Toyota washer bottle in a 67 Fury

[edbods]

Regardless of where they are assembled, the components come from everywhere.

That is true, but as 3175375 says, the bigger problem I have is the fact that we rely heavily on selling our resources abroad to keep our economy afloat, instead of building up a manufacturing base. At least with the Japanese cars there are American workers being paid to assemble them.
It was kind of inevitable though - with how small our population is (Florida alone has roughly the same number of people as our entire country) and how high costs are for production and distribution (huge distances to cover, high minimum wages + taxes), combined with the lack of export markets (oftentimes in countries where domestic vehicles had similar, or more features, for cheaper than our cars sold there), it's a wonder it survived for as long as it did.
Ford and Holden here would probably still be around if it weren't for their US overlords meddling and telling them what they should and shouldn't do - they ironically did their best when they were ignored by their US counterparts; Holden actually had some decent markets in the US, Europe, South America, Africa etc. and the biggest, most lucrative of these oddly enough was in the Middle East, but then GM decided that we needed to sell them Malibus that none of them wanted.

 

[fury fan]

But the profit goes to the country that owns the marquee…. That’s the beef that I have with foreign companies that assemble their vehicles here. The profits leave us…

I used to focus on that point also. But those companies would make that profit regardless of location. And there are a lot of stateside monies made along the way: employees, local economies, tax base (usually not to the county or state, though), 401k of the employees, etc. One might say 'well, US companies should make those products'. Yes, that would be nice, but that ship started sailing in the 80s and it's not coming back. The US consumer has gotten drunk on consuming, and we lust for cheap goods, and that means overseas mfg.

That is true, but as 3175375 says, the bigger problem I have is the fact that we rely heavily on selling our resources abroad to keep our economy afloat, instead of building up a manufacturing base. At least with the Japanese cars there are American workers being paid to assemble them.
It was kind of inevitable though - with how small our population is (Florida alone has roughly the same number of people as our entire country) and how high costs are for production and distribution (huge distances to cover, high minimum wages + taxes), combined with the lack of export markets (oftentimes in countries where domestic vehicles had similar, or more features, for cheaper than our cars sold there), it's a wonder it survived for as long as it did.
Ford and Holden here would probably still be around if it weren't for their US overlords meddling and telling them what they should and shouldn't do - they ironically did their best when they were ignored by their US counterparts; Holden actually had some decent markets in the US, Europe, South America, Africa etc. and the biggest, most lucrative of these oddly enough was in the Middle East, but then GM decided that we needed to sell them Malibus that none of them wanted.

Whatever locality is adding value in the value stream is going to benefit. Yes, selling unfinished resources only is very short-sighted long-term.

I've always believed that a wise corporate management would look at their distant satellites and acquisitions simply from a monetary perspective - if it's making money, leave it alone and reap those rewards. But they rarely do.

My last employer was based in the UK and had locations across the EU and the US. Locations in the same industry, but most had completely different product offerings. They decided that to enhance their cost structure they would align toward global purchasing. To that end, an ENTIRE new part number system was adopted for all locations, using odometer-type numbers. The rationale was that covid-type supply struggles would be avoided if commonality could be leveraged world-wide. What they failed to consider, though, was the loss of YEARS of familiarity of service parts by employees (and the customers!) and that the only really common items were fasteners and misc hardware items. So yeah, if a local buyer was having difficulties getting a certain -24 O-ring or a 1/4-20 capscrew, UK World Purchasing would come to the rescue???

 

[3175375]

I used to focus on that point also. But those companies would make that profit regardless of location. And there are a lot of stateside monies made along the way: employees, local economies, tax base (usually not to the county or state, though), 401k of the employees, etc. One might say 'well, US companies should make those products'. Yes, that would be nice, but that ship started sailing in the 80s and it's not coming back. The US consumer has gotten drunk on consuming, and we lust for cheap goods, and that means overseas mfg.



Whatever locality is adding value in the value stream is going to benefit. Yes, selling unfinished resources only is very short-sighted long-term.

I've always believed that a wise corporate management would look at their distant satellites and acquisitions simply from a monetary perspective - if it's making money, leave it alone and reap those rewards. But they rarely do.

My last employer was based in the UK and had locations across the EU and the US. Locations in the same industry, but most had completely different product offerings. They decided that to enhance their cost structure they would align toward global purchasing. To that end, an ENTIRE new part number system was adopted for all locations, using odometer-type numbers. The rationale was that covid-type supply struggles would be avoided if commonality could be leveraged world-wide. What they failed to consider, though, was the loss of YEARS of familiarity of service parts by employees (and the customers!) and that the only really common items were fasteners and misc hardware items. So yeah, if a local buyer was having difficulties getting a certain -24 O-ring or a 1/4-20 capscrew, UK World Purchasing would come to the rescue???

Consumers only buying on price and not total value is extinct.