Again, not necessarily. "Continuously" isn't forever. For the next model year (maybe two) they will change the wheels. There are a *lot* of tier-1 and tier-2 companies making a good living making parts the manufacturer doesn't want to make.
Not only does production cost real money but engineering and approval isn't peanuts either. If that cost can be shared, or borne by someone else at a lower overhead, perhaps, it doesn't make sense to make it yourself. If that is a competitor, oh well.
If your production capability is max'd, it probably doesn't make sense to add more unless you're damn sure it's going to be needed until that plant is depreciated.
OK, soooo we are talking about automobile manufacturers and their changing suppliers. But wheels are normally a contentious item to manufacture, wheels are mostly interchangeable within a particular product line if the model does not change. I do not know of any automobile manufacture that sublets body panels. I agree with you on some elements but you also have to keep in consideration that many of the outside manufacturers are owned by the parent company. So in essence the owner is not buying from the competition and still calls the shots on the specs of the part.
The costs are real for the main company and its competition. Typically
5 wheels go onto every vehicle so it is not a question of if they will be needed. ;~) But I understand where you are going. I don't believe that either of us are talking about a method being exactly one way or another. Some times it is, sometimes it is not. Air bags would be a good example of outsourcing. Body parts would not be. I doubt that wheels would be but possibly, but certainly not interchangeable between foreign or domestic. While the design may be similar the fit would not.
Sooo I was the parts manager for a large Oldsmobile dealer and later the Service sales manager for the same. I later was the GM for an AC/Delco 3M distributor.
I know parts are outsourced, I often bought the same product from someone other than GM.
But as the link shows parts, not all, are manufactured in house, obviously not all. And the suppliers are often owned by the parent company.
I saw a mention that engines are outsourced. Well, some are, Cummins for instance is an outsourced engine but most engines are built by the manufacturer or one of its divisions.
The manufacturer seldom builds every component in house as that would require an enormous facility.
Indeed. However this is 2021 and things have changed at all the large manufacturers, not just automotive..
Take the Boeing 787, for example; over 70% of the plane was outsourced.
formatting link
Many outsource the tooling costs (and some design costs) to the contract manufacturer in exchange for a per-unit-cost contract (and often have the weight to drive the unit cost down, sometimes to or below the actual production cost, sadly).
Well I think think things have changed but not to the degree that many think. Outsourcing has always been a big part of automobile manufacturer. I would say that anything that weighs less than 20 lbs was probably outsourced or manufactured by a company owned by the parent company. Way back when, frames, bodies, most engines and transmissions were manufactured by the parent company. Everything else by a supplier and or again a division.
And getting off subject even further, LOL. Have you seen the video of the Tesla injection mold machine for making the chassis? It is a huge machine manufactured in Italy.
Yes and that is not recent either.
There is that and China comes into play, unfortunately.
I will be keeping the 56V Ego LB6504 blower. Here's the comparison to my Ridgid corded blower (detachable wet/dry vac motor) and the Ryobi 40V RY40480.
Pros: - More than enough power for my needs, comparable to my Ridgid corded blower
Ego, yes. Rigid, yes. Ryobi, no
- Constant-on variable speed control for a nice steady blower speed, which can then be increased by the thumb trigger or maxed out with the Turbo button
Ego, yes, Rigid, no (on/off switch only), Ryobi, no (trigger must be used at all times)
- 3 output nozzles: large tube, small cone and flare nozzle
Ego, yes, Ridgid, no (Flare only, Ryobi, no (large only)
Cons: - Loud at full speed. High pitch suggests hearing protection
Ego, yes, Ridgid, no, Ryobi, yes
- Heavier, compared to Ridgid
Ego, yes, Ridgid, no, Ryobi, yes
, but not as much as the Ego
- Angle of attack
Ego is long, I am short, causing nozzle to be close to the ground and pointed lower than I like. I have to twist my wrist upward to aim it where I want. Ridgid is shorter and lighter, easier to aim. Ryobi has an adjustable handle, allowing user to select the angle that works for them. I can just let the blower hang down off the end of my arm. Nice feature, I really wish the Ego had it.
Even though the Ego is the heaviest, I may try adding a pound or two the handle end to see if I can bring the nozzle up a bit.
