What will determine the success or failure of New Balance?
According to the latest
month but in Skowhegan Maine more than 300 manufacturing jobs at a New Balance shoes plant
could be on the line in the face of new competition overseas. Employees at the plant, like Skip
Bowman, know that his company would make more money if it would shut down the plant and
move his job oversees. He says that every day he walks through the doors; he is part of the effort
to keep the factory going. New Balance is the last major brand to produce athletic shoes in the
U.S. About 25% of its manufacturing is still in New England where it has operated for nearly a
100 years. The privately owned company says it is committed to its American workers. In
discussions with Pat Welch, plant manager for New Balance, he says that if they were thinking
about the bottom line and only the bottom line, New Balance wouldn’t be here (Skowhegan
Maine). In the backdrop of plant operations, Welch interacts with workers to indicate that that
reality is not lost on the more than 300 people who work there. They work fast as 220 pieces
move through 33 pairs of hands with efficiency. With 19 seconds to stitch and inspect each
piece and less time to glue the souls, the results are significant. In 2004, it took 8 days or 192
hours to finish a pair of performance shoes. Today, this group finishes in less than 3 hours
(2.75). Other employees, like Sarah Clark-Theraima say that the quicker they make the shoes the
cheaper it is. Roy Ellis, plant worker, says that everyone continuously tries to improve the
process so that we can do better. But a new threat has emerged. A trade agreement being pushed by the Obama administration called the Trans-Pacific Partnership would open 8 developing markets to U.S. goods. The goal is
to create jobs in the U.S. but it removes a steep import tax on Vietnamese made sneakers which
would threaten jobs at the Skowhegan, Maine New Balance plant. Welch says that if this tariff
were lifted, it’s not going to help our business or the bottom line. American workers are 10 times
more costly than Vietnamese workers and the cost per shoe could be much lower. He says the
trade agreement makes me and the associates nervous because it will reduce our competitiveness in making shoes domestically.
New Balance says it will stand by its workers by adjusting its production or its prices. The
management has vowed to keep the plant open. John Wilson, Vice President for Manufacturing
New Balance, says they would not layoff any of its associates. Ray Ellis, employee interviewed
again, says they are out there on a limb all by themselves and we are their limb to hold them
up—we have to do our part.
What will determine the success or failure of New Balance?
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