rowuk

Whose side we are on is not the issue really. The issue is are the products saleable - is there a value add or are they going to close the factory anyway - just a little later with lawyers the only ones that win?
The only win/win situation is to produce something that is worth what you ask for it. America DOES have such things, Bach has obviously lost touch with them. If the unions can stretch this out a while, the smart employees will have time to find something else (maybe) and the quality will go down even more after they leave, making the decision to go off shore even easier.
It is proof that VALUE for your money is the only real reason to run a business. Without real innovation and solid quality, you can produce anything anywhere for almost any price.
What Bach horns are most popular? As far as I can tell, the model 37 Bb and the 229C, both very old designs. All the bugs should have been worked out by now, but the silverplate still comes off easily, the C is still not universally in tune AND if you have 10 of one model in front of you - they are all VERY different. THAT is a manufacturing DESASTER. Yamaha solved all of this decades ago. Schilke never had the problem.
What are we saving at Bach? What are we striking for? The right to continue the status quo? Unless the materials used are inferior, the discrepancies are either poor design or inadequate manufacturing. No amount of employee protection made an instrument change its playing qualities. The problems at Bach are MUCH older than the problems leading to this strike. Some of the horns are very good!
The problem is not demanding a price for the horn that could keep the operation afloat. The problem is that customers have a choice and have real reasons for buying other horns. If the "artisans" at Bach want a safe job, the product has to mature with age. That is the solution. The cash cow 37 and 229 are DYING.
I am on the side of innovation. If the unions force that issue, the employees have a chance, if not..................................

MJ

I wish these workers the best. That web page however is one of the most difficult sites I have tried to navigate on the web in a long time. Looks like there is alot of great info on there. I just wish it was presented better.

michaelm2

One of the problems facing the Bach factory is that the same skilled workers that are building the Stradavarius models also build the student lines. They are getting paid the same regardless of the type of instrument they are building. The custom and high end builders don't make student instruments. Even Yamaha is now concentrating on their professional line and contracting out many of their student instruments to other companies. If Bach were to get student instruments from other companies and concentrate on the professional models they would need less of the skilled workers. The number of high quality trumpets available today from other companies only adds to their problems.

kadleck

MJ -

I agree. The workers' site is pretty rough.

I hope this all works out. Apparently, they've been out for almost a year.

Tony

Schwab

This is the point of the whole strike in the first place, the workers did not want to send the student horns overseas.

wilcox96

This seemed too coincidental and appropriate to pass up noting...

http://www.trumpetmaster.com/vb/f130...hip-34112.html

No offense in any way intended. Merely a coincidental observation.

Scooter01

Why not also boycott all Yamaha instruments while you're at it? They are closing US production plants and moving it overseas. At least Steinway is keeping something in the US. They could have just shut it all down and gone to China or India. As for Japan out pacing the US in autos and appliances, it was the US who sent over the technology and expertise after WWII that allowed that to happen. The US experts knew how to run an efficient manufacturing enterprise, but the Union Rules in the US prevented that from happening. We now pay the price. Also, the difference in wages between executives and workers in Japan is far less than in the US. Perhaps we can now learn something from them?

Brekelefuw

Yamaha is a Japanese company who operates out of Japan. Bach is a US company who is packing up and leaving.

rowuk

Scooter,
quality and pride are not something you can sell to another company. Manufacturing techniques are. If an artisan is PROUD of this work, the quality is better. If the product is not up to snuff, there are other problems.
It isn't Japan, it isn't China or any other "competition". It is America and Americans. We need to point the finger at ourselves and get our pride and quality back into manufacturing. That is what made Vincent Bach and Henry Ford successful in the first place!

Magnusverdixon