Time to move production activities to another location? (1 Viewer)

I've heard that Vietnam is one of the next prime locations for cheap labor.

Prost!
Brad
 
Personally I will never buy anything, or have anything to do with anything made in Vietham.

Its just not an option for me!
 
You only have to look around the internet to work out which figures are the most expensive, and the answer is those that are made in China! It is much easier, faster and cheaper to produce in house. In order to exploit the sweatshop labour of the far east the China companies have to pre-order vast quantities of each new figure to fill a container, the in house producer makes his mould and casts and paints what is necessary, thus saving on space, materials, and labour plus having the advantage of the complete range of figures always being available instead of being "retired". So the argument of cheaper labour equals cheaper figures is spurious. And in order to pre-empt those who would say there is a lot more involved in running a model/toy soldier business, I know. I have been in the business for fifty years, have had my own company and have worked with most of the major British companies producing their master patterns and acting in an advisory capacity.
 
HistoryfortheAges said:
With rising costs in China, it may be time for manufacturers to find another location to make their toy soldiers to keep prices as affordable as possible for us collectors... Those who do this, may still be around to reap the benefits in the next decade...

Why do the company need to move :confused:
Most people on the forum seem happy to pay $300.00 for a item , the toy company's are not losing out ;)
Click to expand...
 
I defer to your expertise but on the whole it isn't a huge amount of savings at least not in my opinion.

(These are gloss figures by the way)

ATS/LL

Mounted £32 - £40 $48 - $60
Foot £10 - £13 $15 - $19

WBritian (Prices directly from the UK & US website)

Mounted £44.99 $48 (Treefrog lists as $43)
Foot £18.00 $24 (Treefrog lists as $22)

There seems to be more of a saving to the British

Added to the fact that for the most part you can just go into a shop and pick up a Britains figure whenever you want and the cottage industries have to be ordered and have a 30 day wait.
 
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Njja said:
Personally I will never buy anything, or have anything to do with anything made in Vietham.

Its just not an option for me!
Click to expand...

If you drink coffee, you'd better research and see whether it's made from the Robusto beans grown in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government ran a campaign to develop domestic coffee production and compete with the established producers like the South and Central American states. To produce mature crops as quickly, they settled on the Robusto variety, which grows to maturity faster, and whose beans ripen faster than the Arabica variety. So, they can offer more coffee faster, and compete. The Robusto bean doesn't have the same flavor that the Arabica bean does, not as mature, some coffee lovers say, but it can be sold cheaper.

I'm curious, though, and I mean this with all due respect, not trying to be a smart aleck, but do you boycott Communist Chinese products, too? To me, both regimes are equally reprehensible, and if I were to boycott products from one, I'd boycott products from the other, too.

Prost!
Brad
 
thebritfarmer said:
I defer to your expertise but on the whole it isn't a huge amount of savings at least not in my opinion.

(These are gloss figures by the way)

ATS/LL

Mounted £32 - £40 $48 - $60
Foot £10 - £13 $15 - $19

WBritian (Prices directly from the UK & US website)

Mounted £44.99 $48 (Treefrog lists as $43)
Foot £18.00 $24 (Treefrog lists as $22)

There seems to be more of a saving to the British

Added to the fact that for the most part you can just go into a shop and pick up a Britains figure whenever you want and the cottage industries have to be ordered and have a 30 day wait.
Click to expand...

Matt figures are also available from ATS at the same price as gloss.
Matt figures from Britains £59.99 $70 (Mounted)
££24.99 $30 (Foot)
Matt figures from K&C £85.95 (Mounted)
£30-£32 (Foot)
I am sure you can go into a shop and pick up a Britains figure....if it's still available.
 
There was a time when people said the same about Chinese goods.
NJJA, I'm kinda suprised by your comment, does this go back to the war?
Ray




Njja said:
Personally I will never buy anything, or have anything to do with anything made in Vietham.

Its just not an option for me!
Click to expand...
 
We all holler about how companies go to other countries to use cheap labor but lets face it we all take advantage of it.My union use to holler about Wa-Mart but I've seen all the officals in there at one time or another.
Mark
 
uksubs said:
HistoryfortheAges said:
With rising costs in China, it may be time for manufacturers to find another location to make their toy soldiers to keep prices as affordable as possible for us collectors... Those who do this, may still be around to reap the benefits in the next decade...

