I didn't miss the point. But in a few years, I think that Sandra Kan will find itself in a crowded field of manufacturers, having to compete for every contract they get. And they'll have that stigma of releasing 60 clients to overcome.
Whenever I think of containers, I always envision double stacks. Thanks for the clarification and correction.
Typically cynical comment and it's probably you who miss the point Tony. Bachmann is a manufacturer, and their owners appear to have rationalised they contract base to remove unprofitable use of their facilities. Do they want to dominate the world? Probably! But I don't ever recall seeing toy train manufacture appearing in the significant wealth areas of commerce and finance. If they want to change to competitive higher margin markets like electronics (iPhones/ mobiles) semi-conductors or major electro-industrial (control systems/ visual displays) then that is their business. You expect them to continue to support low margin activity, when they've already seen you throw it off, for what? Instead of bemoaning the loss of manufacturing that the US gave away, nobody took it from you, and your multiple financial crises that have made ongoing financing and commercial viability impossible- how about getting back to work and being creative? I'm sure Dave and his team have enough lost sleep to make up for but will bounce back with new ideas and methods to continue the struggle. regards
This situation should open up more manufacturing operations and give Bachmann/Sandi Can some competition. The companies with the best manufacturing practices and QC will be successful. Will it be cheaper for the consumer? Doubtful. Will we get quality product and on time releases? Probably Be patient. It will probably take at least a year to sort out for all the displaced manufacturers. In the long term, this should help the hobby.
There was i believe 2 more main manufactures in the area but Sandi Can was the bigest. What i heard was that it big contracts like Bachmann, walthers, athern,atlas was complaining to much so they got rid of the small contracts to focus on the large ones. When i saw part of the small contract list, you can tell that compaired to large ones these would not affect their bottom line much. With the big contracts happy then they will get more contracts from them.
Deluxe update quote. I glad to here the good news about the Containers and Chassis.It's good to here that but what about freight cars.Like well cars and so on.
It sure is stressful. As for UnitPak boxes, I think we will get them back in before Christmas. Will update the home page when I know. Dave
About manufacturing in other countries, I think China will still be the place for another couple years. We are looking at where else in the world we can go. Freight cars are very expensive to assemble here in the US of A but containers can be made here. More on that later this month (I hope.) As far as freight car production goes, they will take longer to get up and running in a new factory than containers but they will be coming as soon as we can make it happen. A word about Bachmann: it is their parent company that has the bull by the horns (or some other body part found in pairs) and not Bachmann themselves. The truth is that Sanda Kan was spread too thin and to mis-quote a seminar I once took, "it takes a lot of squirrels to make up for one buffalo." Meaning focus on your big customers. I believe every customer is as important as every other but human nature kicks in too. Dave
The way things are going in a few years Sanda Kan may not exist at all beyond a couple factories under another name. The stigma sure will hurt. Dave
