Anchors, again

[RunAgroundHard]

KNOX made in UK seems ok.

The security of a Knox, and the fact that it was made in the UK was the deciding factor to buy a Knox Anchor for me. I could have bought a Rocna, or a Spade but as it was all much of a muchness, country of origin was deciding factor.

 

[Daydream believer]

The security of a Knox, and the fact that it was made in the UK was the deciding factor to buy a Knox Anchor for me. I could have bought a Rocna, or a Spade but as it was all much of a muchness, country of origin was deciding factor.

Excellent move.
Just wants a few hundred more to do that & the manufacturer will probably outsource to China, to cope with demand

 

[thinwater]

You might be missing a point that there is a minimum wage circa $7.25 in some states. This would make it quite possible to have a working wage under $10 . That makes the figures more workable when one considers the skills needed to make an anchor. Obviously the overheads come in to play & I would expect american ones to be much higher than in China, due to H & S, worker rights etc
In any event I would think that the figure of $28 , whilst true, could be challenged in practice

Can you weld? A welder can get $25 plus benys (say, $32 total) anywhere. By the time you buy US steel, cut, weld, galv, and ship, imports will still win.

Maybe this will help Viking. They could use a break.

 

[Daydream believer]

Can you weld? A welder can get $25 plus benys (say, $32 total) anywhere. By the time you buy US steel, cut, weld, galv, and ship, imports will still win.

Maybe this will help Viking. They could use a break.

How many feet of welding in an anchor. Say 2 feet. How long to do that? 30mins for an item laying in a jig for a welder on bonus. So the extra labour is $15 on a component one is retailing out at $400
Lasers cut steel like butter on CAD programs. Can be done as fast in the US as it can be done in China
Galvanising is easy. It is a normal process. Most expensive part of the process & currently about £800/tonne in the UK for small jobs inc collect & return in the UK. It should be half that in the US with lower energy costs & collect/delivery optimised.
As I said earlier, even imports have to be shipped across the US & home grown do not need all the paperwork.
I suspect that items are often made in China for speed & small cost saving & sheer laziness of outsourcing

 

[thinwater]

Robot welder. If you have a factory mass producing parts you may well have a couple
Lasers cut steel like butter on CAD programs
galvanising is easy. It is a normal process. I have just had a boat trailer made for a 20ft launch & galvanised, The trailer (less wheel assembly)cost me £750 delivered to the club. That was a one off. It was welded by an apprentice. Did not need specialist craftsman. Excellent job.
As I said earlier, even imports have to be shipped across the US & home grown do not need all the paperwork.

Yes, but for most yacht anchors the volumes are not that high. Maybe Delta. US products have to be trucked across a big country. That's a 5-6 day drive at 10 hours a day. Just sayin', there are reasons. Best to let the market decide.

 

[Daydream believer]

Yes, but for most yacht anchors the volumes are not that high. Maybe Delta. US products have to be trucked across a big country. That's a 5-6 day drive at 10 hours a day. Just sayin', there are reasons. Best to let the market decide.

Of course
But any item arriving at a port needs trucking across the USA, after they have gone through the hassle of customs. So that cancels out. Plus you send them with other goods. You do not send a lorry with just 5 anchors.
Do not the US have trains for moving goods & excellent courier services?
Small volumes are sometimes better for smaller companies to react faster.

 

[thinwater]

Of course
But any item arriving at a port needs trucking across the USA, after they have gone through the hassle of customs. So that cancels out. Plus you send them with other goods. You do not send a lorry with just 5 anchors.
Do not the US have trains for moving goods & excellent courier services?
Small volumes are sometimes better for smaller companies to react faster.

Sort of true, but at the same time not true. An anchor might be made in Florida and trucked to Washington state (Fortress anchors, for example). If it was an import it would have shipped to Seattle, WA, within 10 miles of the buyer. In fact, most yachting is near ports.

Just a reminder that Tampa FL to Seattle WA is nearly twice the distance from Moscow to London. Think about making that round trip. It's a big country making for some different rules. It's cheaper to make goods in China and ship them to London to make them in Greece and then truck them all the way to London.

For example, I might drive 600 miles for a few days of work rather than fly. I'd consider that a normal thing that I have done many dozens of times. Sometimes 800 miles, the airports are not convenient.

Yes, specifically with the growth of Amazon, package delivery has become very efficient. But for the long hauls, an importer often has an advantage, since the people live on the coast. Weird.

 

[Neeves]

Despite the rhetoric

Local production offers control and flexibility, and probably other benefits - but the distributors have almost without exception have chosen cheap manufacturing bases, China, Tunisia, to make their anchors. Control, flexibility do not carry much weight - its the cost of the product, for some, that is critical - even with appalling galvanising Spade is still made offshore. Ultra is different - its a product made by a Turkish company in Turkey (a bit like a Knox - a Scots product designed by a Scot and made in Scotland (by a Kiwi!).

When Viking chose Ukraine as their production base it was a very sensible decision - who would have thought.....

Interestingly Fortress have never moved offshore, neither have Anchorright nor Manson (NZ). But Mantus (US) chose China from the outset. When Fortress had an upstart company trying to muscle in they introduced The Guardian using the components from the Fortress and cutting some process to economise - and competition failed. Lewmar's clone - as I mentioned - its never been discussed (which I find odd). Both Epsilon and the Fortress clone looked like good ideas and its as if the product champion left and Lewmar lost interest.

Jonathan

 

[thinwater]

The internet has enabled us to take price sensitivity to a whole new level. It is so easy to shop price. It is one of the reasons air travel is the way it is now; fares are so competitive. Although it is all wrong (which would take a long thread to unpack), anchors have always been and continue to be sold on a $/weight basis. Quality and perceived holding matter to some of us (those reading this thread), but for the market as a whole, $/mass still rules, explaining Delta's continued dominance of the OEM market.