MASANJIA, China — The cry for help, a neatly folded letter stuffed inside a package of Halloween decorations sold at Kmart, traveled 5,000 miles from China into the hands of a mother of two in Oregon.
“For a long time I would fantasize about some of the letters being discovered overseas, but over time I just gave up hope and forgot about them,” said the man, who asked that only his surname, Zhang, be published for fear of reprisal.
He knew well the practices of the camp in question, which was corroborated by other inmates, and he spoke as other inmates did of their work preparing mock tombstones. His handwriting and modest knowledge of English matched those of the letter, although it was impossible to know for sure whether there were perhaps other letter writers, one of whose messages might have reached Oregon.
If Mr. Zhang’s account truly explains the letter’s origin, the feat represents one of the more successful campaigns by a follower of the Falun Gong movement, which is known for its high-profile attempts to embarrass the Chinese government after being labeled a cult and outlawed in 1999.
Emboldened by an unusually open public debate in China that has broken out here in recent months over the future of re-education through labor, scores of former inmates have come forward to tell their stories. In interviews with more than a dozen people who were imprisoned at Masanjia and other camps around the country, they described a catalog of horrific abuse, including frequent beatings, days of sleep deprivation and prisoners chained up in painful positions for weeks on end.
Several former inmates recounted the death of a fellow inmate, either from suicide or an illness that went untreated by prison officials.
“Sometimes the guards would drag me around by my hair or apply electric batons to my skin for so long, the smell of burning flesh would fill the room,” said Chen Shenchun, 55, who was given a two-year sentence for refusing to give up a petition campaign aimed at recovering unpaid wages from her accounting job at a state-owned factory.
According to former inmates, roughly half of Masanjia’s population is made up of Falun Gong practitioners or members of underground churches, with the rest a smattering of prostitutes, drug addicts and petitioners whose efforts to seek redress for perceived injustices had become an embarrassment for their hometown officials.
All agreed that the worst abuse was directed at Falun Gong members who refused to renounce their faith. In addition to the electric shocks, they said, guards would tie their limbs to four beds, and gradually kick the beds farther apart. Some inmates would be left that way for days, unfed and lying in their own excrement.
“I still can’t forget the pleas and howling,” said Liu Hua, 51, a petitioner who was imprisoned at Masanjia on three separate occasions. “That place is a living hell.”
Even if they found the work exhausting, many inmates described the time spent in Masanjia’s workshops as a respite from mistreatment or the hours of “re-education classes” that often entailed an endless recitation of camp rules or the singing of patriotic songs while standing in the broiling sun.
Much of the work involved producing clothing for the domestic market or uniforms for the People’s Armed Police. But inmates say they also assembled Christmas wreaths bound for South Korea, coat linings stuffed with duck feathers that were labeled “Made in Italy” and silk flowers that guards insisted would be sold in the United States. “Whenever we were making goods for export, they would say, ‘You better take extra care with these,’ ” said Jia Yahui, 44, a former inmate who now lives in New York.
Corinna-Barbara Francis, China researcher at Amnesty International, said that abolishing or significantly reforming re-education through labor would prove daunting because it provides the police an easy way to deal with perceived troublemakers, but also because it can be lucrative for those who work within a sprawling system that includes more than 300 camps. In addition to the profits earned from the inmate labor, prison employees often solicit bribes for early release, or for better treatment, from the families of those incarcerated. “Given the serious money being made in these places, the economic incentive to keep the system going is really powerful,” she said.
During labor shortages, inmates say Masanjia officials simply buy small-time offenders from other cities on a sliding scale that begins at 800 renminbi, or about $130, for six months of labor. They include people like Zhang Ling, a 25-year-old from the eastern coastal city of Dalian who said she was among a group of 50 young women rounded up by the police last May during a crackdown on illegal pyramid sales schemes and then sold to Masanjia. While there, she sewed buttons on military uniforms but was released 10 months early after a brother paid for her release.
Masanjia officials did not respond to faxes and phone calls requesting an interview. Approached one recent afternoon, a half-dozen guards on a cigarette break outside the women’s work camp refused to answer any questions. One guard, however, made a point of correcting the way a question was phrased. “There
are no pr
isoners here,” she said sternly. “They are all students.”
Sears Holdings, the owner of Kmart, declined to make an executive available for an interview. But in a brief statement, a company spokesman, Howard Riefs, said an internal investigation prompted by the discovery of the letter uncovered no violations of company rules that bar the use of forced labor. He declined to provide the name of the Chinese factory that produced the item, a $29.99 set of Halloween decorations called “Totally Ghoul” that include plastic spiders, synthetic cobwebs and a “bloody cloth.”
