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Bernzomatic goes to China

Joe Michaels

Diamond
Joined
Apr 3, 2004
Location
Shandaken, NY, USA
Bernzomatic is pretty nearly a household word for propane torches. It is used generically by some people to describe any hand-held propane torch, whether it was made by Bernzomatic or someone else. In any event, I got word from a friend via email that Bernzomatic is closing its US manufacturing operations and shifting production to a plant in China.

Bernzomatic was founded by Otto Bernz in the 1890's in Newark, NJ to make plumber's tools. In those days, plumbers did a lot of lead work, so they needed some means to heat soldering coppers and melt lead on jobsites. Plumbers used charcoal fired stoves to melt lead and heat the soldering coppers. Otto Bernz introduced a blowtorch fired on "white gas" or naptha. The plumbers started using Bernz's blowtorches. I have an old brass blowtorch that was used by my uncle- an old time plumber who did lead work. He started with a charcaol stove about 1918, and got a Bernz Blowtorch in the 20's. It was a quality product with a lot of machine work that was a "lifetime" type of tool.

At some point, Bernz shifted production to a plant in Rochester, NY. They developed and marketed propane torches with disposable cylinders. These torches came into widespread use by not only plumbers but other trades as well as homeowners and hobbyists. My dad bought a Bernzomatic torch int he 1950's- it still says "Otto Bernz" on the valve & is still a good little torch.

In the 1970's, Bernz built a new plant in Medina, NY and shifted production there. They got into torches that burned MAPP gas as well as propane and some other applications for propane burners. As near as I can tell, they were a profitable company with production goign on at the Medina, NY plant.

Bernzomatic announced they would be laying off something like 320 people and shifting torch production to China. About 30-40 people would remain employed in the NY plant to handle distribution of Chinese made Bernzomatic products.

I, for one, will not be buying or specifying any Bernzomatic products that are made in China. I will check and see if their competitors (Goss, amongst others) are still making propane torches and MAPP torches in the USA. New York State is hard-hit with the loss of manufacturing jobs. Despite various incentives such as "Power for Jobs" (low cost electric power) and various tax incentives, manufacturing jobs keep migrating. It is bad enough if they migrate out of NY State, but at least stay in the USA.

It was generations of US plumbers as well as other trades, US consumers and hobbyists who put Bernzomatic on the map and made their name a part of the language. It is a fine "thank-you" on the part of Bernzomatic to drag up and shift production to China.
 
"We Can't Make it Here"
Lyrics


Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign
Sitting there by the left turn line
Flag on the wheelchair flapping in the breeze
One leg missing, both hands free
No one's paying much mind to him
The V.A. budget's stretched so thin
And there's more comin' home from the Mideast war
We can't make it here anymore

That big ol' building was the textile mill
It fed our kids and it paid our bills
But they turned us out and they closed the doors
We can't make it here anymore

See all those pallets piled up on the loading dock
They're just gonna set there till they rot
'Cause there's nothing to ship, nothing to pack
Just busted concrete and rusted tracks
Empty storefronts around the square
There's a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere
You don't come down here 'less you're looking to score
We can't make it here anymore

The bar's still open but man it's slow
The tip jar's light and the register's low
The bartender don't have much to say
The regular crowd gets thinner each day

Some have maxed out all their credit cards
Some are working two jobs and living in cars
Minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink
If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO
See how far 5.15 an hour will go
Take a part time job at one of your stores
Bet you can't make it here anymore

High school girl with a bourgeois dream
Just like the pictures in the magazine
She found on the floor of the laundromat
A woman with kids can forget all that
If she comes up pregnant what'll she do
Forget the career, forget about school
Can she live on faith? live on hope?
High on Jesus or hooked on dope
When it's way too late to just say no
You can't make it here anymore

Now I'm stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
Just like the ones we made before
'Cept this one came from Singapore
I guess we can't make it here anymore

Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in
Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lily white and squeaky clean
They've never known want, they'll never know need
Their sh@# don't stink and their kids won't bleed
Their kids won't bleed in the da$% little war
And we can't make it here anymore

Will work for food
Will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
Let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake
Let 'em eat sh$%, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can't make it here anymore

