My family was raised on work from a parts supplier...

[glowing]

My mother and father both worked for many years at a precision parts supplier company. They made everything from parts on aircraft to defense to car parts. My father was a precision tooler. He made the tools that would cut the parts. When a new design came in, engineering would have to figure out how to make the part from the machines they used. My father had to make most of the custom tooling because there was no one to buy the tool from. And every year he had offers from competition because he was really good at designing the tool for the tolerances needed for these precision parts. He stayed at the company he was with because my mother worked there as the head of training and Quality Control. Nothing left inspection without her stamp. Every time a plane went down they'd hold their breath hoping it had nothing to do with one of their parts. She wouldn't let anything out the door that she wouldn't trust her kids to fly home on during college break. They did a lot for aerospace contracting.. but always looked for contracts in anything that required precision tooling. This lead to the car industry as their technologies increased. Parts suppliers normally supply more than just one industry, or at least they try. If you are in business, you must recognize the industry you are in and what you supply.

In the 90's NAFTA passed. In order to continue supplying certain industries, the company had to have a plant in the old soviet block or Mexico. They chose Mexico. They gave the Mexican plant the simplest part to manufacture. The parts were shipped up to their US company and normally thrown in the trash. They were horrible. The cost of doing business.. a wasted plant in Mexico that couldn't make a part to save their lives. Had this company chosen to allow the parts to go out directly from Mexico, I'm sure more planes would be crashing today.

My parents made good money. They put my sister and I through college, and even provided us summer jobs in between semesters (sad that I made more during the summer than I do now in Florida in a part time position). I was my momma's secretary. This meant I had to catch her stat charts up and help her teach training classes for quality. My charts went out the door with shipping in order to track the quality control. I wrote SOP's for the Quality manuals. Every time I flew, I felt a bit of pride knowing I had a little bit of me in the plane, and that other's would be just fine on their trip.

If we lose industry, we will lose the ability to make things. Who replaces my dad who made custom tooling that took 20yrs to fine tune? Who replaces the dedicated inspectors? Who replaces the pride? Making things should not be a dirty word. AND being paid a living wage is not a dirty thing. If we don't start standing up for workers, no matter what industry they are in, we will all lose... AND we have been seeing this systematic destruction of workers rights and liberties for much too long. Time to stand up for each other. Time to Unite. Time to take back our country.

[blue neen]

1. NAFTA is one of the things that Bill Clinton was wrong about.

I love Bill Clinton, but he screwed up big time on that one.

JMHO.

[glowing]

3. NAFTA lead to the rest of it.. which really hurt.

[BeatleBoot]

4. And George W Bush never enforced the side agreements to NAFTA that would protect workers

Everyone seems to overlook that point.

[sandnsea]

12. The protections should be IN the trade agreement

And Bill Clinton was smart enough to know that. Check what he did in Arkansas in the 80s, what the "Arkansas Miracle" really was, and then you'll know he knew exactly what he was doing.

[BeatleBoot]

24. And watch this video

of Governor Jennifer Granholm (D - Michigan) with Michelle Obama discussing the side agreements and their lack of enforcement.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCoM8oeuZ0c&NR=1

[glowing]

2. Thanks for the Recs.

[BeatleBoot]

5. Injection Molding for me.

Plastics.

Instrument Panels, consoles, trimplates, fascias, cowls, even beauty queen seats - from 3,000 ton presses to 50 ton presses.

I drove by a smaller prototype gage shop today on my way to work (I'm in a different industry now.)

No one working - the place was empty. No lights on. Nobody.

[glowing]

7. Always sucks to know that the doors closing means a family in turmoil.

[bertman]

6. Great post and excellent food for thought, glowing.

[glowing]

8. Thank you. There are people in those shops, busting ass, working..

families eat and pay the mortgage from these places. And people invest a lot of their life's time in working for these companies. It should mean more than.. NO vote from some idiot senator's.

[ColbertWatcher]

9. I am so proud to give this thread my rec!

"If we lose industry, we will lose the ability to make things.

This needs to be emphasized until everyone knows it in their bones.

It's isn't about Mexicans taking jobs either. It's about mega corporations wanting more profit without investing in the communities that helped them grow.

Without the ability to make things, our way of life will not be sustainable.

Thank you for posting this.