Although he was released from Masanjia in 2010, Mr. Zhang, the man who said he wrote the letter, has vivid memories of producing the plastic foam headstones, which were made to look old by painting them with a sponge. “It was an especially difficult task,” he said. “If the results were not to the liking of the guards, they would make us do them again.” He estimated that inmates produced at least 1,000 headstones during the year he worked on them.
His letter-writing subterfuge was complicated and risky. Barred from having pens and paper, Mr. Zhang said he stole a set from a desk one day while cleaning a prison office. He worked while his cellmates slept, he said, taking care not to wake those inmates — often drug addicts or convicted thieves — whose job it was to keep the others in line. He would roll up the letter and hide it inside the hollow steel bars of his bunk bed, he said.
There it would remain, sometimes for weeks, until a product designated for export was ready for packing. “Too early and it could fall out, too late and there would be no way to get it inside the box,” said Mr. Zhang, a technology professional who studied English in college.His account of life in the camp matched those of other inmates who said they produced the same Halloween-themed items.
Last December, Ms. Keith, the woman who bought the product in 2011 but did not open it until the following year, sent the letter she found to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which said it would look into the matter. An agency spokesman, citing protocol, said that he could not confirm whether an investigation was under way, but that such cases generally took a long time to pursue.
For Ms. Keith, a manager at Goodwill Industries, the experience has been sobering. She said she previously knew little about China, except that most of the household goods she bought were made there. “When that note popped out and my daughter picked it up, I was skeptical that it was real,” she said. “But then I Googled Masanjia and realized, ‘Whoa, this is not a good place.’ ”
Shi Da contributed research.
Retailers Increasing Transparency About Clothing Origins
in News/by MAM TeamThe revolution that has swept the food industry is now extending to retail: the origins of products matter. Growing Consumer Demand for Accountability fairade and organic fruit becoming standard in grocery stores, consumers concerned about working conditions, environmental issues, and outsourcing are increasingly demanding similar accountability for clothing. The urgency of this issue was amplified […]
Behind Cry for Help From China Labor Camp
in Uncategorized/by MAM Team“Sir: If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization,” said the note, which was tucked between two ersatz tombstones and fell out when the woman, Julie Keith, opened the box in her living room last October. “Thousands people here who are under the persicution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever.”
The letter drew international news media coverage and widespread attention to China’s opaque system of “re-education through labor,” a collection of penal colonies where petty criminals, religious offenders and critics of the government can be given up to four-year sentences by the police without trial.
But the letter writer remained a mystery, the subject of speculation over whether he or she was a real inmate or a creative activist simply trying to draw attention to the issue.
Last month, though, during an interview to discuss China’s labor camps, a 47-year-old former inmate at the Masanjia camp said he was the letter’s author. The man, a Beijing resident and adherent of Falun Gong, the outlawed spiritual practice, said it was one of 20 such letters he secretly wrote over the course of two years. He then stashed them inside products whose English-language packaging, he said, made it likely they were destined for the West.
He knew well the practices of the camp in question, which was corroborated by other inmates, and he spoke as other inmates did of their work preparing mock tombstones. His handwriting and modest knowledge of English matched those of the letter, although it was impossible to know for sure whether there were perhaps other letter writers, one of whose messages might have reached Oregon.
If Mr. Zhang’s account truly explains the letter’s origin, the feat represents one of the more successful campaigns by a follower of the Falun Gong movement, which is known for its high-profile attempts to embarrass the Chinese government after being labeled a cult and outlawed in 1999.
Emboldened by an unusually open public debate in China that has broken out here in recent months over the future of re-education through labor, scores of former inmates have come forward to tell their stories. In interviews with more than a dozen people who were imprisoned at Masanjia and other camps around the country, they described a catalog of horrific abuse, including frequent beatings, days of sleep deprivation and prisoners chained up in painful positions for weeks on end.
Several former inmates recounted the death of a fellow inmate, either from suicide or an illness that went untreated by prison officials.
“Sometimes the guards would drag me around by my hair or apply electric batons to my skin for so long, the smell of burning flesh would fill the room,” said Chen Shenchun, 55, who was given a two-year sentence for refusing to give up a petition campaign aimed at recovering unpaid wages from her accounting job at a state-owned factory.
According to former inmates, roughly half of Masanjia’s population is made up of Falun Gong practitioners or members of underground churches, with the rest a smattering of prostitutes, drug addicts and petitioners whose efforts to seek redress for perceived injustices had become an embarrassment for their hometown officials.
