Tannoy moving to China

[Billy Shears]

Tannoy is moving its production facility from Scottland to China:

[Billy Shears]

Myles, maybe you need to ad a dislike button for that post....

[david k]

Aaargh, my "Ad Blocker" software blocked 150 ads on that link!
You can't blame them for the move, probably most of their retail market is in Asia anyway.

david

[Billy Shears]

Sorry, I did not even notice it had Pop-ups....

[Johnny Vinyl]

As long as Tannoy is committed to QC and maintaining tight control by corporate in Scotland, I don't see a problem. They will need people on-site.

[Billy Shears]

As long as Tannoy is committed to QC and maintaining tight control by corporate in Scotland, I don't see a problem. They will need people on-site.

From a QC standpoint you are right If Kef can pull it off so can Tannoy. But Its a problem considering we are heading in the direction of nothing being made in europe anymore. Sure the 70 employes that are going to loose their job wont be over the moon about this decision too.

[JCOConnell]

two thumbs down

[Hugh]

Well,

Put yourself in their shoes and think of the company as a whole then you'll see it's an inevitable decision.
On the other hand, I wholeheartedly agreed about having a corporate person on site for QC.
I know for a fact that, since labor is so cheap in China, your production copies may or may not be in the same quality as the initial samples.

I also know for a fact that JBL have had problems with goods being made in China.
You either have someone there on a daily basis or having your own factory where you can control everything.

[Johnny Vinyl]

From a QC standpoint you are right If Kef can pull it off so can Tannoy. But Its a problem considering we are heading in the direction of nothing being made in europe anymore. Sure the 70 employes that are going to loose their job wont be over the moon about this decision too.

That's the really sad part when moves such as this are made.

[david k]

The West isn't losing its manufacturing base because of labor costs salaries are only a very small part of it. The regulatory and tax environment is toxic in US & Europe then add the current aggressive political anti-business rhetoric to the mix one must be insane or a masochist not move out!

I wouldn't be concerned about quality issues, Chinese manufacturing is mature and the owners know what they're doing.

https://www.music-group.com/news

david

[JackD201]

Don't forget the environment environment! I've been told just getting things painted in some states is a major pain.

[MylesBAstor]

Tannoy is moving its production facility from Scottland to China:

Technically should be moving all of its production facilities.

http://6moons.com/audioreviews/tannoy5/1.html

[MylesBAstor]

It seems to be a growing trend for entry level gear for the last 20 years. Look at the IAG group and its holdings. Many if not all are made in China. I remember IAG's 2001 press release announcing Quad speakers would be built in China.

[Ki Choi]

On the other hand, my company recently closed down our factory in China and other sister companies in our group are doing the same.

China with its people demanding ~10% compounded pay increases every year with quality of local production materials not meeting our spec, labor savings (for the time being) alone didn't make business sense.

Good luck to Tannoy. They'll need it.

[MylesBAstor]

The future is robotics. Average life of the robot Is 2 years and amortized over that time, the pay amounts to $3/HR. And no benefits.

Face it. We are going through a second industrial revolution. There are jobs that simply will never be replaced; companies are/will be looking for skilled workers with computer skills that can operate these machines. Kids who are graduating school lacking any computer skills -and there are a lot of them-will forever be doomed to flipping burgers. Older people in the work force will need retraining to fit in. A scary future for many.

[david k]

Education is certainly an issue Myles, we can't all be programmers, scientists, engineers, doctors etc., there's a real need for vocational skills which isn't addressed in the system adequately. You can't have cottage industry without it...

[MylesBAstor]

Ageed, as there are places in a country as wealthy as ours where the education is no better than a third world country. A sad statement. I can only infer from what I see but being able to use a smart phone doesn't mean they can operate a computer. Now we're not talking about programming but just being able to operate and do basic operations.

[david k]

On the other hand, my company recently closed down our factory in China and other sister companies in our group are doing the same.

China with its people demanding ~10% compounded pay increases every year with quality of local production materials not meeting our spec, labor savings (for the time being) alone didn't make business sense.

Good luck to Tannoy. They'll need it.

The 10% increase demands along with expected annual bonus of at least one month was standard even in Thailand during the 80's & 90's when I was manufacturing there, the same goes for difficulty of finding raw materials locally that's why I mentioned that the move isn't because of salaries but there are other reasons involved in the decision. But I understand closing down facilities there too, depends on the industry, province, local workforce and officials...

david

[GaryB]

The West isn't losing its manufacturing base because of labor costs salaries are only a very small part of it. The regulatory and tax environment is toxic in US & Europe . . .

The lack of regulation in China is toxic in a literal sense. If you travel to any of the major cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, etc.), you'll be amazed at how truly awful the pollution is. Here's an interesting article prompted by Mark Zuckerberg's (of Facebook fame) trip to China in March. I happened to be in Beijing at the same time and I can attest to the fact that the pollution over there was disturbingly bad. I was told that being outdoors for 24 hours with that level of pollution takes 2 hours off of your life. The Chinese are definitely paying a price for the industrialization of their country. I don't think that anyone in the US or Europe would put up with that level of pollution.

---Gary

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/19/wo...smog.html?_r=0
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b09bf44a9da6fb