[glowing]

13. No problem.. My life wouldn't have had as much if my parents didn't work

there for most of their adult lives. Working there made me realize what sacrifices they made and everyone working their made. It also taught me a real appreciation for how things are made and what it means to have quality.. There were a few times I was thrust in front of a microscope to quality check parts. Its not easy work. Its not fun. But it does serve a purpose and it does pay well.

[Swamp Rat]

10. k&r

[seemunkee]

11. I can tell you are proud of your parents, and you have every right to be

The machinists and patternmakers like your dad have skills that are hard to come by and will be difficult to replace in the next generation.

[glowing]

14. As long as we don't lose theses manufacturers all together.. there are

journeymen who learned from him.. and they will be there for our future. Not everyone goes to college. Some are just better with their hands.

[seemunkee]

16. Its just as hard as going to college

I was a cabinetmaker for 15 years. Would have liked to have been a patternmaker but just wasn't skilled enough.

[lostnfound]

15. Your post makes me want to cry.

I work in aerospace. I have seen examples of exactly what you are talking about. Make something cheaper,and cheaper, and cheaper, and it ends up not serving its function. Which might mean it gets replaced twice as often, or it might mean it doesn't work when you need it to.

These days, high dollar consultants run around telling everyone to outsource to China because the labor is cheap, or to competitively bid every last product to any third-rate company that wants to bid on it, regardless of how critical that part is to safety.
Don't get me started.

But I am only looking at it from the user side. To be involved in the production side, to know the pride of building something high tech, and then to see all of those types of jobs thrown to the ditches as if it didn't matter, must be even more heartbreaking.

[glowing]

18. Yes, quality and pride do mean something.

[Dappleganger]

17. My husband has always worked in manufacturing as an engineer...

He designs the machinery which makes a number of products. We have been through 3 major layoffs in our lifetime. The first was with Newport News Shipbuilding (laid off 1800 in one day, nearly devastating an entire area). The 2nd was a smaller manufacturing company that brought on its own set of problems. The 3rd was with AMP (our of PA, but our plant was in Harrisonburg, VA). By that time he was assistant plant manager and they shut the entire plant down at the beginning of 2001. All of that plant's work was moved down to Mexico, too. He immediately began interviewing locally and across the state, and was offered a number of 2nd interviews. However, one by one those 2nd interviews were pulled as the effects of NAFTA began to take place. Eventually we had to move out of our home state, away from friends and family to Florida.

Such is the nature of manufacturing in the US--it is the backbone of our economy, and when that went South and overseas the back was broken.

[glowing]

20. The company is still there.. my parents don't work there anymore.

My mother went back to teaching.. not as lucrative, but something she got her degree in a long time ago and is passionate about. My father works with his brother at a auto body shop. They're less stressed, a bit poorer, but they own the house and we kiddies are out of school. My mom wishes she could have afforded a masters and law degree for me.. but its my responsibility now. I'm hoping that under education reform, I could give 5yrs to teaching science/ math in trade for my masters in environmental management... I'll decide if I want the lawyer end.

For them, though, they were in the North... First they had to compete with the South and the non-Union shit, then the NAFTA, and I suppose now China.

[libnnc]

19. My family earned a living working for Dayton Rubber

used to be called Dayco Corp.

They made fan belts and hoses for cars, aircraft (during WWII) and vacuum cleaners. They also had a foam division that made pillows. My Grandfather was the first man they hired for the plant in Western North Carolina in 1940. My Mother worked for them for 37 years, first as a secretary and then as a purchasing agent. In the late '90s, the plant closed and all those jobs moved to El Paso, TX.


The plant site was demolished a couple of years ago.

A Wal-Mart was built on the property just last year.

[glowing]

21. Irony is not lost on that situation.

Sad, we don't even have manufacturing to fall back on. During tough times that was something people could turn to when other avenues were rough. It was a way to work your way through college. It was a job that you could count on for the rest of your life. Those days seem long gone. Hopefully we won't lose it all together.. we will need the plants to make things for our green future.

[jdadd]

22. I started in major appliance manufacturing

Washers, Dryers, Ranges,...company was purchased by Swedish corporation, the manufacturing plants that stayed in the US were moved to South Carolina, and other right to work states....the rest of the product line is imported from other country's and labeled with our former products name tags....I think they primarily wanted the brand names. I spent 22 years with that company...Closed Dec 1990...Over 2000 jobs lost just in my division, at least four other plants were closed along with us.

next place I closed up, was a manufacturer of heating and cooling pipes and ductwork. This business closed and moved to Mexico. Closed Dec 1999 about 180 jobs lost there...

