After the orange drop discussion it occurred to me that I was no longer sure where any the common components were made. So the question is:

Are any of the common parts like resistors, caps, pots, etc. made here anymore in any significant numbers?

RRM

I doubt it... but I really don't know.
Everything I see is made in China.

There is a YouTube video of a Sprague or CDE (?) electrolytic plant; I believe it is down in the
Southern USA. Shows how they apply the dielectric on the aluminum layers, etc.
Hopefully there are still there!

Reminds me of the show that ran on cable/satellite a few years' back: Made
in America. One week they featured the Radio Flyer plant (Chicago?) and made
a big deal about the company and how long they were in business. A month later
they relocated to China. I think the series ran out of places that still existed in this
country.

Pete

China, Mexico, and wherever else labor is cheap. India and Indonesia are also coming up as suppliers as their population multiplies like rabbits. Taiwan, Japan, Korea brands are often made in China, I dont know how much is still made in their home countries for export.

The US is still a prime source for high quality parts, I buy CDE Snap-In 381LX series electrolytics for replacement use in commercially made 1500-4000V+ ham amplifier power supplies. There I consider the extra cost well spent.

Carl

This brings up another point. Just where are the largest cost savings in manufacturing offshore?

The amount of touch labor involved in the manufacturing process has to be very small, it would not take a large workforce for inspection or packing the finished product , so where are the big savings?

RRM

Taxes.

Add to that OSHA and EPA.

EPA.

Cornell Dublier has a plant in Mexico, but they still do make some capacitors right here in South Carolina:
http://www.cde.com/facilities/sc/

Some states don't have corporate income tax. That helps a bit in keeping some
things still made USA. Gateways were South Dakota made once. (no tax)

Problem; It's most cost effective to make components where they will be used to
manufacture other things. Things like computers, TVs, phones, are made other places.

The above, if all else was equal, night not matter too much. The alphabet agencies
mentioned previously, and labor costs finish the job.

Corporate Move Or Die situations. I don't even know if Illinois Capactor is made here?

It isn't just cost- It's also pollution. The USA allows things to be used here, and disposed of here, that it won't allow to be manufactured, since the making of it causes certain or significant pollution.

The Third World is so hungry for jobs, particularly "high tech", that they will allow what we won't. They will deal with it later. The high tech earns the country significant money and jobs. It pays for education, as the people have to learn new skills, making them more competitive of a country as time goes by.

Hell, go to the old Soviet Union. There are cities where the miner's average age is 42 or so, before they can no longer work. Lung disease, particularly where mines are in valleys. The women last only a few years longer. Several of the *******stan's, East of China, have these issues. Areas of China are the same.

But cost IS a huge factor. A Compact Fluorescent bulb is made in China, packed, and is shipped to a port, loaded on a boat, sails several thousand miles across the ocean to a port somewhere in America, gets loaded on a train and/or a truck, can go another 1,300 or more miles cross-country, and is sold in a home improvement store for $8. Or less. Do you think it cost $8 to make it? How much to ship it? They aren't giving these bulbs away. They are making a profit.

I read last year that the average laborer in Egypt still makes less than one dollar a day. If they had more raw materials, they would be making all sorts of things too.

How can any American company compete? Only a few will pay the premium for better quality.

John S.

We, as hobbyists, can't buy enough goods to change anything.

For What It's Worth Department; I just received an order of Nichicon electrolytic caps.
Four different values. Some were made in Malasia, and some Japan.

Digi-Key had country of origin on shipping label. Those DK people are fast! Ordered
by phone yesterday, 3 PM. In country mailbox today. Kudos to USPS too.

In all fairness, I don't live very far away from their location, and what I wanted
was in stock.

I was surprised to find out recently that yellow poly caps from Illinois Capacitor are made in China. I had been thinking they were US made, but unfortunately they are the same as all the other yellow caps out there.

Where a component or anything else is made has nothing to do with the quality. What matters is the standards applied to the subcontractors by the manufacturer. If he demands the same quality as the US made product, it will be there. If he accepts junk in order to lower the cost, it will be junk. The same thing applies to the end user.

RRM