New Kubota Factory

[Volfandt]

One thing this thread shows us all is we all are not happy with the ways things are now.....

Course we all have our differing opinions on the cause and effect, but we all do have a common ground, (besides obviously likeing our tractors) and that is our combined misery and desire for our society to continue to succeed.....

The fall of our great manufacturing society started in the late 60's when it became more profitable to ship iron & steel oversea's than to domestic plants. The domino's continued as the rest of the world discovered that they too had the resourses to produce the raw materials so both raw material producing manufactures and domestic finsihed product manufactures became less and less profitable, causing the majority to close or seek other reveue producing schemes, such as relocating their plants on foreign soil....

At that time our foreign competition, though their own trial & error, kept produceing and refining, most being educated here in Amercian universities, and eventually they not only got it right, but also were able to build an infrastructure that would supply and support their product in the worlds largest market, N America and make a profit at it.
So to summerize, our foriegn competition used our raw materials and educational opportunities to succeed in our market place and we didn't or couldn't......

Now, how can a foreign automotive, or tractor manufacturer make their product, ship this product to our markets and have the infrastructure inplace to support it while we cant? This thread has many opinions on this. Some good some not so good....

Whats apparant is that the above is the cause and the effect of the backbone of our middle class continually eroding away.
The results are as we know it, high unemployment, low tax revenues and an non-withstainable drain on our public welfare systems. Together this effects both our education system and the product it produces, young adults ready to compete with the world, or the lack there of..... We are sucking ourselves dry.......

In any case, although I have some strong differing opinions w/some exposed in this thread, we're all directly effected by the loss of our manufacturing backbone and ANY manufacturing plant opening up on our shores is a very good thing, no matter how you want to slice it.....

Dave

 

[Scooby074]

Or after Lunch Monday through Friday because the workers are all drunk or high.

Ok, that was the typical FOX smear piece, but i gotta admit it made me laugh when they took off like cockroaches at the end.

But honestly, you'd be surprised on the sheer numbers that pound a few on breaks. Union has nothing to do with it. On nightshift that number doubles.

Every plant i worked in had a "hangout" of some kind. Some guys even used to hop the fence and sit in their vehicles. Then hop back when its time to get back to work. Some just drank and "smoked" at a back corner of the property. Once your there for a while and they figure youre "cool" you'll eventually hear about it.

One last thing its only american beer anyways.... They probably hardly caught a buzz

 

[ericher69]

My observation of our North American society as of the last few years...

NOBODY gives a s#*t!

From the cashier ringing up your goods (don't say hello, good bye) don't care if they gave you incorrect change or screwed up your food order

The Nurse caring for you at the hospital,
the firefighter that took the wrong route to get to a fire, the police officer that talks down to people, the surgeon that botched your operation, the welder that made substandard welds, the teacher that spews out the material and doesn't care if the student is learning...

My point being; whatever you get paid in $$/hour and whatever you do for that pay;

take pride in the work that you do!

No wonder we are having such problems

Kids coming out of college/university expect to make 100k/year. They don't want to put their time in and prove/earn that pay!

I for one am glade that Kubota has chosen the USA for their new plant!

 

[bunchgrass]

My observation of our North American society as of the last few years...

NOBODY gives a s#*t!

.............
take pride in the work that you do!

No wonder we are having such problems

...............

I for one am glade that Kubota has chosen the USA for their new plant!

Amen.

 

[don white]

I guess I don't really come here for politics so I will end with this thought.
Unions represent less that 10% of workers in this country. I believe it was only ever around 18%. So how is this small slice of Americans workers destroying manufacturing. Unions destroyed nothing, corporate greed did. Did the union workers cause the banking fraud that brought down our economy? No corporate greed did. Not one banker has gone to jail!

 

[bunchgrass]

Schools, restaurants and movie theaters SHOULD have the ability to install jammers.

In the event of a family emergency, call the front office and someone will get you. Its the way it was before cells... worked fine then.


On the topic of teachers... My old math teacher kept a pint in his top drawer.. cranky old ******* he was.

I'll just say that parents were more motivated to lobby the administration/school board to allow cell phones in school than they were to make sure their kids did homework. Keeping them in their lockers was met with "they'll get stolen there". So they were allowed in the classrooms but kids weren't allowed to use them - right. Texting under their desk tops etc. Guess why I quit?

Here's an example of why kids don't see the need to "work" at anything. The teen icon Justin Bieber, now 17 yrs old, thought the north pole was one of the 7 contintents BUT he'll never have to work another day in his life, if he so chooses. A fine role model for teens

"Not one banker has gone to jail!"

Don - I've always wondered why the names, addresses and photos of those involved with the fraud haven't been plastered all over the internet. At least they should have to keep looking over their shoulders wondering what unemployed, bankrupt citizen might be looking for their stolen pension money .......

 

[lilranch2001]

Ok, that was the typical FOX smear piece, but i gotta admit it made me laugh when they took off like cockroaches at the end.