And that's how it is
That's what we got
If the president wants to admit it or not
You can read it in the paper
Read it on the wall
Hear it on the wind
If you're listening at all
Get out of that limo
Look us in the eye
Call us on the cell phone
Tell us all why

In Dayton, Ohio
Or Portland, Maine
Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains
That's done closed down along with the school
And the hospital and the swimming pool
Dust devils dance in the noonday heat
There's rats in the alley
And trash in the street
Gang graffiti on a boxcar door
We can't make it here anymore

Music and lyrics © 2004 by James McMurtry
 
BLEEPED AND GAGGED in OHIO
Niki Dakota, Music Director at WYSO-FM in Dayton, OH, was suspended without pay for one week by the FCC for playing the unedited version of "We Can't Make it Here." More about the DJ and the station WYSO-FM: www.wyso.org/excursions.htm

READ MORE on the TOPIC
Linda East Brady interviews McMurtry and Troy Mumm, operations manager for Salt Lake City’s community station KRCL, as they offer their views on censorship in radio Bleeped and Gagged: Lyrics and the First Amendment on AmericanaRoots.com

SPEAK MORE on the TOPIC at the
New Fan Forum for James
http://www.myspace.com/jamesmcmurtry
A new forum for fans and a place to hear new music first. The forum wlil also feature a blog by James starting the week of 6/27/05.
And check it out! You can hear song samples from "Childish Things"—a new song every week until the album release!

PERUSE SITE VISITORS' RESPONSES to
"We Can't Make It Here"

Download"We Can't Make It Here" by James McMurtry
SONG LYRICS

A SPECIAL NOTE regarding the censored download version available above:
The song is censored as it needed to get as much airplay as possible at the time when it was
released ---- right before the last presidential political campaign. James placed the bleeps himself in order to get it on the radio. There was no pressure by the label or otherwise to censor the the online version. An unedited version is available on" Childish Things".

“ ‘We Can’t Make It Here’ by James McMurtry and the Heartless Bastards. Stark and wrenchingly direct, this may be the best American protest song since ‘Masters of War.’ Love it or hate it, you’ll never forget it...and this one’s actually a free download, at McMurtry’s web site.”
~Stephen King
April 29-May 6 issue of Entertainment Weekly .
 
Gary E, you're my kind of guy. I got flamed for calling a scab a scab on this forum and try to stay out of these threads as a result,because one of these days I'll have had just enough "lubrication" to unload on one of these know it alls and get banned or some such.
But man, I like the song, it just isn't quite enough for all the folks down here in the South who had generations in the textile mills that are now closed and deserted.
Dave
 
Don't blame Bernzomatic. Blame Newell Rubbermaid the parent company.

This is probably not going to be a popular response and open a can of worms. But CEO's were hired to make a company profitable same way you try to make your household budget have money left it in by payday. Most of those companies we all complain about are public companies, stocks bought and sold by your and my pension and 401K funds. When you look at that quarterly statement and you start to complain that its not going up realize that it only happens becuase someone had to either get a paycut or lose a job.

Until we look ourselves in the mirror and realize we all are part of this mess we will never get out of it.

Rick
 
This same story will be told untill we are there.... and America is on the way, going straight to hell in a handbasket.
 
Rick V:
I agree. As with the closing of the Danher Tool plant in Springfield, MA, it is another case of a huge congolomerate doing the common thing these days. It is another case of Corporate Greed. Bernzomatic is a case of a profitable division not being profitable enough, so it is off-shored to China.

It is a case of a CEO and top management wanting their big salaries and big bonuses and that big bonus being tied to profits. So, while a divison may be productive and more than marginally profitable, if they can wring more out of it by taking it offshore to China, they do. Loyalty to the home country where the company or division was founded and grew, and loyalty to the workforce which stood by it and made it happen simply do not exist.

I can well imagine the usual scenario played out at Benzomatic as it did at Danaher Tool and so many other US manufacturing plants. There were "Business Case studies" (or whatever they are called) and various "models" applied over the years by consulting firms or business schools. These resulted in some sort of re-organization of the top echelons, and maybe a tough new CEO who came in from some industry that had nothing to do with manufacturing. The predictable fallout was the "let's get lean and mean" or "just in time" type of purchasing and scheduling of production. With that came workforce reductions. Engineering probably got their marching orders to cheapen the product any way they could- lean it out until it was made as cheaply as possible. With those moves, the manufacturing plants hung on and were profitable, if not more so.

