Chinese Factory Closure

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peroni

Member
Athearn Anticipates Delays On Some Products
Mon, 2012-01-16 11:37

On January 14, the Athearn division of Horizon Hobby announced that delivery of some new
products may be delayed by the unexpected shutdown of one of its contract manufacturers
in China. Athearn’s announcement came after international financial agencies reported
that Creative Masters Limited (CML) had filed for bankruptcy. Earlier reports said CML
had not reported a profit since 2009. CML is headquartered in Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong,
with manufacturing facilities in Donngguan, PRC.

In addition to Athearn, CML manufactures model railroad products branded for Roundhouse,
Hornby, Fleischmann, and Roco. A major segment of CML’s business is die-cast vehicles
which it manufactures for Corgi, Tamiya, Mattel, PMA Models, MBI, SMS, Bianti, and
Gear. CML also produces Keepsake Collectible Ornaments for Hallmark Cards Inc.

Athearn said it expects to meet the scheduled delivery date of late March for its DDA40X
and SD70ACe/SD70M-2s Genesis locomotives, as well as the Genesis SP bay-window caboose.
Delivery information about other products initially expected to arrive this year is
pending.
 
peroni said:
Athearn Anticipates Delays On Some Products
Mon, 2012-01-16 11:37

On January 14, the Athearn division of Horizon Hobby announced that delivery of some new
products may be delayed by the unexpected shutdown of one of its contract manufacturers
in China. Athearn’s announcement came after international financial agencies reported
that Creative Masters Limited (CML) had filed for bankruptcy. Earlier reports said CML
had not reported a profit since 2009. CML is headquartered in Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong,
with manufacturing facilities in Donngguan, PRC.

In addition to Athearn, CML manufactures model railroad products branded for Roundhouse,
Hornby, Fleischmann, and Roco. A major segment of CML’s business is die-cast vehicles
which it manufactures for Corgi, Tamiya, Mattel, PMA Models, MBI, SMS, Bianti, and
Gear. CML also produces Keepsake Collectible Ornaments for Hallmark Cards Inc.

Athearn said it expects to meet the scheduled delivery date of late March for its DDA40X
and SD70ACe/SD70M-2s Genesis locomotives, as well as the Genesis SP bay-window caboose.
Delivery information about other products initially expected to arrive this year is
pending.
Click to expand...
http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26168
 
What else is new?

Athearn should have also said--

"We expect our products to arrive in poor shape. We will also charge double in the 3rd quarter for these same products compared to what we charged last year."
 


bigB said:
What else is new?

Athearn should have also said--

"We expect our products to arrive in poor shape. We will also charge double in the 3rd quarter for these same products compared to what we charged last year."
Click to expand...
just like MTH :D
 
this is the second time i've preordered and definitely my last. My katy ace better come in this month and not in march.
 
I see it as the glass half full or in other words a good thing. If more of these Chinese factories go under then maybe the stuff will have to be made back here again. What can be wrong with products made in your own country by your own countrymen? It used to work just fine at one time.
 
Mike,

Unfortunately I bet that the companies would look to the 'next cheapest' country option when it comes to finding new, more dependable, cheaper labor.

Brad
(sorry to be a half glass empty guy. Im usually not).
 
Brad, I agree and would like to believe that will not be the case but I'm not naive either. Emerging economies like Viet Nam will sooner or later step in to fill the void. Not long ago India didn't have much going for it other than fabrics and spices and then the technology sector discovered it as a labor resource. Now India has industrial manufacturing and assembly plants for everything from electronics to cars and motorcycles.

Meanwhile I hold hope that companies in North American countries will bring manufacturing back home.
 
NH Mike said:
I see it as the glass half full or in other words a good thing. If more of these Chinese factories go under then maybe the stuff will have to be made back here again. What can be wrong with products made in your own country by your own countrymen? It used to work just fine at one time.
Click to expand...

No, companies like Athearn (and MTH, and...) will simply find another factory overseas. They're importers, they wouldn't have a clue how to get back into the manufacturing game at this point.
 
Unfettered said:
I agree with you Brad...it will be a case of where can we get this done the cheapest...

With labor costs in the US being what they are, it is unlikely that the molds and production will be returned to the US anytime soon.
Click to expand...


We can thank the unions for that!
 


cwwrman said:
We can thank the unions for that!
Click to expand...

sure we can, never mind greedy execs, shareholders etc.

by the way, look at what chinese factory workers make, then live on that in the US and tell us again, was it really about the unions or US companies just trying to stuff as much cash in their pockets as possible.

I love people who blame unions and ignore the the other half, or more, of the equation.
 
At an LHS this last weekend the word was that the upcoming Concor Powered MP54 will be delayed until the end of the year. Chinese manufacturing was the reason given. One person claiming to be in the know said that concor would be pulling manufacturing from China.
 
Id love like all of us to see everything from Model Railroad locomotives to shoe strings be made here in the US. I hope it does. But, in this age of hyper-productivity, I doubt it will ever happen.

The only way it will is if we, the consumer, demand a return to quality. Now quality and domestic production dont necessarily go hand in hand. But I do feel it would give many companies their best shot at high quality and therefore happy customers and therefore happy shareholders. Then I wouldnt mind paying Athearn's and the others prices.
 
bigB said:
Id love like all of us to see everything from Model Railroad locomotives to shoe strings be made here in the US. I hope it does. But, in this age of hyper-productivity, I doubt it will ever happen.

The only way it will is if we, the consumer, demand a return to quality. Now quality and domestic production dont necessarily go hand in hand. But I do feel it would give many companies their best shot at high quality and therefore happy customers and therefore happy shareholders. Then I wouldnt mind paying Athearn's and the others prices.
Click to expand...

Well paid workers purchasing the goods they make leads to slow stable growth. Slow stable growth doesn't make shareholders happy, end of story.
 
BSVRR said:
Well paid workers purchasing the goods they make leads to slow stable growth. Slow stable growth doesn't make shareholders happy, end of story.
Click to expand...

I agree with you, except I would substitute 'Wall Street' aka large, institutional investors versus individual investors, for 'shareholders' in that statement. Im all about a dividend and a steady, consistent return on invested capital. But then, Im not running a Hedge Fund either; I have no use for CDOs or Dirivitives.
 
If somethin is to be done about bringing manufacturing home then we must take a stand...its the only way its gonna happen. Dont buy anything new that is made in china (which means just about everything now), buy it used at a swap meet, or ebay. Once sales drop off enough for these corporations then they will start to figure out that if they employed people in the US where they should, then people will have more $$ to spend on stuff like this. Paying 40-50 a car is outrageously stupid so horizon or whoever can line there pockets n laugh all the way to the bank....dont you guys agree???
 
Unless your 401K includes actual shares, your not a shareholder, you have no voting rights in any company, you just own pieces of a pool of shares and are so far removed from influence as to be negligible.
 


It is unfortunate now a days its all about making a quick buck, rather than making a quality product. I would be willing to pay high prices if I knew it was made in the good ol US of A, and it was good quality. If the businesses could just eat the cost of a higher production cost of being manufactured in the US, I am sure that they will make up for it once people see the quality that the can get, and it is supporting their fellow man. Sure it may take a while at first, but I bet people would be willing to pay more for a quality product. My one econ class in college was all about this stuff. We went from making long lasting quality products to everything overseas and for the most part of crappy quality. Have you ever noticed how many used antiques you can find from the early 1900's that were made in the USA? That is because back then we actually had American pride in our products. Take something manufactured overseas from today and see if it is still around in 100 years...
 
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