But honestly, you'd be surprised on the sheer numbers that pound a few on breaks. Union has nothing to do with it. On nightshift that number doubles.

Every plant i worked in had a "hangout" of some kind. Some guys even used to hop the fence and sit in their vehicles. Then hop back when its time to get back to work. Some just drank and "smoked" at a back corner of the property. Once your there for a while and they figure youre "cool" you'll eventually hear about it.

One last thing its only american beer anyways.... They probably hardly caught a buzz

I dispute this, any company that has any discipline does not and will not allow this to happen.
Small rinky dink outfits may, but any company that truely respects its employees welfare does not allow it any more

 

[chuckcar70]

Maybe this will mean that you will not have to pay an extra 30% markup in Canada if it is made in NorthAmerica and no Duty(7%) I paid $53000 for my M100X with the loader/a/c/radio and all of the other bells and whistles. In Canada they were quoting me $76000 for the same piece. Why is it so expensive in Canada for anything?

 

[bunchgrass]

I dispute this, any company that has any discipline does not and will not allow this to happen.
Small rinky dink outfits may, but any company that truely respects its employees welfare does not allow it any more

Sorry - I worked for one of he the largest manufacturers of office furniture in the country - Steelcase. That place had plenty of drunks/stoners etc showing up for work "buzzed" and rekindling at lunch time. That wasn't a small rinky dink outfit at all.

 

[300UGUY]

Sorry - I worked for one of he the largest manufacturers of office furniture in the country - Steelcase. That place had plenty of drunks/stoners etc showing up for work "buzzed" and rekindling at lunch time. That wasn't a small rinky dink outfit at all.

Every place I ever worked at had it's share of drunks and stoners. One place I worked at, the owner liked to play the ponies. We'd seem him studying the racing form, and giving the shop bookie money for his bets. And the night shift always had the most drunks. They didn't have to get up early that way....

 

[Scooby074]

I dispute this, any company that has any discipline does not and will not allow this to happen.
Small rinky dink outfits may, but any company that truely respects its employees welfare does not allow it any more

You can dispute it, but its a fact of life. And these arent "rinky dink" outfits... major employers with 1000's of employees. Some people take their bad habits to work with them.

If anything small companies are harder to get away with this stuff at. When there's lots of guys around, one or two out of the ordinary dont stand out so much.

 

[300UGUY]

I thought Kubota had been making some tractors in the USA? I also thought JD was making some tractors overseas?

I have worked in industry for 30 years. In union shops and nonunion. On the shop floor and as a supervisor. There is nothing wrong with Americans workers I would put them up against any in the world. If bad welds are being produced then there is a process problem. If the paint is falling off then there is a process problem. If parts don't fit then there is an engineering problem. Blaming the worker for quality problems is real lame. Insuring quality is a management function. I have never experienced workers who wouldn't work and do good work when instructed and properly managed.

The crappy cars that were made in the 70s were because of bad management. The worker on the floor has no input as to the quality of steel used. The cars rusted out in 5 years. Now come on whose fault is that.

Just the way I see it.

I worked on a problem involving gun drills once. I noticed that one manufacturer didn't have the problem. It turned out the the purchasing department was buying from 6 different shops, all trying to get a cheaper tool. We asked for it to be single sourced - the good tools were naturally, more expensive. You'd thought that we had asked for gold.

 

[BethesdaEC]

My observation of our North American society as of the last few years...

NOBODY gives a s#*t!

From the cashier ringing up your goods (don't say hello, good bye) don't care if they gave you incorrect change or screwed up your food order

The Nurse caring for you at the hospital,
the firefighter that took the wrong route to get to a fire, the police officer that talks down to people, the surgeon that botched your operation, the welder that made substandard welds, the teacher that spews out the material and doesn't care if the student is learning...

My point being; whatever you get paid in $$/hour and whatever you do for that pay;

take pride in the work that you do!

No wonder we are having such problems

Kids coming out of college/university expect to make 100k/year. They don't want to put their time in and prove/earn that pay!

I for one am glade that Kubota has chosen the USA for their new plant!

I disagree, I have several late 20 to early 30 years old that work for me that have been phenomenal. I could not run my business without out them and I also compensate them accordingly. I also don't pay them $12 an hour.

 

[300UGUY]

I disagree, I have several late 20 to early 30 years old that work for me that have been phenomenal. I could not run my business without out them and I also compensate them accordingly. I also don't pay them $12 an hour.

You are a good man.

 

[grsthegreat]

Well in todays economy $12 per hour will attract alot of people. I'm an electrical contractor, and during the peak building years of old...in other words up until 2009 here in N. Idaho, i couldn't find a 1st year apprentice electrician (someone without any tools and without any experience) that would work for less than $16/hr. Today they would gladly take $8/hr IF there was any work for them.

I let all my employees go 3 years ago, and i don't foresee any new hiring any time soon.

Any new jobs I have to do myself, and those are few and far between.

My, how times have changed.

