customer will decide
Published February 2, 2009 | 
I remember many years ago when I worked at a restaurant and bar outside of a skiing resort. It was mid-afternoon and I had just punched in. I had just finished cleaning up the bar, making the days batch of margarita mix and wiping off the counters. My boss, a big, tall, boisterous monster of a man, was watching the television. He pointed to the TV and said to me something like, “Look at that idiot”.
I looked up and saw a guy in canoe playing a guitar and talking about the survival of the Everglades. To a burly businessman, this singing wimp in the canoe worried about a few miles of useless swap was simply another wacko. Successful big burly guys rarely consider anyone sane would have a different opinion than the one they hold. Life has taught them that they are pretty much, always right.
As the years have passed I often think of that moment. I think about how that guy in the canoe was perceived and would be perceived by the majority of people. Someone who is just out of touch with reality. “Probably some rich kid college student who’s never done a day’s work in their life.” I grew up knowing this view well. I lived around people who poured old car oil in the grass behind the shed, who shot birds to get them out of the barn, people who still had other names for Brazil nuts. Salt of the Earth type folks. They were quintessential cowboys. Men’s men. Guys who found fault in showing affection, who found no reason to keep your word to children or to have conversations with women. They just worked hard, expected servitude, and would lecture on the wrongs of the world from the Lazy boy throne and smack you if you got in the way. It was only a accident of unusual experiences that caused me to reject the “way of my forefathers” to put it in a dramatic turn of phrase.
Of course when you reject something but have no other influence to fill it, you find you must read a lot and ask a lot of questions to figure out who you are or who you will be. Reading is a better idea. When you ask questions that hint to a different conclusion than the accepted one, it’s almost always assumed you support the conclusion. If you ask, “Why is the bad guy bad?” You are branded a traitor. No one would actually ask such a question. Good people don’t ask questions. They accept. It’s the idea that even contemplating one’s own fault or that of your team or family is threatening. Children who ask questions are quickly put to right. They learn that to question is not a step to understanding, but an act of rebellion that needs to be quashed with unimaginable fury.
These days I look back on those experiences as temperament to my own opinions. I like everyone else, hold opinions about certain things but I’m usually quite open to variations. I know why tree limbs flex in the wind. Kayaking demonstrates this view quite nicely. A paddler cannot be rigid on the water. The rules change depending on conditions. How you turn in flat water may not work in winds and such. Life is the same of course. While you may hold true to core values, the details are always in motion.
It’s from inside this worldview that I read about Confluence‘s decision to move their manufacturing to China. They are not the first. One would be daft as a brush to not know their PR people did not consider the blow back from a segment of their base. Sure a few people would feel they are selling out the environment. People will argue the lower regulations and the need to ship kayaks all over the globe will cause more damage. Others will complain that they are taking jobs away. Some will talk about human rights. Some may even talk about the downfall of western society. Maybe they are right on all counts, maybe not. Certainly the folks at Confluence labored over this. They’ve heard the stories from others long before they made their decision. They probably asked other manufactures what the bottom line was. They most likely heard that moving products to China was a matter of survival and that the few opinionated folks out there were so few they have no real effect on sales. In the end, they decided moving manufacturing to China was right for their business and acceptable by the majority of their customers. For years companies have been making this decision and won.
Those folks who protest the move are much like that guy in the canoe in the Everglades. They are marginalized by the decision makers and ignored by the general population. Still, if it were not for their voices we would not eventually save an acre of swamp here or there. If not for the few vocal protesters we would not have labor laws, environmental laws or all that other stuff that actually does make life better. So I support them, while at the same time mentioning that Confluence did not make their decision blindly, but with clarity of mind. As is the way in our modern world, now the customer will decide who is right. The real question could be, is THAT right?
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6 Responses to customer will decide
Derrick,
it seems that while the economic downturn is getting fiercer more and more heated arguments about companies outsourcing spring up.
I am not sure if that is a good thing for the consumer and the local economy but remaining stagnant is the worse thing a business can do.
To remain operating one has to look at alternatives and if the production of goods is too expensive if done locally probably going off shore could be the only alternative.
While some might argue that one should buy only locally made products I believe that is no point in competing with a manufacturer that can make your product much cheaper.
Building kayaks is a labour intensive procedure.
Labour in China is cheap. And while it might not take a rocket scientist to actually manufacture a kayak it probably takes one to design one.
So, what was the last time that we have seen a kayak (or any other product) actually designed in China?
I think we should focus on the expertise that nobody can outsource.
Knowledge, fine tuning, research and development, prototyping and actual management of production of a product are the real strengths that the Chinese can’t do (yet).
When I worked in the bicycle industry in Anaheim CA we manufactured high end bicycles. The company has a brilliant designer and an excellent know how for building racing bicycles.
We never felt the threat of the competition that was pumping bikes out of China. Our bikes were too good and they were winning at the races.
Today the same company outsources some of their frames to Taiwan and sales of their bicycles are soaring.
But not because the bikes are made overseas but because the technology and time that has gone into designing a world class bike has finally paid off.
Taiwan has robots and laser technology to assemble that bike and labour is cheap. Maybe there are some rip-off copies of those bikes out there but since the market changes and adapts so quickly those particular models become obsolete.
But since I have not heard of any serious designs coming from China I believe that the western know-how is safe and the strength of our real expertise can not be matched.
No point in trying to do something that somebody can do cheaper especially if all it takes is just cheap labour.
The only manufacturing worth doing locally is the high end precision type, one where highly skilled labour is involved and where quality control can not be matched in China.
Anything else on a large scale is doomed to probably fail against the Asian giant.
The cottage industry will probably survive and thrive but the large manufacturer is bound to outsource.