Somewhere in all of this, the corporate types put on the usual hoorah about how they "valued their workforce" and had the usual programs about "values", "quality circles", employee/management focus groups.... no doubt lining a mess of consultants' pockets for these programs. Consultants got paid princely sums to dream up banners, buttons, slogans and "information packets" to be distributed on the shop floors and lunchrooms. Employees were told how their contributions were highly valued, and how the Corporate Management stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them. No doubt there were employee "give-backs" or concessions. Job re-classifications, Reductions in benefits, no wage increases or minimal cost-of-living increases are commonplace.

Predictably, it was all a mess of the usual corporate BS: Work the facility and the workforce and wring all they can from it. When the last financial loophole or similar reason for staying in the USA is closed up, it's time to take the last writeoff and move to China. The corporate types, once again, throw the workforce aside like a worn out wh--e. The Corporate types have more loyalty and regard for the production machinery and intellectual properties (designs and information, trademarks, etc). The workforce is easily replaceable wherever the company relocates.

With that line of thinking, putting profits ahead of one's home country and it's people, it is little wonder this Country is in the shape it is in.

I reflect on this mess and think of "The Grapes of Wrath". Perhaps this is off target. However, there is a scene in which a dustbowl farmer is told to take his family and chattel goods and clear off their farm by daybreak. The place has been foreclosed, and the house and buildings are to be plowed under by some "agribusiness" type entity that took over. The little farmer is waiting the next morning with his old lever action rifle when the 'Cat shows up. The farmer draws a bead on the fellow runnign the 'Cat. A discussion ensues. The operator of the 'Cat tells the farmer, if he shoots him off the seat, another 'Cat operator will show up and plow the place under. The 'Cat operator says he was sent out by the bank. So, the farmer thinks he ought to go shoot the banker in town. The 'Cat operator takes the discussion further up the line. Before long, both the farmer and the 'Cat operator (a local sharecropper's son) both come to the realization they are dealing with a faceless, huge monster. They realize the monster is sick, and there is no stopping it. The 'Cat operator runs over the farmer's house and the farmer and his family are put off the land, turned out onto the road.

That monster was of a very early generation, in the dustbowl days. That was a monster created at some fairly local level by people using ledger books, hand-operated adding machines and plenty of ink. The information the monster functioned on was held on paper, in vaults and filing cases. Projections and figures were prepared by humans working long hours. Decisions were made by more humans using telephones or taking trains to get to meetings. Copies were made using carbon paper. Nothing happened instantaneously nor did the monster get much beyond the interstate level.


Now we are dealing with a mega monster made possible by computers and electronic data storage and transmission. The use of computers and electronic data storage, data recovery, and instantaneous global communications has come to be known as "Information Technology". IT has proven to be a double-edged sword. In the hands of legions of ruthless MBA's, IT has enabled them to create a monster that surpasses the wildest visions that the old farmer and the 'Cat operator might have had. It is a global monster. It lives on the "bottom line". It has no loyalty to anyone or any nation. The corporate top echelons dance on the edge, playing with the monster. While the rest of the workforces fear the effects of the monster- the mergers, acquisitions and inevitable plant closings or offshoring of jobs- the corporate top echelons have their "golden parachutes". If they get picked off and sent packing, they can count on a six or seven figure severance deal instead of getting on the unemployment lines like the workforce.

I suppose this is capitalism or some mutation of it. I do not know where the spiral of off-shoring US manufacturing will stop. Under the present climate, it seems like no immediate end is in sight. Bernzomatic is just the latest piece of US Manufacturing to get gobbled up and regurgitated as an offshore operation by the huge monster of "globalized business".
 
Joe,

I work for a logistics software company that has Newell Rubbermad as one of its clients. With transportation being so cheap between China and the US it's easy for the accountants to project the savings. High fuel costs may save us yet.

I also feel guilt at times wondering how many people our software as wound up putting out of work as jobs were offshored.

As has been reported in the news my generation has no loyality to the corporation becuase they don't have it for us. We were the generation that saw the first downsizings in the 80's. It will be interesting to see what happens when the baby boomers retire.

