Porter-Cable 890 series routers, "made in USA"

[GRL]

Interested in buying one, so I sent P-C an e-mail asking what the USA-made parts content percentage is, and if they are merely assembled in the USA of imported parts.

Got an answer in two days:

"These routers are made in the USA, not just assembled here.

Thank you,. Stacie Porter-Cable"

So, do I interpret that as 100% US-sourced parts or is it a dodge answer begging the question of what "made in USA" means? (Shades of "it depends on what the definition of "is" is".) Reason I'm suspicious is because a fellow posted a message on the Usenet saying he had taken apart one of these and the bearings were Chinese and the soft-start controller for the motor Dutch.

Who do you believe?

- GRL

"It's good to want things."

Steve Barr (philosopher, poet, humorist, chemist, Visual Basic programmer)

[Mike in Mystic]

All that answer means is that they probably use suppliers with storefronts in the use to get parts and stuff. I would be extremely surprised if there aren't at least some parts that originated in asia. But, their answer is probably as close to truly "made in the usa" as you'll get anyway.

[S R]

Why not e-mail them and ask them what Made in the USA means.. I know I am curious. Made to me does not mean "assembled". If they say made, I hope they are.

Stephen R.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

There is a definition that states how much of a product must be of US origan to be labeled "made in USA"

American Act ? Requires that a product be manufactured in the U.S. of more than 50 percent U.S. parts to be considered Made in USA for government procurement purposes. For more information, review the Buy American Act at

41 U.S.C. §§ 10a-10c, the Federal Acquisition Regulations at 48 C.F.R. Part 25, and the Trade Agreements Act at 19 U.S.C. §§ 2501-2582.

It would be very rare to find a tool, machine, or anything that has more than a few parts that is 100% built in ANY one country. That bearing made in China may have steel from Japan. The Dutch contoller may have wire from Gemany or Sweden.

[p_j]

It does depend on what the meaning of "is" is. She didn't really say it was one hundred percent, but do you really expect some office person to provide you with an exact percentage which probably changes all the time?

I believe her and your usenet fellows may be correct as well. If you want something without any foreign production, you probably have to dig the ore and start making some iron.

[Leon]

Well if you live in the USA and you build a coffee table out of Padauk, is it made in the USA?

Don't let life pass you by as you procrastinate over what to buy.

[Bob Davis]

I wouldn't believe anything is 100% made in the USA. My faith was shattered when I learned that Harley Davidson motorcycles had imported front suspension parts (in the days when AMF almost ruined them). I don't know if that's true or not.

Bob

[Rick]

I've been to the plant in Jackson TN. I can tell you from first hand experience that Porter Cable is probably the most independent of the power tool manufacturers. They build alot of their own parts. Cut their own gears. Build their own armatures. Wind their own fields. In some cases, they even build their own switches. They outsource all their castings to another US based company. Their molded plastics also come from another US based company. At least that was the story I was told by the production engineers when I toured the plant.

As we all know, nothing is 100% USA made anymore, but I think Porter Cable and Milwaukee are the two companies that do more in the USA than any others.

Rick

[GTO69RA4]

PC makes their cordless drills and accessories in Taiwan and Japan, at least the one I had. Great quality, though.

GTO(John)

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

FWIW, some of the best motorcycle and mountain bicycle suspension is imported, from Italy, not the Far East. Marzocchi rocks!

Barry

[Brian D. LaVoie]

Well stated Leon... I like the analogy.

[Ian Dodd]

I'm probably gonna get flamed for this, but here goes: Why the big concern over Made in the USA? How about supporting manufacturers of the best product, regardless of where they are made? My current car was made in Germany because it's the best in its class; my wife's minivan was made in the U.S. for the same reason. I prefer Japanese hand tools to ones of Western design; why should I be forced to cut on the push stroke for patriotic reasons? If the Porter-Cable is the best router for your needs, then buy it and use it to make some fine quality, custom crafted, Made in the USA furniture. Let's support quality, not some outmoded notion of patriotism and long in the tooth industries.

And before you go off on me about American jobs being shipped overseas, I work in an industry that has seen a huge persentage of work move to Canada and Eastern Europe. Just this week I lost an upcoming three week job that has moved to Vancouver. Am I upset by that? No, in fact as soon as I found out I e-mailed a work friend there to alert him and it looks like he might get the job.

I've got my asbestos suit ready so flame on!

[Luigi Zanasi]

On Fri, 6 Feb 2004 20:59:18 -0500, "GRL" scribbled:

Under NAFTA rules, for most machinery and equipment to qualify as a US (or Canadian or Mexican) made product, at least 50% of the cost or 60 of the "transaction" value must originate in the country of origin. Things that meet this test can enter Canada (or the US or Mexico) duty-free. So, in theory, all the parts could come from other countries, but as long as the cost of assembling it is more than 50% of the total cost, it would be considered as originating in the US.

Things may be different for labelling a consumer product.

Luigi Note the new email address. Please adjust your krillfiles (tmAD) accordingly Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address

[Leon]

Exactly... If you buy American for the sake of buying American, we could end up with products like we had in the middle 70's. Some of them good, most of them inferior to the imports. It is the competition that has made many home grown products step up their standards and produce better ones.