- Battery and charger size
Ego, massive, Ridgid, just right, Ryobi, OK Finding room near a receptacle for the Ego charger will take some effort. I see another shelf in my future.
We have three chargers, still have not figured a good place for them maybe hanging on the wall (no wall space in the garage). The batteries come in 2.0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10 amp hour varieties. Weight increases with more capacity I have two of 2.5 and one 5.0 the 5 is to heavy for my taste on the blower. One problem with the EGO I have noted if you have loose shirt or pants the intake can get covered.
Almost clown pants, rather loose sweat pants, more often the shirt tail gets sucked over but the pitch changes. My blower is the same layout but 530 CFM model.
Then there is no continuously. We're not here forever. ;-)
To me, "continuously" means no breaks (in production). Automobiles don't even have that but it's not really relevant.
But wheels aren't just round anymore. There was an option for something like ten different wheels for the F150 I recently ordered. Most went with other options but there were still ten rather different wheels offered. I imagine there were several more variations for the different levels of F150 (XL/XLT/Lariat/Tremor/King Ranch/Platinum/Raptor/Limited). I didn't want to spend $75K (base price) on a truck so didn't look at the wheels of the ridiculous models (the XLT was expensive enough).
I'm positive they outsource most, if not all, of these wheels. They change every model year, too. Let someone else make low-margin stuff. If the competition has something usable, at least there is no investment.
No, only four wheels. ;-) Believe it or not, my wife's Mustang didn't even come with a bicycle tire. It came with a can of puncture repair and a 12V compressor.
The difference between foreign and domestic is getting pretty blurry. Chrysler was Fiat, Daimler, FCA, now Stellantis. How many models do GM and Ford build in Europe. Some of those parts make their way to the US. How many '70s cars had both SAE and metric fasteners?
BTW, the bandsaw I bought seems to have a mix, as well. Some even seemed to be metric heads with SAE threads, and verse visa. Maybe the heads were that sloppy (some Allen). It was really odd putting the thing together.
We're in that squeeze. I work for a tier-1 electronics supplier (for another five weeks). The margins have been driven to nothing and the risk pushed from the OEM to the Tier-1. The contracts typically have a fixed unit price, with no guarantee of volume or product lifetime. The engineering costs are usually, but not always, paid up-front. Covid has put a crimp in the volumes. It could have been worse. Production went to zero for a couple of months but then went right back, and higher. Then the chip shortage...
I know what you mean there. But I think the spares are coming back. My wife and I were looking at vehicles in 2016-2017 for her. The Cadillac SUV under the Escalade had a repair kit and the electric pump. I thought what Cadillac customer is going to repair their own tire?
Anyway we have noticed in most recent years, well in 2019, that many had gone back to putting some type of inflated spare back in the vehicles.
One of the Buicks is built in China and brought over here.
I have noticed that. Foreign built equipment for an American brand will typically be metric for the main unit but if parts are added after being imported, they are often Imperial.
IIRC the Laguna BS has the Baldor motor which if memory serves me needed Imperial fasteners for that and for the Laguna add on ceramic guides.
And the car companies have been mixing imperial and metric on vehicles since the mid 70's.
Is my blower defective or is this an annoying "feature" of the Ego blowers?
I spent the morning cleaning the backyard so SWMBO could start her fall garden cleanup. With multiple areas of different shapes and size, there a lot of starting and stopping, the use of different speeds, etc. Really nice to go cordless after all these years. I certainly like the ability to vary the speed from next to nothing to full blast with the variable speed trigger. However...
The trigger acts like there are dead spots, but they are not consistently in the same place. e.g. I might be using a very soft blow around a delicate plant and then try to increase the speed with the trigger and the blower stops blowing for half-second or so and then starts again. It does that a lot but it's not like it's doing it at the same spot on the trigger every time. There doesn't seem to be any way to reproduce the issue via a quick squeeze or a slow squeeze or anything like that. It just does it in what appears to be a random manner.
It's almost like a car with hesitation. You depress the gas pedal and there is no acceleration for a second, except with the blower it goes from blowing to silent for a half second then starts blowing again. It's rather disconcerting. ;-)
Mine does it while running. As I described, it sometimes pauses when I try to increase the speed. The opposite of "waking up", mine takes a short nap. ;-)
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.