bOrN iN The uSA! - Music & Sound Retailer

made in the usa(continued from page 23)Players aspire to own FenderUSA instruments for manyreasons, whether it’s the qualityor simply the way our Americanmadeinstruments look, sound andfeel. Whatever the reasons, wemust meet the expectations of ourcustomers. By creating productsright here in the United States, weare able to tightly control how ourproducts are made, ultimately todeliver the finest instruments possible.”—Andy Rossi, Fender“The Manhasset SpecialtyCompany has been manufacturingsymphony-quality music standsand music accessory products fornearly 75 years, and we feel thatour manufacturing in America affordsus many distinct advantagesover having them made overseas.These advantages include thefollowing: Longevity: Manhassethas been doing what we do fora long time. We have had manydecades to work things out, anddevelop the best ways to make ourproducts. Local Control: Becausewe do not outsource our productsor associated operations, we have100 percent control. In addition toour ability to continually monitor,oversee and direct processes, wecan immediately make operational,process, or other changes. Quality:Our policy requires inspectionsand verification through everymanufacturing step and the entirepacking and handling process.Customer Service: Rather than thecustomers having to contact thestore where items were purchasedor a supplier, we direct them to us.We deal with them and their issuesfirst hand. Employee Owned: TheManhasset Specialty Company isan Employee Stock OwnershipCompany, meaning that all of ouremployees have a stake in the company.”—Barry Heid, ManhassetSpecialty Company“As a tiny company, we havemuch better control over ourmanufacturing here. We can movequicker on new designs and makeupdates faster. Fewer surprises.Plus, most of our customers likethe idea of a California-built product.”—Dave Smith, Dave SmithInstruments“Whirlwind has always had areputation for making high qualityproducts and we also build alot of custom pieces with shortlead-times. You just can’t get asconsistent a quality of manufactureoverseas unless you invest heavilyin constantly having on-site peoplefrom your company to enforcestrict procedures. Short-runcustom builds are impossible to dooverseas and it’s also impossible tomeet deadlines that our customershave come to expect from us regularly.We have domestic sourcesfor high-quality components thatare closer and more reliable. Thishelps in controlling inventorylevels, maintaining the qualityof product, and shortening leadtimes. We are a company that hasbeen manufacturing in the U.S. for35 years.” —Al Keltz, Whirlwind“There are several reasons. Firstof all, our business is made up ofour people and our factory. We allneed jobs and aren’t excited aboutsending our own jobs to anothercountry. Second—and this comesback to people—it’s the peoplehere who know how to do thework, so the quality of the guitarswould surely suffer if we exportedour production to Asia. Third, wehave a highly sophisticated factorythat’s equipped with the latest technology,which is required to craftprecision musical instruments. Wehave spent millions upon millionsof dollars keeping our factory onthe leading edge. Asia does notoffer this, only low-wage labor.”—Bob Taylor, Taylor Guitars“The No. 1 reason we build allour products here is because itfuels our desire to make thembetter and feeds our new productimagination. Secondarily, we willship products of a higher qualityfrom here. We understand thesubtleties of our instruments betterthan any Asian or Mexican contractmanufacturer does, and we willsee small deficiencies that wouldotherwise go unnoticed. We sourcecomponents from all over theworld and we see the quality thatcomes in from overseas vendorsand, frankly, many of those componentparts are returned and nevermake it into our products. Thesecomponents would be installedif the factory were simply a jobshop and not as careful as we areabout the quality of our finishedproducts. When you visit the Moogfactory, you see all our productsbeing produced and it gives you areal sense of Moog, an Americancompany.” —Mike Adams, MoogMusic“There are many reasons. First,Completely Oblivious, Inc. manufacturesPointless Picks in SoutheastMichigan and our economyis in a depression. In our smallway, we are taking a stand againstoutsourcing. Manufacturing locallyallows us to maintain high-qualitystandards and eliminate shippingcosts. It also gives us peace of mindin protecting our intellectual property,which is impossible to do inplaces such as China.” —DouglasLarsen, Completely Oblivious“Simply put, virtually every producton the U.S. market containssome elements of foreign productionand that is how it should be ina globally competitive marketplace.However, almost any U.S.-basedproduct manufacturer would agreethat product control and qualitycontrol are extremely difficultwhen retail-ready products aremade overseas. Variances exist inevery complex system and globalmanufacturing and componentsourcing are prime examples of it.But when those variances appearand need to be resolved right thento meet a production deadline, howcan you be a part of the decisionto use this kind of epoxy or thatkind of cable if your manufacturingoperation is 12 time zones away?You can’t.” —Dan Goldsmith,X-Laser LLC“Our factories in the U.S. arevery flexible. They contain specializedequipment and experiencedpersonnel and they are in closeproximity to our engineering talent.Therefore, in the U.S., we areable to build a much broader rangeof SKUs with a smaller inventoryinvestment and shorter lead times,which results in a much tighteralignment between manufacturingoutput and demand fluctuations.This translates into improvedcustomer service levels. Also, weare able to build more complex and(continued on page 34)breaking NewsVoyage-Air Bitten By Sharks?Voyage-AirGuitars’ CEOJeffrey Cohenappeared onthe ABC realityshow “SharkTank” on Aug.23 seekingventure capitalfunding for hisbusiness alongwith his sonJosh. The elderCohen sought$500,000 fora 5 percent stake of Voyage-Air from the five “Sharks,” who areJeffrey Cohenduring the 2009Summer NAMMShow.five successful businesspeople interested in providing capital forfledgling businesses. “It’s the most innovative guitar in a century,”Jeffrey Cohen told the Sharks. Not only do they look incredible,they sound incredible. They fold in half. You never have to travelagain with your guitar. What makes it work is its patented hinge.”Jeffrey Cohen said he sold all 800 guitars he had built. “Wedon’t have a lot of revenue because we are not building them fastenough,” he said.Jeffrey Cohen told the Sharks Voyage-Air has revenues of$400,000 but the company is operating at a net loss now.The Sharks focused on the value of the patented hinge thatmakes the guitar fold. Jeffrey Cohen said he’d sell 49 percent ofthe patent for $1 million.One of the Sharks, Kevin O’Leary, offered Voyage-Air $500,000for a 51 percent stake in the entire company. Jeffrey Cohen declinedbecause he did not want to give up decision-making controlof Voyage-Air.Sharks were flabbergasted by the rejection, saying Voyage-Aircould be a $100 million business if sold via television infomercials.“They were very smart to ask for the deal they did,” said JeffreyCohen. “Hopefully, I was just as smart. Time will tell. Ask me 12months from now if I made the right decision.”Music & Sound Retailer 27