All agreed that the worst abuse was directed at Falun Gong members who refused to renounce their faith. In addition to the electric shocks, they said, guards would tie their limbs to four beds, and gradually kick the beds farther apart. Some inmates would be left that way for days, unfed and lying in their own excrement.
“I still can’t forget the pleas and howling,” said Liu Hua, 51, a petitioner who was imprisoned at Masanjia on three separate occasions. “That place is a living hell.”
Even if they found the work exhausting, many inmates described the time spent in Masanjia’s workshops as a respite from mistreatment or the hours of “re-education classes” that often entailed an endless recitation of camp rules or the singing of patriotic songs while standing in the broiling sun.
Much of the work involved producing clothing for the domestic market or uniforms for the People’s Armed Police. But inmates say they also assembled Christmas wreaths bound for South Korea, coat linings stuffed with duck feathers that were labeled “Made in Italy” and silk flowers that guards insisted would be sold in the United States. “Whenever we were making goods for export, they would say, ‘You better take extra care with these,’ ” said Jia Yahui, 44, a former inmate who now lives in New York.
Corinna-Barbara Francis, China researcher at Amnesty International, said that abolishing or significantly reforming re-education through labor would prove daunting because it provides the police an easy way to deal with perceived troublemakers, but also because it can be lucrative for those who work within a sprawling system that includes more than 300 camps. In addition to the profits earned from the inmate labor, prison employees often solicit bribes for early release, or for better treatment, from the families of those incarcerated. “Given the serious money being made in these places, the economic incentive to keep the system going is really powerful,” she said.
During labor shortages, inmates say Masanjia officials simply buy small-time offenders from other cities on a sliding scale that begins at 800 renminbi, or about $130, for six months of labor. They include people like Zhang Ling, a 25-year-old from the eastern coastal city of Dalian who said she was among a group of 50 young women rounded up by the police last May during a crackdown on illegal pyramid sales schemes and then sold to Masanjia. While there, she sewed buttons on military uniforms but was released 10 months early after a brother paid for her release.
Masanjia officials did not respond to faxes and phone calls requesting an interview. Approached one recent afternoon, a half-dozen guards on a cigarette break outside the women’s work camp refused to answer any questions. One guard, however, made a point of correcting the way a question was phrased. “There
are no pr
isoners here,” she said sternly. “They are all students.”
Sears Holdings, the owner of Kmart, declined to make an executive available for an interview. But in a brief statement, a company spokesman, Howard Riefs, said an internal investigation prompted by the discovery of the letter uncovered no violations of company rules that bar the use of forced labor. He declined to provide the name of the Chinese factory that produced the item, a $29.99 set of Halloween decorations called “Totally Ghoul” that include plastic spiders, synthetic cobwebs and a “bloody cloth.”
Although he was released from Masanjia in 2010, Mr. Zhang, the man who said he wrote the letter, has vivid memories of producing the plastic foam headstones, which were made to look old by painting them with a sponge. “It was an especially difficult task,” he said. “If the results were not to the liking of the guards, they would make us do them again.” He estimated that inmates produced at least 1,000 headstones during the year he worked on them.
His letter-writing subterfuge was complicated and risky. Barred from having pens and paper, Mr. Zhang said he stole a set from a desk one day while cleaning a prison office. He worked while his cellmates slept, he said, taking care not to wake those inmates — often drug addicts or convicted thieves — whose job it was to keep the others in line. He would roll up the letter and hide it inside the hollow steel bars of his bunk bed, he said.
There it would remain, sometimes for weeks, until a product designated for export was ready for packing. “Too early and it could fall out, too late and there would be no way to get it inside the box,” said Mr. Zhang, a technology professional who studied English in college.His account of life in the camp matched those of other inmates who said they produced the same Halloween-themed items.
Last December, Ms. Keith, the woman who bought the product in 2011 but did not open it until the following year, sent the letter she found to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which said it would look into the matter. An agency spokesman, citing protocol, said that he could not confirm whether an investigation was under way, but that such cases generally took a long time to pursue.
For Ms. Keith, a manager at Goodwill Industries, the experience has been sobering. She said she previously knew little about China, except that most of the household goods she bought were made there. “When that note popped out and my daughter picked it up, I was skeptical that it was real,” she said. “But then I Googled Masanjia and realized, ‘Whoa, this is not a good place.’ ”
Shi Da contributed research.
Can Young Americans Revive Manufacturing in The U.S.?