Last place was plastic injection molding, we had presses from 20 ton to 3300 ton. Primarily made parts for the auto industry GM mostly, a little for Ford and Honda. Closed Oct 2006 The parts we made were for the truck and Bus division of GM. The reason we were given was we were underbid by another supplier....I personally think it was a liquidation sale....the Parent corporation (still in business) decided to exit the automotive supply business a year earlier, they sold us to a holding company. The first thing they wanted was for us (USWA) to open the contract and take concessions,I think they intended to close us, and were just trying to get out as cheap as they could. When that didn't work, they proceeded to run us to death. I laughed that they were paying me 14+ dollars an hour to walk around looking for an 85 cent O ring because they refused to purchase any repair parts...I have to give my fellow maintenance men credit...we did a damn good job keeping that machinery running without any kind of a budget...after about a year they closed the place and had a gigantic auction...a lot of that equipment went for pennies on the dollar...I saw a seven year old HPM 1600 ton press go for 25 thousand dollars...The rigging company that came to move it, said it was going to mexico...we actually cut some of the smaller presses up for scrap...About 400 jobs lost there....

That makes three plants I've closed up since 1990...

Edit;Spelling

[glowing]

23. AND then Wallstreet wonders why people can't pay their bills.

[ellie]

25. Mine too

My dad worked in a glass factory that supplied glass to the auto industry.

[glowing]

27. manufacturing has helped a lot of us have a decent upbringing.

[sarcasmo]

26. Growing up in Michigan and still living here, I know many families that these Republicans

trying to destroy the UAW will screw over. The thing is, they don't realize that it is more than the UAW. It is the Die makers, the Car lots, the Machinist, the list goes on and on, and not all of the jobs that are going to be lost will be union. Total asshats screwing Americans over politics.

[glowing]

28. exactly.. a Huge southern car dealer went belly up.. It was a company

that had multiple dealers across the south.. they couldn't get the credit or sell enough cars. It was a company that was around for a long time. That's people employed, tax revenue, non-profit support, community leadership.. gone.

[sarcasmo]

29. They are shutting the Spring Hill Saturn plant down for the month of January, those people

should go thank their senators.

[tammywammy]

30. Are you talking about the Heard dealerships?

He had a lot of problems going on.

[glowing]

31. It might have been.. I can't remember now.. we've lost a few of them

now. Places that have been around forever.. gone.

[tammywammy]

34. Heard's the biggest chain that I know of that went out of business

How big turned bad for Heard empire

"Do you have good credit? Where's your light bill? Where's your gas bill?"

Sales staff at Bill Heard Enterprises Inc. stores greeted shoppers with those questions, a former Heard manager recalls. Poor credit? No problem. More than half of the stores' sales were to subprime customers. No one walked away; they drove — even if the financing wasn't finished.

But they often had to drive back. In the final days of the Heard empire, an astonishing 20 to 30 percent of financing deals at one Las Vegas store fell through, a former manager at the store says. The store would call the buyer with instructions to return the car and sign for new financing at less favorable terms.

Heard needed those subprime buyers to support a business strategy built on big. Big trucks and SUVs. Big buildings. Big inventory. Big sales volumes. When the total market slowed, and sales of Chevy light trucks tanked, the empire collapsed.

In August, GMAC Financial Services froze Heard Enterprises' floorplanning. On Sept. 28, the company filed for bankruptcy protection. Now a few dealers will pick up some crumbs and try to run the stores smaller.

-snip-

Big problems
Bill Heard Enterprises failed when the credit crunch and economic slowdown exposed the following flaws in its business plan.
• High property mortgage and lease payments
• Big inventories
• Plummeting light-truck and Chevrolet sales
• Reliance on subprime buyers for more than half of sales
• Spot deliveries to customers with poor credit
• Record consumer complaints for misleading advertising
• Frozen floorplans by GMAC and Alphera


This is a long article but very detailed on what did the Heard franchise in.
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081201/ANA06/812010363

[B Calm]

32. I drive an 18 wheel truck for a company that makes bumpers for

them. Right now we have over 50% of our employees on layoff. Some have already ran out of unemployment benefits!

[glowing]

33. apply for the extension. my friend just got his extended.