SS made in USA

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mgdesigns
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Post by mgdesigns »

I ate dinner as a kid in Amana, Iowa in the Amish community (maybe Mennonite - not the ones who make aftershave:-)) I believe they were also responsible for the original microwaves. I just check my facts on WIKI:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amana_Corporation

Pretty cool. Now we all pop our popcorn using radar technology.
Hand Engraver of Metals; Maker of Exquisite Kindling; 1955 Greenie Mark V (NOW with a 1989 Headstock); Magna Band Saw; Magna 4" Jointer; Miscellaneous Craftsman & Porter-Cable electric woodworking tools.
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2bits
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Post by 2bits »

As long as Unions have the ability to cripple the company that pays their members, I doubt anything of value will be "Made in America" before too much longer. Protecting the workers has turned into a Socialist nightmare that has almost brought America to it's knees too many times (Remember the Steel workers strikes in the 80's ???. That was the beginning of the end of American manufacturing. If things do not get turned around soon we will all be eating with chop-sticks.:eek:

I used to be pro buy American, now I buy what I can afford and works well. Made in America does not have the same meaning it used to.
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letterk
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Post by letterk »

:rolleyes:
mgdesigns wrote:I ate dinner as a kid in Amana, Iowa in the Amish community (maybe Mennonite - not the ones who make aftershave:-)) I believe they were also responsible for the original microwaves. I just check my facts on WIKI:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amana_Corporation

Pretty cool. Now we all pop our popcorn using radar technology.
Been a few years, but we use to eat the builder at the Ronenberg once in a while.

They were more a communal living group than anything like the Amish. Basically, a tourist trap, with multiple wineries and a brewery. They haven't lived the self sufficient communal life since the 1930s. Thes days it more shopping and restuants, but good restaurants.

Neat place, all the towns are named Amana except for Homestead which the community purchased from he railroad. Also known as one of the places Ashton Kutcher lived.
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Ed in Tampa
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Post by Ed in Tampa »

2bits wrote:As long as Unions have the ability to cripple the company that pays their members, I doubt anything of value will be "Made in America" before too much longer. Protecting the workers has turned into a Socialist nightmare that has almost brought America to it's knees too many times (Remember the Steel workers strikes in the 80's ???. That was the beginning of the end of American manufacturing. If things do not get turned around soon we will all be eating with chop-sticks.:eek:

I used to be pro buy American, now I buy what I can afford and works well. Made in America does not have the same meaning it used to.
I come from a steel working family and I'm not pro union.
But if you want to know what killed the US steel mills you have to look further than just the Unions, or just the company.

The unions drove prices up, the company rather than spend money to modernize the plants used it for profits. The consumer looked for cheaper and over seas they gave it to them.

One of the major problems making steel is tolerances, the acceptable tolerance of percentage of various chemicals in the steel.

In USA plants we had one standard if the steel didn't measure up it was sent back to the beginning and the process was started over. Very expensive.

In Asia they had three standards. If the steel met the first standard it was shipped to the USA. If it missed the first and hit the second it was shipped to Europe. If it missed the first two and hit the last it was used within the country. So in effect the steel we were calling useless and scraping Asia was selling. Hard to compete with that.

However the major problems were while Europe was using continous casting machines the US was still pouring ingots, reheating them and rolling the steel out.

While Europe was able to have crane operator work 8 hours in the crane we in the US do to Union agreements could only work the man 2 hours on 2 hours off. These guys were paid tonage and in 1965 were making $60,000+ look it up that was top salary in the country for almost any job.

Add to this that Asia had not yet required scrubbers on steel mill furnances to clean up the air while plants in the US were spending billions cleaning up the air and water.

Add to this the fact that a guy who should be working could and did fall asleep on a 2x12 board between two rafters over 20 feet high could not be fired from his job.

Add to this that is was cheaper to keep using the old equipment rather than upgrade as most of Europe had done at the end of the war. Soon we were so far behind in technology we never did really catch up.

Add to this US plants had to hire and pay women the same wages even though they simply could not do the same job. In the open hearths it was common to throw 100 pound bags of various chemicals into the heat to make the type of steel called for. Government equal opportunity made the Steel mill hire women for this job. So in effect there was two employees one to throw the chemicals in and one to meet equal opportunity standards.

So to sit back and point fingers at the company, at the unions, at the government does not do the problem justice. It was a whole tangled web of things that brought down the steel mills.

Incidently I use to live in Johnstown Pa which had the Stoney Creek river running through it. At one time ten miles of the river bank had steel mills on it. Today there is nothing. 50,000 men from that one plant lost their jobs.
Supervisiors, formen, millwrights, electricians, steel pourers, car makers, laborers. All without jobs. 50,000.