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamCarolyn Krause / Special to The Oak Ridger
But Lonnie Love, leader of the automation, robotics and manufacturing group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, sees the device as a key to exciting young Americans to innovate and learn engineering and manufacturing skills.
The United States has been the dominant manufacturing country in the world, he said, “but we are losing our edge. We are losing our share mostly to Asia, especially China and India. How do we turn that around?”
President Obama and politicians in both parties have emphasized the importance of manufacturing because it creates jobs that pay well.
In a recent talk to Friends of ORNL, Love asked, “But, what happens if we turn the tide and get our companies that manufacture goods abroad to bring jobs back to the United States?” How many Americans will be qualified to work for companies with expanded manufacturing capabilities, he also asked.
“Our STEM education has been on a steady decline,” Love said, referring to science, technology, engineering and mathematics. “The U.S. is not ranked in the top 20 worldwide in any of the sciences or math.”
He noted that UT-Battelle, the managing contractor of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is addressing both of these problems. Love is personally involved in trying to fix both of them.
He is a user of 3-D printing, or additive manufacturing, to make innovative “hydraulic hands” as prostheses. He is also a mentor of high school boys and girls with engineering talents who participate in a robotics competition. They have been given the opportunity to do 3-D printing and traditional manufacturing at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility off Hardin Valley Road in Knoxville. Love works at the MDF.
His wife is a high school teacher who encouraged him to mentor students at Hardin Valley Academy, where she works. He learned students today no longer take “shop.” In the 1980s, he took auto shop and woodworking shop.
But one Hardin Valley student told him the school has a 3-D printer. Love found out a teacher bought a 3-D printer with startup funds, but had no idea how to use it. So teachers stacked books on it.
“I sat down with three boys and told them they are my mechanical designers,” he said. “I taught them how to use SolidWorks 3D CAD design software. They designed robot parts and printed out 25 percent of the robot they planned to enter into a competition. Kids today are very bright and very creative, but they just need some guidance.”
He explained to the students how a 3-D printer works. The printer has a powder bed with a support underneath and an electron beam to melt the powder.
“You melt the powder where your part is,” he said, “and then step the table down a few thousandths of an inch to accommodate the next deposited layer of powder, which is melted. You repeat the process many times, growing your part.” The support’s overhang can be broken off or eroded away using a salt.
Then the HVA students asked if they could work in the MDF to finish their robot projects.
So, Love asked ORNL Director Thom Mason and ORNL Deputy Director Jeff Smith if the MDF could be opened to local schools participating in the FIRST Robotics Smoky Mountains regional competition in Knoxville. Mason and Smith agreed.
“But, the kids will still need to use a band saw, circular saw, drill press and other power tools to build their robots,” Love told them. “Are you OK with that?” After all, safety is ORNL’s No. 1 priority.
Smith said “yes,” adding, “We are going to train the kids to use power tools safely.”
So, the MDF staff opened their labs to 100 to 150 boys and girls from local schools in the first year and trained them. The next year 200 to 250 kids used the MDF equipment to build their robots. Last fall, 550 students showed up at the MDF.
For six weeks, many boys and girls worked evenings and Saturdays to complete their robots. The robots this year had to throw discs and climb pyramids.
On March 28-30 at the third annual FIRST Robotics regional competition at Knoxville Convention Center, Hardin Valley Academy, Oak Ridge High School and Hall High School won the championship title, and a team from Roane County High School netted the Rookie All-Star award. These four of the 14 teams sponsored by UT-Battelle at a cost of $50,000 went to the national finals held April 24-27 in St. Louis.
“All four teams competed well at the nationals,” Love said, adding he expects future Knoxville alliances to be strong competitors in subsequent national FIRST Robotics competitions.
Maybe next year Oak Ridge and Knoxville area youth will make the news and put 3-D printing in a more positive light.
American Made K’NEX Announces New Additions to Building Sets Line
in News/by MAM TeamHatfield, PA (PRWEB) June 10, 2013
K’NEX Brands, the US construction toy company focused on Building Worlds Kids Love®, is pleased to introduce four new additions to its K’NEX Building Sets line. These K’NEX Building Sets contain 100% made in the USA bricks, rods and connectors that invite children of all ages to imagine, build and play!