 

[Grateful11]

Those hourly rates are not what a line worker makes, that is the labor cost to get an hour of work done. An employee gets 10 holidays and 15-20 vacation days, they have sick leave and training. now throw in insurance social security, retirement etc. I am not saying that unions are good but that is a distorted number used by the auto industry to make the unions look bad. IIRC they typically make 20 to 40 an hour. Most employees cost 30-50% more than the salary.

Bethesda you hit it pretty darn close. I really have to wonder where people get their wage figures from, I think out is they're pulling them out of their arse or getting them from Fox News. I know what the current wage is where I used to work in "Closed" Union Shop, "closed" as in you had to be in the Union or you didn't work there. I'm gonna tell y'all right here and now that I do not I know of any Union workers making $50-75/hr. The current wage in the shop I'm going to tell you about for a Journeyman Machinist is $25.04/hr. plus benefits and benefits get lower with every contract. To get in this shop is not easy, they recently wanted to hired 3 Journeyman Machinist, meaning you better hit the floor able to do or make what's put in front of you. In the last hiring session over 50 showed up, when told there would be a mandatory drug test about half left, when they got through doing aptitude testing only 2 made it through. There's more talent in the Union shop I worked in than any place I've ever worked and there's been quite a few. This facility has cranes from 1 ton to two overhead 200ton cranes, that's not a typo it's 200ton, that's the kind of equipment being handled there.

I realize it's cute and all to throw off all the problems of this country onto Unions and there probably is some Union workplaces where stuff isn't getting done or done right but I can assure you there's Union facilities out there that are the envy of the world. The facility I spoke of has been visited by nearly every Class 1 railroad, the head of FRA and Rail Administrations from other countries. The workmanship coming out of that shop is top notch. Equipment so well built that they have built massive amounts of equipment for other railroads.

I tried to bugout of this thread but some of you folks haven't a clue as to what you're talking about. Turn off the Fox News, stop drinking their Kool-Aid and start thinking for yourself for a change. Merry Christmas!

 

[grsthegreat]

Bethesda you hit it pretty darn close. I really have to wonder where people get their wage figures from, I think out is they're pulling them out of their arse or getting them from Fox News. I know what the current wage is where I used to work in "Closed" Union Shop, "closed" as in you had to be in the Union or you didn't work there. I'm gonna tell y'all right here and now that I do not I know of any Union workers making $50-75/hr. The current wage in the shop I'm going to tell you about for a Journeyman Machinist is $25.04/hr. plus benefits and benefits get lower with every contract. To get in this shop is not easy, they recently wanted to hired 3 Journeyman Machinist, meaning you better hit the floor able to do or make what's put in front of you. In the last hiring session over 50 showed up, when told there would be a mandatory drug test about half left, when they got through doing aptitude testing only 2 made it through. There's more talent in the Union shop I worked in than any place I've ever worked and there's been quite a few. This facility has cranes from 1 ton to two overhead 200ton cranes, that's not a typo it's 200ton, that's the kind of equipment being handled there.

I realize it's cute and all to throw off all the problems of this country onto Unions and there probably is some Union workplaces where stuff isn't getting done or done right but I can assure you there's Union facilities out there that are the envy of the world. The facility I spoke of has been visited by nearly every Class 1 railroad, the head of FRA and Rail Administrations from other countries. The workmanship coming out of that shop is top notch. Equipment so well built that they have built massive amounts of equipment for other railroads.

I tried to bugout of this thread but some of you folks haven't a clue as to what you're talking about. Turn off the Fox News, stop drinking their Kool-Aid and start thinking for yourself for a change. Merry Christmas!

Yup. I know theUnion electricians here make in the range of $32/hr incl all benifits. Im non union nowdays... i dropped out after 911 due to the sudden loss of all large govt contracts.

Mind you i make more than i did working for the union nowadays, but the work isnt as steady.

 

[MHarryE]

I've worked on the management side for 3 major companies in my career, and found the best quality originated from plants where the workers, union or non-union, we're treated the best. In the early 90's I worked at a JI Case plant in IL where management treated the workers like animals and they responded like animals. The plant manager had his office soundproofed so he could scream his lungs out at everybody and anybody. I was so excited to leave that place- when my crew threw me a party my last day one of them said they had never seen me as happy. My last place - 19 years - instituted a zero tolerance policy in 1999. Workers were treated exceptionally well, work teams could police themselves, and there was profit sharing that included money for the quality of the product produced as measured by warranty hits, customer complaints, customer surveys. It didn't mean anything like one mistake and you're fired but as an example when a dealer found a transmission dry on pre-delivery, the person who signed off as having done it was flown out to the dealer, and end customer, to apologize. Of course we didn't send him by himself, but one of the management team went with him to explain our quality process and how every person was taking responsibility for quality. It wasn't a throw out a sacrificial lamb situation, but a way for assemblers to talk to end customers to see how a mistake could cost a customer, in this case a farmer, his whole livelyhood. I have also worked in Europe and Japan. What I saw was more consistent good treatment of employees in general and consequently better quality although a good USA plant can top anyone in the world.