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Toy Maker To Bring Lincoln Logs Production Back to U.S.

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Toy Maker To Bring Lincoln Logs Production Back to U.S.
Production of Lincoln Logs coming back to U.S.A.  Manufacturing will once again be made in the U.S.A. (Photo courtesy of K’NEX Brands)

 

A Montgomery County manufacturer of plastic injection molds and K’NEX construction toys is bringing production of one of its classic toy brands back to the United States from China.

Lincoln Logs, a classic toy brand developed nearly 100 years ago, is part of the K’NEX family of brands. Beginning next year, Pride Manufacturing in Burnham, Maine, will manufacture the Lincoln Logs product line. The Maine company is a manufacturer of engineered wood products.

Related Article: Production of Lincoln Logs in USA Creating Jobs [p][/p]

K’NEX Brands, which licenses the Lincoln Logs brand from Hasbro, has designed Lincoln Logs since 1999, but decided to build upon its reshoring initiative that it introduced in 2009, said Michael Araten, president and CEO of K’NEX and its subsidiary, The Rodon Group in Hatfield. As part of this initiative, K’NEX delivered the production of Tinkertoy products back to the U.S. in 2012, where it is mass produced by The Rodon Group.

Since The Rodon Group does not make wood products, it needed to find a manufacturer in the U.S.

“We kept at it and finally found a manufacturer in Maine who will manufacturer the Lincoln Logs,” Araten said. “It’s really about substituting our U.S. supply chain for the China supply chain.”

Now, the entire supply chain for the production of Lincoln Logs will be U.S.-based, Araten said.

K’NEX will continue to design Lincoln Logs in Hatfield.

“We’ve started production of the logs now, so we can have product on the shelf in July,” Araten said.

Next year, K’NEX will launch 10 new sets that are made in the U.S.: Horseshoe Hill Station, Country Meadow Cottage, Oak Creek Lodge, 100th Anniversary Tin, Collector’s Edition Village, Wrangler’s Ranch, Wolf’s Lodge, Mountaintop Hideout, Grand Pine Lodge and Colts Creek Command Post.

Next on the company’s agenda is to potentially bring production of toy motors back to the U.S. “That’s our next big initiative,” Araten said.

He said there are many reasons manufacturing is returning to the U.S. from China.

Chinese labor rates are rising dramatically, the U.S. is experiencing an energy boom, manual labor is being replaced by automated systems in U.S. manufacturing facilities and the flexibility and skills of the American workforce are strong, according to Araten.

Toy Maker To Bring Lincoln Logs Production Back to U.S.

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Why America’s Middle Class is Lost

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China Trade, Outsourcing, and Jobs

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Growing U.S. trade deficit and outsourcing with China cost 3.2 million jobs between 2001 and 2013, with job losses in every state. Read more

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Chicken From China Labeled “Made In America”

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Ford Adding 850 New Jobs To Build 2015 F-150

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Ford Adding 850 New Jobs To Build 2015 F-150

Ford Adding 850 New Jobs To Build 2015 F-150.  Ford announced today it will add 850 new jobs in Dearborn to build the all-new 2015 F-150 pickup that is the automaker’s most advanced pickup in 66 years.

The new hires will be sprinkled among the various facilities that make up the Ford Rouge Center in Dearborn. About 500 of the jobs will be at the Dearborn Truck Plant that assembles the pickup with three crews rotating over two shifts each day. Nearly 300 workers are for Dearborn Stamping and more than 50 will work at Dearborn Diversified, which also does stamping.

Total employment at the Rouge complex will be more than 5,500 with the latest hires and almost 5,000 will be hourly workers.

Ford is not taking new applications. The automaker has identified the new hires from its large pile of applications, and some have already begun training. All will be clocking in over the next couple months.

“This is one of the proudest moments I have had in my life,” said Jimmy Settles, head of the Ford department of the UAW, and a third-generation Rouge complex worker.

The $2 billion spent to revitalize the Rouge complex that consists of five plants makes it possible to do things never before done in the auto industry, said Bruce Hettle, vice president of North America manufacturing, at an event this morning announcing the additional employees.

  • About 500 of the jobs will be at the Dearborn Truck Plant that assembles the pickup on three shifts. Nearly 300 workers are for Dearborn Stamping and more than 50 will work at Dearborn Diversified which also does stamping.

The Dearborn Truck Plant just finished gutting and rebuilding its body shop to make the 2015 model with an aluminum body instead of the steel bodies used since 1948. Pre-production models are running through the body shop now and are scheduled to run down the full line starting Oct. 20, but that date might be moved up to this week.

The carefully orchestrated launch is on track, said Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of the Americas. Production vehicles will start “in a matter of weeks,” but Hinrichs would not say when Job One will be. Trucks will start arriving in showrooms by the end of the year.

Ford Adding 850 New Jobs To Build 2015 F-150

The plant runs with three crews but more workers are needed because this next-generation pickup has more features and technology. And building a body from aluminum instead of steel requires all new processes — such as adhesives instead of welding — as well as new manufacturing equipment.

Additionally, some of the stamping work has been brought to the complex, work that had been done by suppliers or other Ford facilities, said Bernie Ricke, president of UAW Local 600, who is pleased with the additional jobs.

Ford has pledged to quickly get production up to full speed because of the sheer volume and importance of the truck. Ford sold 763,400 F-Series last year and analyst Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley estimates Ford’s trucks generate more than 90% of the automaker’s global auto profits.

Ford built up its inventory of outgoing 2014 models to bridge the gap until there are enough 2015 models to satisfy dealers. That will take a while because just as Dearborn Truck hits its production stride, the Kansas City plant in Claycomo, Mo., will go down for six weeks in the first quarter of 2015 to rebuild its body shop to switch to the new truck.

Jonas has written a number of reports expressing concern about the impact of the changeover on Ford’s profitability, but Hinrichs said today the launch is going according to plan, processes are being validated and people are being trained. In the end, Wall Street will be won over by the vehicle itself, he said of the truck that sheds 700 pounds, which will improve its fuel economy.

As part of the national contract negotiated with the UAW in 2011, Ford pledged to create 12,000 hourly jobs in the U.S. by 2015. The automaker has already exceeded that commitment: Last month’s announcement of a second shift of 1,200 workers at the Kansas City plant to make the Transit commercial van brought the total to more than 14,000. More than 3,000 have been added in 2014. Factoring in salaried workers as well, Ford has hired more than 23,000 employees since 2011.

The signs of health are not going unnoticed by the UAW, which has a new contract to negotiate next year.

“It’s always nicer negotiating with a company making lots of money than a company in distress,” Ricke said. Priorities for a new contract in 2015 include economic gains, looking after retirees and continued investment in jobs, he said.

“Ford’s announcement is more positive news for the citizens of Michigan and a further sign of the comeback of Michigan, manufacturing and the auto industry,” said Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder in a release.

Ford will have added almost 5,000 jobs in southeastern Michigan since 2011 including:

■ 850 at Ford Rouge Center including the Dearborn Truck Plant

■ 1,800 at Michigan Assembly Plant

■ 1,700 at Flat Rock Assembly Plant

■ 250 at Rawsonville Plant

■ 240 at Van Dyke Transmission Plant

■ 150 at Livonia Transmission Plant

SOURCE:  Detroit Free Press

Jobs are slowly making their way back into the U.S.A.  Do you see this happening in your area?  Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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