The K’NEX Intro Assortment is the perfect set for first-time builders. Choose from one of three sets: the classically designed plane, helicopter with working propeller, or truck with rotating wheels. Collect and build all three to create a space shuttle with cargo doors that open and close. Each set contains 60+ classic, made in the USA K’NEX rods and connectors and full color instructions and offer great building at a great price. Suggested retail price is $5.99. Ages 5+. Available Now.K’NEX Building Sets: Robo-Creatures Assortment
Collect & build all three motorized robots in this assortment. Choose from Robo-Sting, Robo-Smash, or Robo-Strike. Each set boasts over 150 made in the USA K’NEX bricks, rods & connectors. Each robot features a motor that allows for unique and exciting mechanical movement. Collect & combine all three to create the ultimate robotic creature. Suggested retail price is $15.99. Ages 7+. Available Now.
K’NEX Building Sets: Extreme Sports
Cool extreme sports builds will capture young builders’ imaginations. The Extreme Sports building set features 10 building ideas including a hang glider, jet skier, sky diver, sport bike rider and more. Build your own daring stunt man complete with the included helmet-head and then create an action-packed stunt of your own imagination for him to complete. Set also features full-color instructions and 250+ Classic K’NEX pieces including made in the USA rods & connectors. Suggested retail price is $17.99. Ages 7+. Available Fall 2013.
K’NEX Building Set: Amusement Park Series Assortment-Space
Collect & build 3 space themed rides with the new Amusement Park Series assortment. Choose from the Star Shooter Coaster, Amazin’ 8 Coaster, or the Super Sonic Swirl. All three rides are motorized for exciting realistic performance. Each amusement park ride comes with over 400 parts including made in the USA rods & connectors. Collect & build them all and create your own amusement park—right in your living room. Each sold separately. Suggested retail price is $29.99. Ages 7+. Available Fall 2013.
Founded in 1992, K’NEX Brands, the world’s most innovative construction toy company, was established to make and sell what has become one of the world’s leading integrated construction systems for children and is America’s STEM building solution. Winner of over 250 international awards and recognitions, K’NEX, America’s building toy company, is focused on Building Worlds Kids Love and encourages youngsters to “imagine, build and play.” From the living room to the classroom, K’NEX has building toys specially designed for every age group and skill level. The K’NEX family of brands includes K’NEX Building Sets, K’NEX Thrill Rides, K’NEX Education, Lincoln Logs®, Tinkertoy®, NASCAR®, Angry Birds™, Mario Kart Wii™, Mario Kart 7™, Super Mario™, PacMan™ and more. Since 1992, The Rodon Group, a subsidiary of K’NEX Brands, L.P., has manufactured over 31 billion parts for the K’NEX building toy system. Join us as we help build the leaders of tomorrow. For more information, please visit http://www.knex.com or http://www.rodongroup.com.Both The Rodon Group and K’NEX are corporate members of The Made in America Movement.
Made in USA Documentary Debuts During USA's Largest Small Town Independence Day Celebration
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamWest Virginian Josh Miller treks from Washington D.C. to his hometown of Charleston, WV surviving only on Made in America products pursuing the truth of one simple question: “We are willing to die for our country, but are we willing to buy for our country?”
Showing at the historic Alpine Theater, located in the 200 block of West Main Street, WV, to a sold-out audience, “Made in the USA: The 30 Day Journey” will begin at 7:00 p.m. In the 93-minute documentary, Miller interviews politicians, businessmen, historians, and economists in hopes of discovering what has caused the decline of USA made products.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, West Virginia lost 29,716 manufacturing jobs between 1994 and 2012. Creator of the film, Josh Miller, asks everyday people if “Made in the USA” means anything to them. If not, what does that mean for the future of the country?
For 30 days, he used products that are “Made in the USA”, not just assembled or designed, but actually made in America — and the task pushed him to the brink. But why? In a land of plentiful resources, why is finding Made in the USA labels so difficult?
At just 27 years old, Josh Miller is part of a new generation of benevolent thinkers willing to take on national issues from a grassroots level with complete confidence that their actions will make a difference. Miller has a psychology degree from West Virginia State University and played independent professional baseball after college. He sacrificed time with his new wife, and starting a family to get this message made and heard.
“What inspired me to take this journey and create this film was the closing of Century Aluminum plant in my hometown,” says Miller, whose father-in-law lost his job along with 650 other workers during the closing. “I wanted other people to see the affect something like this has on a small community. I felt they needed a voice.”
Miller, a resident of Charleston, WV was joined by a very experienced cameraman, Justin Moe. The footage Moe obtained is part of the documentary with producers Ron Newcomb, Josh Miller, and Joe Burke. They will present the “Made in the USA: The 30 Day Journey” documentary.
