[Mr_250]

I don't play the guitar but I do play the drums for over 20 years and I have a love of music. Ovation Guitars were proudly made in CT for years! They are great (from what I've heard)! Sad to see this company go.

Ovation guitar factory in Conn. closing - CBS 3 Springfield - WSHM

edit: the Topic was supposed to be 'Once Great CT Company closing doors.'

[gmdealerguy]

I am a guitar player playing for 30 years now. I play mainly electrics but I do have an Ovation and love it. I'm a little embarrassed to say I had no idea it was a CT company
I never paid attention to that.

[gmdealerguy]

"ceasing U.S. production of Ovation guitars and notified employees Tuesday that production at the factory will end by June"

Just read this bit in the article.....ceasing US production, I hope they are not going to start producing overseas now.

[Sigequinox]

Originally Posted by gmdealerguy

"ceasing U.S. production of Ovation guitars and notified employees Tuesday that production at the factory will end by June"

Just read this bit in the article.....ceasing US production, I hope they are not going to start producing overseas now.

Probably. They could just move manufacturing to a state that is more affordable than CT, but nothing compares to the low costs of China. If they already have a manufacturing and distribution pipeline established through other subsidiaries (for example Fender also owns Squire which is prob made overseas) then it's even more convenient.

This is not just a sad story for CT but a paradigm shift for the US. really sucks.

[gmdealerguy]

Originally Posted by Sigequinox

Probably. They could just move manufacturing to a state that is more affordable than CT, but nothing compares to the low costs of China. If they already have a manufacturing and distribution pipeline established through other subsidiaries (for example Fender also owns Squire which is prob made overseas) then it's even more convenient.

This is not just a sad story for CT but a paradigm shift for the US. really sucks.

Yep, Fender ones Squire and they are all imports. I worked for GM for 23 years and as most Americans know, they put a lot of people out of work by closing factories and sending work overseas. Sad....
I dont agree with companies that do this.......American citizens shouldnt lose their jobs because a company wants to make things overseas to save some money......but that's a whole other topic.

[NewJeffCT]

Originally Posted by Sigequinox

Probably. They could just move manufacturing to a state that is more affordable than CT, but nothing compares to the low costs of China. If they already have a manufacturing and distribution pipeline established through other subsidiaries (for example Fender also owns Squire which is prob made overseas) then it's even more convenient.

This is not just a sad story for CT but a paradigm shift for the US. really sucks.

It's not always a company's choice, though. My wife used to work for a mid-sized manufacturing company based in west central Mass. She was in the front office doing purchasing/procurement work, but they employed several hundred people doing actual manufacturing of low-tech items (primarily, women's clothing accessories) in Massachusetts.

The powers-that-be at the company looked into manufacturing in China, and other low-cost countries, but they were pretty efficient at their company and had some automation in place, and the prices they got from Chinese factories were basically the same as the cost of producing them in the US, and more expensive when you took shipping them from China to the US into account.

However, Wal-Mart was by far the company's biggest client, accounting for about 1/3 of their sales. Around 10 years ago, Wal-Mart decreed that anybody supplying them with said women's clothing accessories must ship them through their facility in Guangzhou (Canton), China.

Unfortunately, it was not realistic for the company to ship their items from Massachusetts to China to be shipped back to the United States, so they were forced to comply with Wal-Mart's directive or else go out of business completely. However, they still had to close the US factory in Massachusetts and lay off 400 or 500 people that worked in the factory.

Of course, a few years after they shut down the US factory, they closed up shop completely in Mass and moved the remaining front office people to Tennessee, where they still are today. (My wife had left the company by that time.)