I worked summer in the mill and I loved it had my father allowed me after I finished college I would have worked there instead he would not allow them to hire me and I went else where. Steel making was the most exciting place in the world. Something absolutely new almost hourly. Things that could kill you in a instant if you didn't watch your every step. I loved it.

My grandfather, my father, my uncles, my brother, almost all my in laws and almost all my friends and their families worked in the mill some were company and some were union so I think I saw both sides of the story pretty well.
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holsgo
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Post by holsgo »

Ed, you seem to be well educated about this. I saw a documentary about PA and a small town affected by this very subject. Crying shame.
I see all of these ads on TV saying help the kids in africa, help so and so...all off shore. Meanwhile there are towns in appalachia that would seem third world by comparison, and many a result of the death of the steel industry.
Heck, Detroit looks like a bomb hit it.
We've been doing something wrong for a long time to get to this point. Doing something right will take just as long to get out of it. But I too, have a real concern for the problems my son and all others his age, will inherit.
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Post by pennview »

Small world. I was in Johnstown yesterday. Here's a photo of one of those mills you were referring to in Johnstown, Ed -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/30059847@N07/2908101671/ -- it's in downtown Johnstown along the Little Conemaugh River.

Can't imagine why anyone would give up Johnstown's gobs for sunny Florida. :D
Art in Western Pennsylvania
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letterk
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Post by letterk »

It is probably more a confluence of many reasons than just the unions. Higher labor costs combined with lower quality iron ore supply, which comes from a 100 years of mining in the iron range can't help either.

Per Wikipedia, Minnesota produced 75% of the countries Iron ore in 2004, which comes out of the port of Duluth through the Great Lakes. 100+ years of mining has stripped the best ore and taconite is the main ore source for probably the last 50 years. Blaming the unions is easy, but it isn't the complete story.
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a1gutterman
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Post by a1gutterman »

farley wrote:How American is SS and the SPT tools and accessories?

Anybody know?
If I go to a retail store and look to see where things are made, there is always a tag or label stating where. I always thought that there were laws requiring such notification. Maybe I am right and maybe I am wrong]I received zero response[/I]. I do not know how the rest of you feel, but I believe that I have the right to know where something that I may be purchasing is made. I continue to avoid purchasing anything from SS, and fully expect them to respond with that information if they expect me to make purchases from them. When I posted something similar previously on this forum, some members responded with their guesses as to where it was made. I do not want guesses, I do not want opinions; I want facts.

IMHO, when a company is asked a question, they should not ignore you if they want to do business with you.

Farley, I suggest you ask ShopSmith your question instead of the forum members.
Tim

Buying US made products will help keep YOUR job or retirement funds safer.
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Ed in Tampa
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Post by Ed in Tampa »

pennview wrote:Small world. I was in Johnstown yesterday. Here's a photo of one of those mills you were referring to in Johnstown, Ed -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/30059847@N07/2908101671/ -- it's in downtown Johnstown along the Little Conemaugh River.

Can't imagine why anyone would give up Johnstown's gobs for sunny Florida. :D
Actually the owner of the bakery that made Gobs, Yost still makes Gobs and ships them all over this country. YOu place an order they collect them and I think on Tuesday they are baked and shipped. Along with the order they send you a receipt with final cost including shipping and you send them a check. Not many companies doing business this way any more.

By the way the also make my wife's favorite Raisin Filled cookies, until you have eaten one of these you don't know how good a cookie can be.

I can't tell from the picture where it was taken, my two thoughts are the wheel plant where they made railroad car wheels and axles, the rod and wire mill or the plate mill.

Point of interest everyone notice the river banks in this photo, they are poured concrete walls about 30+ feet high. In 1976 the last flood the water was about 10+ feet higher than these walls. I don't think anyone ever believed that would be possible. A friend of mine was working in the Post Office he watched a brand new Mustang float out of the parking lot turn the corner and was gone. It was later found in the river near Pittsburgh about 72 miles away.

That is a lot of water.
Ed in Tampa
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JPG
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Post by JPG »

a1gutterman wrote:If I go to a retail store and look to see where things are made, there is always a tag or label stating where. I always thought that there were laws requiring such notification. Maybe I am right and maybe I am wrong]I received zero response[/I]. I do not know how the rest of you feel, but I believe that I have the right to know where something that I may be purchasing is made. I continue to avoid purchasing anything from SS, and fully expect them to respond with that information if they expect me to make purchases from them. When I posted something similar previously on this forum, some members responded with their guesses as to where it was made. I do not want guesses, I do not want opinions; I want facts.

IMHO, when a company is asked a question, they should not ignore you if they want to do business with you.

Farley, I suggest you ask ShopSmith your question instead of the forum members.

Yes! Let's see if you can get a straight answer!

Glad to see yer still around Tim!:)

BTW What ever happened to 'Made in USA'?

'America' consists of two continents and an isthmus.
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