Exclusive screenings have already been secured in Dayton, OH and Ripley, WV. Members of the media are invited or may request an additional screening and exclusive interviews with the film’s production team. Reviews and media coverage links can be found at http://www.usa30days.com.
Ron Newcomb
Made in the USA Films LLC
Phone: 703-895-3681
Email: USA30DAYS@gmail.com
Can Young Americans Revive Manufacturing in The U.S.?
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamBut Lonnie Love, leader of the automation, robotics and manufacturing group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, sees the device as a key to exciting young Americans to innovate and learn engineering and manufacturing skills.
President Obama and politicians in both parties have emphasized the importance of manufacturing because it creates jobs that pay well.
In a recent talk to Friends of ORNL, Love asked, “But, what happens if we turn the tide and get our companies that manufacture goods abroad to bring jobs back to the United States?” How many Americans will be qualified to work for companies with expanded manufacturing capabilities, he also asked.
“Our STEM education has been on a steady decline,” Love said, referring to science, technology, engineering and mathematics. “The U.S. is not ranked in the top 20 worldwide in any of the sciences or math.”
personally involved in trying to fix both of them.
He is a user of 3-D printing, or additive manufacturing, to make innovative “hydraulic hands” as prostheses. He is also a mentor of high school boys and girls with engineering talents who participate in a robotics competition. They have been given the opportunity to do 3-D printing and traditional manufacturing at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility off Hardin Valley Road in Knoxville. Love works at the MDF.
His wife is a high school teacher who encouraged him to mentor students at Hardin Valley Academy, where she works. He learned students today no longer take “shop.” In the 1980s, he took auto shop and woodworking shop.
“I sat down with three boys and told them they are my mechanical designers,” he said. “I taught them how to use SolidWorks 3D CAD design software. They designed robot parts and printed out 25 percent of the robot they planned to enter into a competition. Kids today are very bright and very creative, but they just need some guidance.”
“You melt the powder where your part is,” he said, “and then step the table down a few thousandths of an inch to accommodate the next deposited layer of powder, which is melted. You repeat the process many times, growing your part.” The support’s overhang can be broken off or eroded away using a salt.
Then the HVA students asked if they could work in the MDF to finish their robot projects.
“But, the kids will still need to use a band saw, circular saw, drill press and other power tools to build their robots,” Love told them. “Are you OK with that?” After all, safety is ORNL’s No. 1 priority.
Smith said “yes,” adding, “We are going to train the kids to use power tools safely.”
So, the MDF staff opened their labs to 100 to 150 boys and girls from local schools in the first year and trained them. The next year 200 to 250 kids used the MDF equipment to build their robots. Last fall, 550 students showed up at the MDF.
For six weeks, many boys and girls worked evenings and Saturdays to complete their robots. The robots this year had to throw discs and climb pyramids.
On March 28-30 at the third annual FIRST Robotics regional competition at Knoxville Convention Center, Hardin Valley Academy, Oak Ridge High School and Hall High School won the championship title, and a team from Roane County High School netted the Rookie All-Star award. These four of the 14 teams sponsored by UT-Battelle at a cost of $50,000 went to the national finals held April 24-27 in St. Louis.
“All four teams competed well at the nationals,” Love said, adding he expects future Knoxville alliances to be strong competitors in subsequent national FIRST Robotics competitions.
Maybe next year Oak Ridge and Knoxville area youth will make the news and put 3-D printing in a more positive light.
Jobs Primary Motivations for ‘Buying American’
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamMore specifically, the most common reasons for “buying American” were to support the U.S. or to be patriotic, mentioned by 32% of adults who sought out U.S.-made products in recent months, and to keep or create jobs in the country, mentioned by 31%. Additionally 20% said that buying U.S.-made products is good for the U.S. economy in general.
Fewer Americans in the April 11-14 poll mentioned specific attributes of U.S. versus foreign products as reasons for buying American, including the perception that U.S. products are better quality (13%) or concerns about the safety or quality of products made overseas (3%).
Though a substantial percentage of Americans, 45%, say they have made a special effort to buy U.S.-made products in recent months, more, 54%, have not made an attempt to do so.
There are wide generational differences in U.S.-centric shopping habits, with older Americans (61%), aged 65 and older, much more likely than younger Americans (20%), aged 18 to 29, to actively search for products made in the U.S. Younger Americans may be more accustomed to getting their products from overseas, and with international free trade agreements increasingly common, they may not have been exposed to as much pressure to “buy American.”
In addition to differences by age, there are differences by race and place of residence, with whites and those living in rural areas showing a greater propensity to favor American-made products. There are at best modest differences by gender, income, and party identification.
