Classe move to China

China already has put new tariffs on ours. They believe in all of the trade money going to their pockets. [www.nytimes]
There is a plus side. The gear might be resistant to radiation from the lead content.
Hifihvn (Answers | This Thread)

And who's fault is that? Not much leverage in the negoitations when your competitor is financing billions of the budget and COUNTING. If I was China, why not get all you can. You got to be a moron not going for the jugular.

Remember a company's responsibility is to the share holders and NOT to a local communities economically development so it will do what's best for the company's interest. It's up to the government to create a business friendly environment where a company wants to stay, invest and create jobs. This environment can be in US, India ... anywhere in the world. It worked when Toyota, Honda, BMW ... opened plants in the US.

With our current administration anti-business policies, companies are hording record amount of cash and don't want to invest and create jobs. The best policies are where both sides wins. Companies get incentive to invest in a community. The community gets an increased tax base from the company, new job creation and potential spawning more new business.

The uninformed always bashing businesses ... How about the feds intervening with Boeing opening another plan in So. Carolina and because So. Carolina is not a right to work state, unions (Obama supporters) are fighting against the new plant.

Now if you're a company that is friendly to the administration and CEO works on the job creation initiative, you pay zero taxes on 5 billion of revenue and able to open an airplane engines plant in China without scrutiny.

I cannot find a company in China to make my buggy whip. Perhaps a USA company could do so, but they also turned me down. Seems the EPA and the FDA has a rule against such devices. PETA is suing me. What's a guy who wants to create a few jobs. Everybody needs to read or re-read Smith's 'Wealth of Nations'. He is the one who got us into all this.

Back to Classe and audio for a while...

As I understand it, Classe will be built in the same factory that B&W has been built in for many years. B&W controls the production and the quality. Classe will do the same. They are not simply throwing the production over their shoulder to some contract manufacturer in China and hoping for the best.

It is my understanding that the first products they got from the new plant they completely disassembled, piece by piece, to check on the quality of the parts and the build and they were completely satisfied.

For those complaining about the sound of some of the new products, doesn't that have more to do with the Canadian design team than where new products are made? The design team should spec the design, the parts, the board layout, the tolerances etc.

I hate to see manufacturing go to China, but people should understand that there is a model of production in China that can preserve the quality. It is just up to the parent company to insure it happens.

This is so sad because if any industry was still capable of manufacturing here in the west, it is High End Audio. These companies are tiny and turn out very few components a year compared to someone like Sony, etc. This small production applies itself very well to old school manufacturing methods and ecomomics. We desperately need to keep these jobs right here at all costs. Not doing so shows me Classe is being greedy and gutless. You know that Classe prices won't drop as a result of this move and the concerns about "teething" problems are very real despite China's ability to deliver the goods when given the proper specs, budget, and guidance.

Perhaps Classe should build the same amp in Canada and China and sell them at $5,000 and $3,000 respectively and see what people end up buying - I suspect money talks.

Does seem like rising labor costs for "skilled" labor in China, and with increasing transportation costs, that the cheap labor model which has been China's comparative advantage is diminishing over time. I've read some companies have notice and have or are planning onshoring.