Why do the company need to move :confused:
Most people on the forum seem happy to pay $300.00 for a item , the toy company's are not losing out ;)
Click to expand...

Manufacturers that can produce a quality figure at a reduced cost will gain a competitive advantage. Just like when K&C started producing in China years ago while other manufacturers were still producing out of Britain. Now all the big players are producing out of China. It just made economic sense, but that may be changing... we will have to see... Definitely as prices rise, demand will be curtailed. For those of you that can absorb the higher prices, I congratulate you! These days, I am being very much more selective in my purchases. I have reduced my budget for these collectibles by 80% from my prior purchases of just a couple of years ago. You can bet that will be continuing with prices at these levels... I can live without, if need be... :eek:
Click to expand...
 
i think the word globlization is what id call it , its happened here in blighty, what i mean is that as we got more productive we got greadier and wages went up so the price went up tax went up and so manufacters looked else where, now britain isnt the manufacturing country of the world instead of making everything from bolts to a warship now we have become supermarket workers and the skills our forefathers left us is dieing out. the same thing will happen to china , manufacters or now the shareholders will say we want more money ship it somewhere cheaper . my opinion is that india is the next big player thats where they will produce the goods
 
The only worry is that we are quickly running out of countries which, one can use to get these products made cheaply. I think we are racing towards a time when things may become much more expensive
Mitch
rayb said:
i think the word globlization is what id call it , its happened here in blighty, what i mean is that as we got more productive we got greadier and wages went up so the price went up tax went up and so manufacters looked else where, now britain isnt the manufacturing country of the world instead of making everything from bolts to a warship now we have become supermarket workers and the skills our forefathers left us is dieing out. the same thing will happen to china , manufacters or now the shareholders will say we want more money ship it somewhere cheaper . my opinion is that india is the next big player thats where they will produce the goods
Click to expand...
 
There is some truth in that but, were all in a way to blame as we alll want quality but, as low as we can get it in terms of price. I think as China and india grow we may see our products getting made in some strange areas in the future
Mitch


rayb said:
i think the word globlization is what id call it , its happened here in blighty, what i mean is that as we got more productive we got greadier and wages went up so the price went up tax went up and so manufacters looked else where, now britain isnt the manufacturing country of the world instead of making everything from bolts to a warship now we have become supermarket workers and the skills our forefathers left us is dieing out. the same thing will happen to china , manufacters or now the shareholders will say we want more money ship it somewhere cheaper . my opinion is that india is the next big player thats where they will produce the goods
Click to expand...
 
Mitch said:
There is some truth in that but, were all in a way to blame as we alll want quality but, as low as we can get it in terms of price. I think as China and india grow we may see our products getting made in some strange areas in the future
Mitch
Click to expand...


And that is what "value" is all about: quality vs. price. However, the two are not mutually exclusive. The question is "how much are you willing to pay?"...and the manufacturers know this. If my profit margin is the same on 500 units of an overpriced product as it is on 1000 units of a reasonably priced product (that more people can afford), why go to the trouble to do volume?

This is not a plug for W. Britains (and I collect a number of brands), but in my mind's eye, Britains continues to be an excellent value for the quality vs. price. As a result, I purchase a lot more multiple Britains figures, whereas with other manufacturers, I may only purchase one of each. I also think that has contributed to a faithful following (keep in mind that every manufacturer's faithful few are represented in this forum...so be careful not to take the overwhelming comments here necessarily as the cross section of all consumers in the TS industry).

In order for them to keep us purchasing, they have to continue to find their best value in manufacturing, and clearly that often means going abroad...common sense in a global economy. And I know we all have "foreign" products hanging about the house; it's just impossible not to given the modern nature of manufacturing.

BTW, and slightly off the topic...speaking of "hanging around the house"...did I ever tell you about my sister, Veranda? She's always hanging around the house. :)
 
The Chinese are not to keen on low wages anymore they want a 4 bedroom home and 2 cars in the drive way.
Next stop India or maybe Russia......and if those places are no good then there's Scott in good old Mass.:eek::D
 
The heck with it. I'm going back to my 28mm castings.All made in the USA or Great Britain. Seriously ,My 54mm are full up, theres nothing more I need or really want that comes out of a box finished.
I'll still do some plastic/metal kit bashing to fill in some weak spots in my units, but I'm not worrying too much about rising costs of figures as i wont be buying too many.I'm about done.
FUB
 
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