Americans Willing to Pay More for U.S.-Made Products
Sixty-four percent of Americans say they would be willing to pay more to buy a U.S.-made product than a similar product made in other countries. This includes the vast majority, 88%, of those who make a special effort to buy U.S.-made products, but also nearly half of those, 44%, who do not.
Given that 45% of Americans say they are making a special effort to buy U.S.-made products, and 64% say they are willing to pay more for American-made products, there is a group of about 20% of Americans who are not actively “buying American” but who seem willing to do so, even if they end up spending more.
The question did not specify how much more consumers would have to pay for U.S.-made products than for foreign-made products, but Americans may be less willing to pay significantly more for products made in the U.S. Thus, the 64% willing to pay more for American-made products may be an upper boundary estimate.
Nearly half of young adults, 43%, say they are willing to pay more for U.S. products. However, that figure is much smaller than the 70% of Americans aged 30 and older who are willing to do the same.
Americans Believe U.S. Quality Improving, but Attitudes Unchanged Since 1990
Most Americans believe that U.S. products are better now than they were a few years ago — 71% say they are a lot or a little better, while 16% say they are a lot or a little worse. However, those views are no more prevalent than they were more than 20 years ago, the last time Gallup asked the question in 1990.
Meanwhile, 52% say the U.S. has gained ground on Asian countries in terms of the quality of goods the country produces. But again, little has changed in Americans’ views on the topic since 1990.
One thing that has changed since 1990 is the rise of Chinese-made goods sold in the U.S. The 1990 question did not specify China as an Asian competitor, and Gallup did not include China in the 2013 update to ensure the current measurement is comparable with the past.
Implications
“Buy American” behavior is far from universal in the U.S., but nearly half of Americans say they actively try to buy U.S. products, and even more say they are willing to pay more for U.S. products.
Patriotism and concern for the health of the U.S. economy are major reasons behind people’s shopping for American-made products, but those attributes may be in shorter supply among younger Americans who find less appeal in U.S.-made goods. In fact, Gallup has found younger people in the U.S. ranking among the least patriotic subgroups of Americans.
If younger consumers continue to be less interested in buying U.S.-made products as they get older and future generations show a similar weak commitment to buying American, the wide generational divide in U.S. product shopping behavior could be a concern for the future market of U.S. products.
At the same time, there does seem to be a sizeable latent market for U.S. products that could be tapped, exemplified by the roughly one in five Americans who are not actively shopping for American-made goods but who say they are willing to pay more for U.S. products.
Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted April 11-14, 2013, with a random sample of 1,012 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.
Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 50% cellphone respondents and 50% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by region. Landline telephone numbers are chosen at random among listed telephone numbers. Cellphone numbers are selected using random digit dial methods. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.
Samples are weighted to correct for unequal selection probability, nonresponse, and double coverage of landline and cell users in the two sampling frames. They are also weighted to match the national demographics of gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, population density, and phone status (cellphone only/landline only/both, cellphone mostly, and having an unlisted landline number). Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2012 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older U.S. population. Phone status targets are based on the July-December 2011 National Health Interview Survey. Population density targets are based on the 2010 census. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting.
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
View methodology, full question results, and trend data.
For more details on Gallup’s polling methodology, visit www.gallup.com.
What Are the True Costs of Offshoring?
in Uncategorized/by MAM Team“The buzz at the show was that manufacturing is returning to America, and every contract manufacturer I spoke to at the show had experienced a ‘reshoring’ event,” said Nash-Hoff.
Time magazine’s April 22 cover article also noted the reshoring trend. The article “Made in USA: Manufacturing is Back — But Where are the Jobs?” is replete with photos of consumer products that have returned to American-based manufacturing from offshore.
What is refueling the trend of reshoring? Brands are not returning on an impulse or because of public pressure, IndustryWeek reports. They are doing so “to more efficiently serve the world’s largest free market. Unlike when they left, this time they are measuring why they should return.”
Too many companies moved their production to countries like China based solely on the unit prices. “Buyers are rewarded with the money they save their company based on the piece price,” added Nash-Hoff. “They fail to see the bigger picture.”
As the cost of manufacturing overseas is being re-examined using total costs models, several factors have been at the forefront. Nash-Hoff listed a few of the major factors that first led to bringing work back to the U.S.:
Nash-Hoff added, “When one or two of those problems became egregious, then companies would make the determination to return manufacturing” to the U.S.
