Char-Broil goes to China.

[Skydiver]

These grills are made 25 miles from home and there shipping dept. is here in Opelika Alabama. When will the outsourcing stop. Oh wait I know. Outsourcing will stop when The good-ol U. S. A stop sending money to China. Char-broil is or was a non-union company.

-Please "No political debates"

Thanks Tim

-

Char-Broil Grill Production Goes to China

COLUMBUS, Ga. — The W. C. Bradley Co. announced Tuesday it will shift manufacturing of its Char-Broil grills to China, threatening 500 full-time and 1,000 seasonal manufacturing jobs in Columbus. Char-Broil plans to stop making its 2 million annual grills by the end of 2006, with normal production next year. "We expect there will be jobs lost, but we don't know how many to say at this point," W. C. Bradley chairman and CEO Steve Butler told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. Butler said pressure from Chinese manufacturers has been growing over the last four years. He said the decision was between moving the operation to China, where grills can be produced for 25 percent less, or "get out of the business. "Char-Broil, with sales last year of about $500 million, has been making grills in Columbus since 1949. Including sales, marketing and management positions, it has about 840 full-time employees, most of them in Columbus. The Columbus-based company, the largest grill manufacturer in the United States, plans to phase out the first 250 full-time jobs this summer. Typically, seasonal jobs begin in late fall and end in May. Employees at the Columbus and Opelika, Ala. , plants were informed of the decision Tuesday. ___November 16, 2004 - 10:07 p. m. CST

 

[AfterBurner]

Hate to hear more jobs in the US dissapearing. However, you can't blame the companies, they have to be competetive. Outsourcing won't stop until the cost of labor in America runs at a competetive price.

 

[Royk]

Pennsylvania House Furniture is also moving to China before the end of the year. Three plants employing 450 people (in a fairly rural area with few jobs as it is) will close within 4 weeks.



Have you ever noticed they always announce these things a few weeks before Christmas?



Roy

 

[Dieselnut59]

The only thing WE, the consumer, can do about it is BUY AMERICAN! When a company sends their products to be manufactured in China, quit buying their products. It is not always easy to find Made in USA goods, but it can be done, especially by using the internet. I don't understand why a company as big and with as good of a reputation as Char Broil has would want to ruin that reputation by selling the same ole cheap chinese crap as so many other companies. Why can't they offer an "economy" model, made in china to sell at the cheap stores like wal-mart and a premium model, made in USA for the consumers like myself who want Americam made quality that they could sell at the specialty stores and on the internet?

Chinese furniture is JUNK! Cheap pressed wood and a cheesie fasteners. Definately not something that will ever get passed down to your grandchildren like the quality USA made pieces.

Buy American-made products. You the consumer is the only one who can make the difference.

 

[TSpecht]

The cost of labor isn't the biggest job killer here IMO. The greed of those running the show is the biggest killer of jobs. Does a CEO really need all that money? Look at Japan, the ratio of pay between the laborer and the top fat cat is relatively small, vs the huge disparity between the big wigs and the laborer here in the US...



Like at the company I work for. They convinced us to forgo our 4% yearly raise and then went ahead and took a $68 million bonus... That greed is what is killing the manufacturing economy in the United States. I believe the same thing happened with the United Airlines pilots. They take huge pay cuts and the management doesn't take any sort of pay cut at all, and I think they got a bonus too in fact.



The whole deal is a load of crap. The people making the most money are best able to afford to tolerate cuts. Most manufacturing jobs pay just enough for the employee to have a decent house, vehicle, etc. If you cut too much more from that, you may as well have 'em flipping burgers and living in piano crates. It's ridiculous how some people simply accept the management strategies like that.