stay afloat, just can’t seem to dodge bullets. I don’t know as much about the outfit as you seem to, but the statements that you will no longer purchase items from them is the very decision, whether intended or not, that led them to this crunch in the first place!
They must have employees who hope their leadership has some good ideas. They wouldn’t be the first to have outsourcing to another region of the globe come to mind. If they retain some employees thereby, particularly family breadwinners, and keep the company viable, they will have served a noble cause…don’t you think? I don’t think the quick buck comment did them justice because their practise was not a quick buck when you were willing to support them only a few days ago with your purchases.
-Crandell
That is not the only reason that is used. There are other considerations involved as well.
Now if you actually place the last bit into the equation you would end up with the hobby becoming very expensive to an even larger segment of the hobby as such. But again, that is assuming the only reason is to make a profit as such. Going overseas is not always the most effective solution to the problem either. Me? I suspect a long term winding down of the operation. A Kader nipple just blossomed again—
Well, that’s good news for the Chinese working child. No matter, it’ll be fun looking for the good made in USA Bowsers over the coming years. I, for one, have no problem paying extra for a quality domestic product.
I don’t think Lee English was that interested in Bowser as they were. The kits have been de-emphasized by stages ever since he took over. What we are seeing Bowser become now, an importer of limited-run plastic like every other company, is probably what his vision was from day one.
And you have proof of this, HOW? They discontinued steam kits because no one was buying them. Then all of a sudden, they get a sudden demand for kits (from those who could have been buying them all along and didn’t) and decide the demand is sufficient to create a few more. And how long will that demand last or is it just a flash in the pan? For crying out loud, Bowser held out as long as possible before giving up that part of the business. Where do you get off saying that Bowser’s just taking the money and running?
There’s a huge group of people out there that snivel, moan, belly-ache and generally throw a non-stop pity party/hissy fit for themselves because they feel victimized by the manufacturers who continue to supply the hobby with items that were the stuff of dreams not all that long ago. Of course, these wicked, wicked people actually want to recover development costs and maybe make a bit of a profit so they’re by definition evil, right? It’s their money that gets put on the line when a new product gets developed, not yours. It is they who stand to lose financially if a product falls on its face, not you.
This selfsame mentally and emotionally infantile crowd (and I’m bending over to be polite here) has no understanding whatsoever of the economics of the hobby, preferring instead to regard the manufacturers in much the same light as the Romans regarded the Visigoths, Upton Sinclair regarded the meatpacking industry in the early 20th Century or Ralph Nader regarded GM in the 1960’s. There is no understanding whatsoever that even Walthers is a small business and that if it were publicly traded it would be a small cap sto
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
j:
No, CSMM is right. Injection molding is not that labor-intensive. Assembly is more labor-intensive and that’s the key factor here, I think. Bowser has been emphasizing RTR and assembling their RTR in China, and this was the next step.
While I do not know the specifics, I think I recognize the pattern.
The question becomes: could they have assembled them here? It’s not as easy to answer as the layman thinks, or even a lot of people who should be knowledgeable. A modestly labor-intensive product has about 20% of its final cost in labor. This does vary. An auto, quite assembly-intensive, but assembled extremely efficiently, has about 8% labor cost in it. However, 20% is a good rule of thumb, and pretty close to where a toy would be.
Furthermore, China’s wages have gone up, so, basically, all things being equal, you might expect to save 10 to 15% of the finished product cost. But they very seldom are all equal!
The less efficient the competing US and Chinese producers are, the greater China’s advantage will be, because the labor cost in the finished product becomes a larger fraction. Furthermore, it is very common that small private companies like Bowser who look to outsource products like this are doing it because it’s easier than making themselves efficient…or because they just don’t know how to. Manufacturing is an art and a science. It can be learned, but many people just don’t want to
I think the little one needs a tin hat----LOL!![bow]
Give it up as a bad job, Crandell. There are a lot of people who don’t understand economics, who don’t want to and who will put their hands in their ears and make “ya ya ya ya ya” noises to drown out what you’re saying.
The quick buck comment of BC crossed the line as far as I’m concerned. Lee English is not Bernie Madoff.
Andre
I seem to recall a certain person say something along that line. Be careful of what you are asking for?—but oh well. That was long ago and far away-----
Maybe we need to bring back the idea of doing it yourself—oh. Did I speak a little too loudly? OOPS–[:O][:-^]
It’s not the injection molding costs that drove the business overseas. it’s the customer demand for rtr items that require a large number of hours of assembly of all those parts. More and more detail adds greater hours required for assembly. Also add in the environmental costs dealing with painting, casting detail parts and you will see why most of this is done where there are NO REGULATIONS !!! and MUCH LOWER LABOR COSTS ! If all your competitors use the Chinese for their production how can you compete ???
The steam locomotive kits were not selling as not enough people do that anymore. They will buy a BLI or MTH steamers first. The demand for the kits came about from Bowser stating that they were not going to produce them anymore . Supply and demand. People realized that they were going away and all of a sudden wanted one !!! One thing you need to remember and most of you don’t seem to do this is that being a model rr manufacturer is a business not a hobby. If you treat it as a hobby you will soon be out of business. ----------------------------- Ken McCorry
That may be true for now but the situation there is pretty fluid even now, especially after the olympics of last year—there was a recognition of there being a need to change some of that—
Then it’ll be where else can we go? Africa—?
I always liked their 3-Bay 100T Coal Hoppers. I own dozens of them. When they went RTR I stopped buying them. The price doubled for a car that I can build in about 15 minutes. The higher price was more than I could justify. Besides, I enjoyed building the kits. I really do miss taitting down and building freight cars kits