The Reshoring Initiative, a non-profit industry-led effort to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States founded in 2010, has created total cost of ownership (TCO) software and spreadsheets that calculate many of the hidden and overlooked aspects when deciding where to manufacture. TCO refers to an estimate of the direct and indirect costs and benefits related to the purchase of any part, subassembly, assembly, or product.
The Reshoring Initiative’s founder, Harry Moser points out, “Not factored often enough are costs associated with shipping, inventory time, quality issues, and exchange-rate risks.”
According to Moser and Nash-Hoff, other hidden costs of sourcing production offshore can include:
Keith Mobley of Life Cycle Engineering has earned an international reputation as one of the premier consultants in the field of plant performance optimization. In an interview with IMT, he said, “Labor makes up about half of typical manufacturing cost. If you can drop the labor costs by 40 percent to 80 percent by moving offshore then that really impacts operating profit. What is unseen is the cost of unemployment, health care, Social Security, and all of the infrastructure costs that result from the loss of manufacturing plants.”
American consumers are also putting more pressure on retailers to have more American-made products. Nash-Huff referred to recent polls that she has seen over the past few years that indicate 78 to 80 percent of consumers would be willing to pay more and prefer to pay for U.S. made goods.
On that same note, Time magazine reported in April that Walmart promised to buy $50 billion more U.S.-made goods over the next decade for its Walmart and Sam’s Club stores.
Sell More Shoppers on Buying Made in USA Clothing
in American Made, Manufacturing & Sourcing/by MAM TeamSucceeding as a small business involves identifying your company’s unique value proposition and articulating it, he notes. Shama Kabani, chief executive of Marketing Zen Group, a Dallas marketing business, agrees. “You have to be careful in [the] marketing of anything [of] becoming a one-trick pony. There’s got to be more about your products that make them sell. For instance, if your customer service and shipping [are] not worked out, being made in the U.S.A. won’t help at all,” she says.
What you can do is reinforce customers’ interest in and loyalty to your clothing line by emphasizing that you are employing American workers to produce durable, well-made goods that meet the high standards of U.S. consumers.
“Tell your employees’ stories and have them tell the story of your brand,” Barnes suggests, making sure your message is honest and authentic, not “fabricated by some PR contractor.” You might come up with a video featuring your employees thanking customers for supporting them, their families, and their communities, for instance. “People are more likely to pay $10 extra for something if they see the impact their support makes,” Barnes says.
Something that showcases local craftsmanship could also tap into the artisanal buying trend that has consumers favoring small local businesses.
Transparency and integrity will be extremely important in such a marketing campaign, Kabani says: “You don’t want to say, ‘Buy from us because we’re made in the U.S.’ and then have someone find out you’re using illegal workers in a sweat shop. You have to have a true sense of why it matters to you, or eventually it looks like a gimmick.”
Once your message is perfected, send it out over social media and video-sharing sites and to bloggers who write about your industry and its products. “Make sure you’re telling the story, giving them a link, and making it easy for them to share it,” Kabani says.
That means putting “like” or “share” buttons on all your Web pages, including your shopping cart if you’re selling online. Making it easy for your customers to let their Facebook (FB) friends and Twitter contacts know they have just purchased clothing from you is a simple way to boost your visibility, but it’s a step often overlooked by smaller companies, she says.
Norton's U.S.A. Celebrates 6 Years of Made in USA
in American Made, Marketing Your Brand/by MAM TeamFrom June 11-15, 2013, Norton’s U.S.A. will be sharing its special anniversary deals and events. Each day of the week will feature a discount in a different department of the store. There will also be daily raffles ($50 retail value). On Thursday June 13, Norton’s U.S.A. will be holding a lively Bingo Night. From 6PM-8PM, participants will have the chance to win gift certificates worth up to $25!
On Saturday June 15, the store will be part of the Barrington Summer Wine Walk from 2PM-6PM. The celebration fun continues with a family movie night on Saturday June 15 beginning at 9PM. The movie night will feature a showing of “Fly Away Home” right on the store! To add to the family fun, complimentary popcorn and lemonade will be served. So, be sure to grab your chair and blanket and head over to the store for the free event! If you would like to shop before the movie, plan to arrive at the store at 8PM.
For more details on the magnificent deals at Norton’s U.S.A., please check the website at www.nortonsusa.com.
Norton’s U.S.A. is excited to celebrate with you!
Norton’s U.S.A. is located at 400 Lageschulte St,, Barrington, IL 60010. Normal store hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday: 10:00AM-5:00PM. The store is open Thursday 11AM-7PM. There are special hours during events. The online store is always open at www.nortonsusa.com.