Darnittal, Derrick. Now you’ve done it. Now you’ve REALLY done it. Not a can of worms, but worms frogs snakes and all sorts of other hard to catch critters. All that and more you’ve opened!!
Up here in Canada, our news media is talking a worried sigh about Obama’s talk about encouraging buying American. Makes sense to me (encouraging buying local). I’d certainly encourage buying ‘nearby’. You can only ship off so many jobs overseas before your economy starts to (insert appropriate word here, like crumble, hurt, recede, hiccup, implode, self-destruct, depression, etc). In Canada we are somewhat protected by our resource-based economy. Somewhat.
As a paddler, here’s what concerns my self-interested me. The manufacturer of my favorite composite sea kayak may not easily be able to compete against the lowered prices of Chinese-made kayaks.
I’ve seen some horror stories on early shipments of a specific manufacturer whose Chinese-made boats were really poor (2006-2007). Like 1970′s poor. That’s not so true of the plastic boats already coming out of China, and they’ll get the bugs out of their supply chain for composites eventually, though their toys and plastic goods seem to suffer in chemical quality. We’ve basically shown them how to do much. They’re bright enough to improve on our generous sharing of technology.
Store owners play a huge role in their choice-making. They need to feed their kids, repair the family’s teeth, car, etc, and need to compete against all the other stores attempting the same – economic profitability and survival. Once one store manages to find a cheaper product source, it almost forces the others to bend that way in order to compete. That reduced price means they can sell for less, and or make increased profit – and stay in business where others would otherwise go bankrupt. That’s a hard thing or force to say no to, to stand against, especially with customers seeking the cheapest price.
In Canada, one of our big manufacturers are going (have gone?) to a Chinese manufacturing source. Now this company doesn’t make a sea kayak I’d buy for myself, but they do make some I’d highly recommend to students. At least two are excellent. Their Chinese-made plastic sea kayaks will now wholesale for not half of my personal favorite Canadian-made composite boat, but less than a quarter. Shipped. Delivered. Quality… to be determined, but might be better than local.
The stores win big, as do paddlers, but local families who’ve put 20 years of their lives into paddling, into advancing an industry, into teaching paddling, into experimenting, modifying and constantly improving their products, what will they do in their communities? Mow lawns? Flip burgers?
Werner recently had a run-in with a Chinese manufacturer who even copied all of their paddle model names, and used Werner’s own website images. Talk about copyright and design infringement. That’s Homer Simpson dumb.
I have a personal interest in seeing Werner stay in business: They make my favorite paddles. They also listen in a way that no Chinese manufacturer will ever listen to lil ‘ol English-speaking me. I once (or twice, even) got down on my knees (yes, in the sand) and begged Ol Man Werner (he didn’t, after all, listen the first time) to make a paddle that would do a certain magic thing on the water. He not only did it, but did it sublimely!! That one paddle has now become a line of brilliant tools for paddling in the nasty stuff. They make bracing and rolling sooo much easier, especially for a small guy like me. My students try my paddle and instantly want one then buy one too. They then more-easily accomplish those things I’d been demonstrating to them and I smile.
I do not want to see this kind of talented skilled customer-oriented family shop closing over people only buying cheap and foreign. Please.
Sure some of my favorite kayaks are British. Some are American. Several are Canadian too. What does concern me is that China can undercut all these fine manufacturers, and do it easily. We would then lose hundreds of man-years of experience, of trial-and-error earned knowledge, and kayak improvements would also take a long pause.
As buyers, we do indeed have tough choices to make, and as the economy takes a sigh, those choices may become even tougher. Local manufacture remains one of my important purchase criteria. Product performance is probably tops, especially with paddles or safety gear. Safety throw bags from China never seem to be made unsing proper knots. Duh! By proper, I mean knots that would actually hold. We fret over a pealess whistle in Canada, but not over any form of quality assurance in safety gear. That’s an instructor’s role to know and to show, isn’t it?
I find “local” is hard to define as I’d consider buying a Brit kayak (the inventors of modern composite sea kayaks, after all). I’m evidently suffering from either directed loyalty or some form of derangement or mental silliness.
You’re not out of touch with reality, Derrick. You’d just like to see your neighbor, your fellow citizen find a way to house and feed themselves, and be able to maybe afford such simple pleasures like paddling provides us.
So as a caring person, one would think we’d want the same success for the Chinese. Sure we would, and do, yes? Are there not enough Chinese paddlers buying kayaks to provide a living for some workers over there already? If not, why not? And if not, are we responsible for their way of life in any way, and if yes, how much? The planet is, after all, getting smaller. ‘Local’ is expanding.
Thanks for asking the right questions, Derrick. (scene from iRobot arises in mind’s eye…) and apologies for the wordiness.
“Someone who is just out of touch with reality”
He is a surviver and the day will come when the “others” will look across the dinner table at their partner and say… I can’t eat another $50 dollar bill, we have been eating this for the last week and I am losing weight! The $100 dollar bills have just got to be more nourishing?
While the guy in canoe playing a guitar is oblivious to the world outside the Everglades and enjoys life and still plays the guitar.
Henry
As usual, the comments are better than the post!
Excellent piece.
I read what Gnarlydog says and go oops, didn’t think of that. Several times.
Still, there’s an old saying about babies and bathwater I feel I should google on. Seems pertinent.
Derrick, don’t sell yourself short. Who else is doing this asking cool deep questions on the net? I like it.
Tonight another paddler tried my Werner Kalliste in the pool and fell properly in love, (or maybe it was lust) conveniently before the 14th of Feb. How many kayakers really care what stick they have in their hands when paddling? Hopefully enough to keep our fave manufacturers in the black.