Tooling and kit production in the US?

[The Dude]

I was wondering if there are anyone in the US capable of doing IM kit tooling and/or production? With all the stuff going on around the world I am surprised there isn't any kit production coming back to the US. Only thing I would assume is that either there isn't any viable solutions or more than likely it's too expensive...

[vince14]

The costs of tooling and manufacture are massively lower in China and India. It's simply not cost effective to manufacture kits in the US or Europe nowadays.

[Rick Griewski]

I feel it is about to be not that way any more.  New cost pressure.    New quality needs.  There is money today that needs to be put to work.  We need to face up to getting out from under the thumb of some of the foreign companies.  IMHO

Edited July 7, 2020 by Rick Griewski
Bad typing

[nichenson]

Although small, Salvino's which does NASCAR kits at the present is completely produced in the US.  All of their new molding is created as well as all the injection is done in the US.  It is feasible but as stated earlier it has been insanely cheaper to do it in Asia.

[LSP_Mike]

And look what we've gotten.

Rant over

[vince14]

3 hours ago, LSP_Mike said:

And look what we've gotten.

Rant over

?

[Radub]

China is not that "cheap" anymore. What China has is "capacity". There are toolmakers in Europe but they are busy - there are two companies near where I live and I know one of the mid-tier managers in one of these companies. We were talking about the possibility of making a small conversion set, which would require a small mould. His reply was that they were so busy working for a number of medical and pharmaceutical companies that it would take a while until they could "slot in" my idea for a product into their schedule. I know a "dealer" in Hong Kong who has produced a number of moulds for models I designed. There are number of such dealers. They have a network of manufacturers and they can find one for you that has an available "slot" in their schedules. You pay the dealer and the dealer does the rest. BTW, these "dealers" get moulds done for a number of companies, which are "technically" in competition with each other. That explains how two companies that have no connection with each other, one company from... let us pick one place out of the air... let's say New Zealand and another company from another place... again, let us pick a place from the air.. let's say China... end up using the same "dealer"  to get their mould done. I heard stories from a product manager who went to a factory in Eastern China for a production meeting and while walking the floor he saw a model for another company that was not even announced yet - and incidentally, this was a company that no one even had any clue that they were using a Chinese tool manufacturer - everyone thought that this company did all their tooling "in house". Anyay, to make a long story short, I contacted this "dealer" about the possibility of making this mould for me and I was told I could get it done in four months (again, it is a relatively small conversion). So, that is the reason why people go to China - they can get stuff done within your schedules. You can get stuff done locally, but you join the queue. The machinery and materials needed to make moulds is off-the-shelf standard equipment, there is no "magic" to it. In fact the most specialised "skill" is polishing the mould and I have seen some beautiful detail destroyed by clumsy polishing. I know that some of you were at my seminar about model design that I held at the IPMS show in Chattanooga last year - I showed some examples of the importance of mould finishing there. 

Radu