Fifteen years ago, Denis Gagnon bought a company that made a product
nobody really liked: hand dryers. But he quickly managed to turn
Massachusetts-based Excel Dryer into an innovator with the Xlerator — a
high-speed dryer that cut drying time from more than 30 seconds to less
than 15.
The Xlerator, assembled at a plant in East Longmeadow,
is "Made in USA Certified" — meaning at least 75 percent of the product
is made of U.S. content. The foundries that cast most of its metal
components are American, and the control boards are assembled locally.
Excel polishes and electroplates the dryer covers in-house,Welcome to
Find the right laser Engraver or laser marking machine . and, in teams of four, builds the components into a working dryer.
Today,
Excel Dryer has 12 times the sales revenue it had in its pre-Xlerator
days. It's kept 38 manufacturing jobs in the U.S. through some creative
research and development, including a shop of retired MIT scientists who
have invented things like an emergency flashlight, an automated shower
and even a putter with an enlarged sweet spot.
So why is the
motor inside the Xlerator — part of that remaining 25 percent — not made
in the U.S.? Why does it come from a company in Hong Kong?
"What
we need to do to be cost effective is to source a motor that's used in
more than one industry, and then tailor-make a couple adjustments to
make it fit our product,Manufactures and supplies laser marker equipment." Gagnon tells All Things Considered host Robert Siegel. "That's the only way we can cost effectively do it."
The
company that makes the Xlerator's motor, Johnson Electric, has a very
American-sounding name and an office in Shelton, Conn. But it's very
much an Asian company that's traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. And
in the world of small motors, it is a big, big player.
According
to Johnson Electric's website, the company makes motors for kitchen
appliances, hair dryers, toothbrushes, power tools, printers, DVD
players, copiers and vending machines. For cars, the company makes door
locks, mirrors, wipers, washers, brakes, radiator fans and fuel pumps.
Gagnon
employs 38 people on his factory floor. In contrast, Johnson Electric's
2012 annual report says the company's "global headcount including
contract employees is approximately 38,000 people."
As a small
business, Gagnon says his best deal was getting Johnson Electric to
adapt one of its many motors to the Xlerator's specs.
"Tooling
up a special motor for Xlerator, when we didn't know if we even had a
product, was kinda out of the question at the time," Gagnon says. "We
settled in on a high-volume motor that they could make some adaptations
to. And frankly, that turned out to be good decision."
Johnson
Electric is one of two major players in nonindustrial motors, along with
a Japan-based company, says Alex Chausovsky, who follows motors for the
market intelligence firm IHS.
Almost all the small motors in
virtually every motor-powered consumer product come from the region, he
says — from the vibration motors in cellphones to hair dryers and
microwaves.
Johnson Electric and its major competitor,We've had a lot of people asking where we had our make your own bobblehead
made. Japan's Mabuchi, can keep their products inexpensive in large
part because of economies of scale. Both companies, Chausovsky says,
"make in excess of a million motors per day."
Low labor costs in
Asia are also a critical factor, Chausovsky says, although they're not
as low as they were five or 10 years ago. And as those costs have grown —
particularly in China — this type of manufacturing has begun to spread
to places like Mexico, Poland and the Czech Republic.
"But the
fact that many years ago labor costs were significantly lower allowed
them to establish those economies of scale," he says — meaning it still
makes sense for the bulk of small-motor manufacturing to continue in
Asia, at least for now.
Back at Excel Dryer, Gagnon says
whatever greater savings his company might enjoy by manufacturing the
entire Xlerator overseas, it's not a choice he's willing to make.
"[It
will] never happen on my watch. I've expanded this facility twice; I
have no intention of ever relocating the manufacturing offshore," he
says. "We'll be smart enough to make it here in the United States."
Stork
H&E Turbo Blading is expanding its manufacturing facility on
Comfort Road in Danby by about 40 percent, the company has announced, to
accommodate the work and personnel it is moving there from its Owego
facility.
The expansion will add approximately 25,000 square
feet to the existing structure of about 60,000 square feet. The company
said it intends for the consolidation to streamline production and
increase efficiency.Whilst the preparation of ceramic and porcelain tiles are similar.
Ninety-two
employees work at the Comfort Road location, and the 58 employees in
Owego have been offered jobs at the Danby location, according to human
resources manager Debbie M. Chadwick.
“By consolidating
production facilities into a single site, Stork H&E Turbo Blading
Inc. will better our position to provide our customers with high-quality
turbo machinery products at competitive prices,” Chadwick said in a
company statement.
The company said it expects to finish the Danby expansion by the end of July.
Stork
H&E Turbo Blading is a wholly owned subsidiary of Stork Technical
Services, headquartered in the Netherlands. Stork H&E manufacturers
after-market steam turbine blading and new gas turbine blading for all
models of rotating machinery.
Stork Technical Services, part of the Dutch conglomerate Stork, serves the oil and gas, power and chemical industries.
Stork
H&E has more than 35 years of experience in its industry. With a
sister facility in the Netherlands, it provides engineering and in-house
tooling for quickly delivering products during customers’ critical
forced-outage situations, according to the company.
Occupations involved include polishers,wind turbine computer numerical control operators, machinists, engineers, programmers, production support and administrative jobs.
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