Bionic Wrench: Sears/Bain Strikes again

[Windpower]

The Bionic Wrench was greeted with enthusiasm at trade shows and in industrial design competitions, and the company survived the downturn in 2008. Mr. Brown resisted overtures from large chain stores that wanted to sell the tool under their proprietary brand, he said, and rejected the lure of cheaper manufacturing in China. "I was raised a different way," he said.

The tool sold fairly well on its own — LoggerHead has shipped 1.75 million of them — but Mr. Brown, 56, who teaches industrial design at Northwestern University, says LoggerHead operated on a shoestring and he plowed much of the profit back into the company. "You cannot have big offices and fancy cars and everybody with an administrative assistant, because we are competing with China," he said.

In 2009, LoggerHead hit pay dirt when Sears agreed to do a test sale. The product sold out, Mr. Brown said, and Sears ordered 75,000 Bionic Wrenches the next year. In exchange Mr. Brown agreed not to sell the wrench to Sears's competitors, including Home Depot and Lowe's.

In 2011, sales at Sears increased again, far outpacing LoggerHead's other outlets like the QVC shopping channel and smaller hardware stores. But LoggerHead's profit margin remained small, in part because it produced a television commercial and paid Sears to show it.

.......

The company that makes the Max Axess wrench and other tools for Craftsman, the Apex Tool Group, is being acquired by Bain Capital, the company founded by Mitt Romney, in a $1.6 billion deal.

Throughout the presidential campaign, Bain was criticized on the grounds that it encouraged outsourcing by companies it buys at the expense of American workers. Apex makes many of its tools overseas. A company spokesman referred all questions to Sears.

[MushCreek]

If you want a large profit margin, you pretty much have to go offshore. Between union influence and tougher and tougher regulations, it's pretty hard to make much of anything here in America. I worked for a plastics molding company, and we had work done offshore, in direct competition with ourselves. We had some goods made and shipped for less than the cost of the raw materials at home.

It's ironic that the 'green' movement is pushing manufacturing overseas, where they don't care about trifling things like pollution and basic human rights. So, rather than saving the planet, we are actually just saving our back yard, at the same time hastening the demise of the planet. Not only that, but due to the lower cost of goods, we can buy even more cheap crap to go in landfills. Countries like China get a pass on environmental regulations because they are considered 'emerging nations'. Does anyone ever think about this stuff?

[Windpower]

sorry forgot the link

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/popular-wrench-fights-chinese-rival-004542621.html


Yes we should bring back high import tariffs for one thing

We will eventually pay the price for polution wherever it is produced

Dan Brown who invented the tool was manufacturing in the US successfully until Sears decided to rip off the invention and make it in China

Corporations are amoral -- they just do what it takes to make more profit --- including stealing and patent infringement --- because they can get away with it

the examples are many --- intermittant windshield wipers (Ford I think),  the Craftsman push button socket release,

Sears is known for sucking in suppliers to increase their production facilities and lower their prices then switching suppliers and which often times backrupts the original supplier   -- I used to go to a paint supplier that had the happen -- they went out of business

Sears did the same thing to a number of tire manufacturers too (I used to work for Sears many years ago)

Bottom line is, Corporations steal because they are big enough to get away with it

[Native_NM]

Don't shop there.