Rick
 
Well Rick the one thing thats certain is the Gen X'ers will be first in line to be paying for it.

Its kind of hard to work up much loyalty to a company when the employment contract you must sign as a condition of employment says you can be let go at any time for any reason, and the only thing you get in return is the ability to quit your job with no notice on your part. Not that I begrudge those terms since they're all laid out in advance- OTOH the company shouldn't expect anything more without investing in my trust accordingly.

Greg
 
Simply appalling. I hope every single person who buys a Berznomatic product from here on out hangs
their head in shame.
 
This is sad news. I have four propane torches. My father's Craftsman, made by who-knows back in the '70s. Two "Otto Berz Co." models that are as old as the hills. And a Berzomatic Surefire that I found on the ground at the local dump. I guess I better stock up on parts before they start being made by Harbor Freight's supplier.
 
When you look at that quarterly statement and you start to complain that its not going up realize that it only happens becuase someone had to either get a paycut or lose a job.

It's a shame that that is the only way you think it can happen, not that production can be increased.

I know many times it cannot.When a machine is going flat out, what do you do?

It might help if the upper echelon were to sacrifice, as well. They rarely do.

Dirty Old Man,

A scab is a scab is a scab. Anybody who takes another man's job to break a strike is just that. Was a fastener company here a few years back who hired scabs, finally settled, first demand agreed to was the scabs gotta go. BIG news repeorts about those poor guys who bought new cars and the like after getting the scab job and getting canned later, "I lost my Buick. I loved that car."

We have a local area known still as Scab Hill, and this is 75 years after the coal mine strikes that brought them in. The property owners are adamant that you cll the place Adam's Hill, I suppose after the mine boss who hired them and built the company houses there.

The bosses moving everything offshore could care less where their profits come from. 25 or 50 % unemployment here? What the hell, their products still sell, they still make their millions. Most are not making big ticket stuff that can't be bought by the laid off. The stuff that the laid off needs is also made there, and it will always sell.

90% of this stuff is slum, but what the hell, 85 % of the stuff made here, anymore is, also. Cheapen till you have wrung out the last penny, offshore after that.
There is not a hell of a lot of anything that you CAN buy that is worth the money.

Them of you who buy old machines and get them up and running have the best of it. You are not competitive as to sped of operation, but that isn't the point. You still have good machines, make good product, the best of you. Them like me make good enough for our own use. We can do that with what we got, or buy an import and do the same.

I speak as an owner of 2 SB 9's , one quick change, one change gear, and a Chi Multi machine. Strictly for my own use. Would not dream of going into production of anything more than a turn, drill, and thread, or tap.

Cheers,

George
 
When you look at that quarterly statement and you start to complain that its not going up realize that it only happens becuase someone had to either get a paycut or lose a job.

That's not true in all cases.

Sometimes that quarterly statement bombed because the company lost a lawsuit - an employee got herself groped and sued them?

Maybe a customer set their house on fire and some Ambulance Chaser sweet talked a Jury into beleiving that the company should have sold a "safer product".

Maybe their Insurance Carrier, who has been getting hammered in the Stock Market and in Court, decided to raise the rates - again?

Meanwhile in our "Democracy" we can't get Tort Reform because the Trial Lawyers have bought our Congress.


Maybe a loan they were taking came due and they couldn't swing a bridge loan thanks to higher interest rates. So they had to eat it.

Maybe their Union went on strike?

Maybe their non-Union employees decided that working at Wal-Mart gave them better benefits? So they couldn't attract good people.

Maybe someone in Congress decided that they were selling an "evil" product and passed some special legislation that cost them more money? Maybe their competition got special tax breaks and is clobbering them in the marketplace?


Maybe someone in China stole their product and is selling it at Wal-Mart?

Maybe their staff of MBAs decided to use some "creative destruction" to get an extra five percent of work done and they managed to wipe out a really good work crew? Half the crew quit and the other half don't care any more? So the MBAs are working hard on "outsourcing" the work, right before they move on to another company.

Maybe the Founder of the Company, who was running things behind the scenes, dropped dead? Taking his or her vision, guts and drive with them?

Stuff happens...

