Revell/Monogram is moving to CHINA

sad..just sad

Just built two "new" Monogram/Revell aircraft kits. Boy what junk. Revell really messed up Monogram. The more expensive Germany kits IMO are just as bad. I have a 1976 Consitution and the new Germany version and the old kits plastic quality is far superior so I sent the new one back. Maybe their quality might improve like Trumpeter. It can't get any worse.

I believe that kit quality would improve if the company would just pay attention to the quality of the molds and rotate them often enough. If the molds are made the same way, the kits will still be bad from China.


My main concern of the loss of jobs here in the US. Having been downsized myself earlier this year, I hate how the companies treat people here like spare parts with no concern over the effects it has on family and family plans. I think if the Feds required companies pay a lifetime annual "penalty tax" into a national unemployment fund of a sort prorated for the expected remaining term of a downsized employee just to hire cheaper labor, this migration of jobs overseas just might slow a bit.. We US citizens turn to the Feds for protection, why not protection of our jobs?

Old_McDonald.

Interesting article about the very same topic in the newspaper and that if the US continues on the current path or protectionism won't work and that off-shoring if handled proplery will result in a "win-win" situation.
Might have been spurned by IBM's decision to move 3.700 Jobs to Asia.

One problem I see many people aren't asking the right question, what are the reasons for off-shoring and why can't it be done at the same cost/level/etc now. My Company is getting all our development done in Shanghai, and we have achieved a growth of 20% both in revenue and staff over the last 5 yrs.

So far, IME, things tend to have been improved after being off-shored as often needed changes in policy and restructuring were needed but could not be done back home.

Just an opinion from the far side of the globe.

I appreciate your opinion but it raises some questions.
Is IME a USA based/owned company? If so, it raises more questions.
What things got better from being offshore. Could those things not have improved in the US with proper management?
Lastily, is the 20% increase in staff create any US jobs? If not, I rest my case.

Back on my humble soapbox one last time.

Clearly, the offshoring of jobs in most cases are nothing more than a cost cutting measure to fatten profits by taking advantage of contracting cheaper labor and relenqushing many cost such as insurance, pensions, etc.. There's nothing wrong with a company wanting to make a profit but I believe that the human factor and the impact to our nation should be considered to prevent overdoing it.. We have the necessary skill sets here in the US, it just cost more to live here. The US used to be the world leader in manufatoring and services which the rest of the world benefited from. Today, we can't buy anything without seeing a "made in foreign country" label and these items cost even more today than in past years. The US has now lost almost all of it's steel industry, manufactoring of products such as durable goods, textiles, core electronics, etc. This in my opinion weakens our country at the expense of corporate greed.

One such example has directly effected me. I was downsized from a full time position of 15 years which was replaced by a green card contractor from India. It was a cost cutting measure for the company to relieve itself from future financial cost in benefits to me (insurance, pension) and gain a tax credit for expenses paid to contract labor using the tax form 1099. We have a glut of foreign software engineers taking our full time jobs. Morally, I think this is wrong. 3500 other people were also laid off. After the ink dries, the company may be able to claim a 10% increase in profits but at the expense of 3500 jobs and effected families. I still stand by my opinion that the Federal Government has a responsibilities to it's citizens and should place some (not total) measures to protect our futures. Nafta and other offshoring is really taking it's toll.

IME = In My Experience.

My Company is Japanese, but a lot of our clients are international companies, we tend to travel a lot globally to ge training, etc.

We import and customise overseas software (SWIFT, FIX, etc) for our clients who are all financial based companies(Banks, Insurance companies, etc.).
In addition to Software we also offer hardware, EAI, ERP & Web-based solutions. Our President is ex-IBM.

The development is done in Shanghai because their labour is cheaper and jsut as high-quality as the guys over here, we are connected via dedicated Optical Fiber to their data center, most of theri staff speak japanese as well as chinese, english, korean, etc.

If it results to even more duller, cheaper and bad molds then it is a shame......
Judging that most of the Nike, Adidas, Sony, Philips etc moved to the CBI region why not them.....? Welcome to the globalisation era.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Big Jake Just think The Chinese are going to be making models of The USS Consitution, Oh the shame!

Of course, Americans losing jobs is a terrible thing, but I see no shame at all in the Chinese making models of the USS Constitution.

As long as it's a good model.

I have two issues...

One is obvious loss of jobs for US citizens, and the other is the exploitation of Chinese labor as well...These people overseas are working just as hard as their former US counterparts, but are getting a fraction of the wages.

Now obviously, a dollar goes alot farther overseas than it does here...so I guess it's proportional...

In an ideal world, companies that make big profits from export their manufacturing to Far East should want to improve their product, ie., molds and new kits. However, most are probably concerned with their P&L more than new releases.

Trumpeter is, of course, the exception to this rules, as they are very aggressive in their new releases.

The company that can produce good quality kits at an affordable price, with a popular variety of subjects, will succeed.

That being said, there are some very good kits out there from most of these companies...for example...

The Revell Germany S-100 Schnellboot is a gem, at $20
The AMT aircraft kits are quite nice, their 1/72 Ju-88s and 1/48 F7F are great kits and affoardable.
Hobbycraft Canada has some nice stuff, not super quality, but better than most Revell/Monogram kits. Far more affordable too.
Academy has some affordable stuff in 1/48 and 1/72 as well...

My two pence,

Jeff Herne
Modelwarships.com

I would like to say,that this move that revell is doing just go to show how bad are goverment has gone.1 they have forgot the principal that made this country great;GOD,FAMILY AND COUNTRY.2 as i travel across this nation day after day I see us as a service nation,serviceing other countrys.Less manufuctureing and more burger flipping.
A lot of us has lost our ways and won't put our noses to the grindstone like our
fathers before us.So when revell moves to China it don't surprize me not one bit.Just look around you an see what kind of workers we produce in this country.It is not hard to see,nor is it hard to see that neither party really cares about any of us.For if they did,taxes would be lowered and less regulation would be in place.
This would allow us to fight for a better living for our familys,so I can see revell moving over seas.Why not ,less goverment interfearance,no health ins.to worry about,workers comp to pay ,less paied leave and no retirerment to fork out.These are just the tip of the ice burg.If you don't beleive it,just go to the local dmv or truck stop an ask for a f.m.c.s.r.These are the rules just govering me while i drive a 18 wheeler down the road.When you get one just be perpaired to read a lot and sratch your head going thur the mazes and hoops.This is just to climb in and turn the key.
So I can't blame or get mad at revell for what they are doing.THINKS DIGGER

As far as the quality issue goes, I think the onus is on the parent company, in this case Revell, to ensure that the quality of the kits produced off shore remains high. As a woodworker, I use many power tools that have been produced in Taiwan, etc. and the US inspectors have kept to the standards that we demand in the products we buy. I spent quite a number of years in the photographic products supply industry and have seen some excellent lenses come out of Chinese factories. On the other hand, I have also seen some absolute junk from some of their machine shops (we rejected them, of course). When we stop buying their kits because of poor quality they'll eventually get the message.

Merry Christmas!

Long Island Ed.