Gene
 
Gene,

Agreed but as personal example my company brought in a new CEO about 3 years ago. His marching orders from the board were take us public or sell the company. Well last fall we were bought by Oracle. He did his job.

So who do we blame if the new owners decide to streamline operations aka fire people? The CEO, the new owners or the original board of directors of the company? The board probably got well compenstated as they held the voting shares of the company and had to vote for the sale so it was in thier best interest to sell.

If the CEO didn't do his job they would have fired him for someone who would.

I agree about the quarterly stuff happens but when you look at most public companies it comes down to simple profit motive.

Luckly the industrial output of the US for the last 100+ years is around so other then raw materials there really is no reason to buy new.

Rick
 
I am sure that this will be a ball of fire, but.
Why NOT move a operation like Benz.

There product is a mid level item, not used by professional, but rather homeowners and hobbyists. (when did you ever see a plumber use one) So pricing becomes a factor in sales and growth.

Plant location, they made an mistake many years ago by staying in NY state. NY is tax heavy and business unfriendly. The winters are cold and the energy costs are high.

I cant say about the employee base and skill level, I don't know. Where they able to attract skilled and keep employees?

The product line in general has seen a cost reduction in design and materials already, AKA cheapened up. I bought a "best in the store" bernz with the trigger lighting. While it functions, the first day of use I knock it off the table, it lands on the torch. The torch cracks the brass mixing vent where the holes are, two spots are broken thru, it still works but not as well and has a wobble, unacceptable to me.

So why NOT move the line to china?
Products already cheap, conditions in NY are not favorable, China is cheaper to do business in. It seems like a no brainier?

Companys have been running away from NY state and the northeast for fifty years, the last twenty has been the greatest rate ever, why do people act like this is a new thing?

The first company I know of that left NY state for a better place was the Alexander Smith Carpet company of Yonkers NY moved to the Carolinas back in the 1950s.

http://www.philipsemanorfriends.org/4_4a.htm
 
Could it be a long term plan to make us all shareholders so that now, during the selling out of America, the apologists in unison can shout 'It's for the shareholders'!
Don't think for a moment the board members and the CEO don't golf at the same country clubs and attend each others kids weddings! They are in cahoots and looking out for themselves.

We were discussing this at a recent ASQC meeting and an old, retired gent nailed it. He said those at the top, both in OUR government and in the corporate world could give a rat's arse what the next generation or two of Americans will do for a living or how they will maintain the classic American dream as their own families are set for several lifetimes.

If I reacall, when we were a manufacturing country ALL strata of Americans prospered and had hope. Those at the bottom could see the opportunity for a good future, those in the middle worked hard, paid TONS of loophole-free taxes and BOUGHT things thereby making those at the top quite comfortable (We did have rich people when we made things, didn't we?) The big difference? Those at the top had to actually work for their rewards.
Who made the law that states being a manufacturing based economy precluded us from also being a 'service economy'? We once had it all. Now the majority of us are losing it due to the unfounded greed of a few at the top.
All I can hope is that when the big gun business leaders and holier-than-thou policians who were instrumental in giving this country away are at the Pearly Gates the 7 Deadly Sins are brought up and their greed and gluttony are questioned!
 
I, for one, will not be buying or specifying any Bernzomatic products that are made in China. I will check and see if their competitors (Goss, amongst others) are still making propane torches and MAPP torches in the USA.
I am on board with you Joe, but when are we as
a form of supposedly above average intelligence
going to do something about it? I have hinted
in many other posts that we need to make a list
of long standing American companies that have gone to China and "out" them. We also need to
make a list of the other companies making the
same products in the United States and patronize
them instead. This needs to start small by getting the members here on board and then
growing the movement. I would start it myself,
but I am currently struggling to keep the doors
open in my 5 man business. Any retired guys in
here with a passion to keep the American manufacturing base from declining further want
to organize something? Please help,.......Bob
 
I really do not blame any company for moving production overseas. With the level of bureaucratic bs they have to put up with and the public clamoring for more regulations I say get the hell out while you can. Who can survive and make a profit in the US anymore when you spend a good percentage of your time and money just complying with regulations and laws? Every year another law gets passed creating billions of dollars of new compliance costs and its never going to end. We will regulate ourselves into oblivion as a manufacturing nation.
 








 
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