Some pictures from Factory

[Titan winch]

I have decided to start this post in a effort to show a little of what we at Everlast do and who we deal with not so much on a daily basis but i would say closer to a monthly basis.
And to perhaps dispel some preconcieved ideas .
First set of pictures are a couple of shots from the Factory that produce our MTS 160 and 200 welders. I do not have much in the way of dealings with this manufacturer as i am principally involved with our main line of Welders.

first set of photos are from the MTS MIG TIG STICK . My involvement was to basically assess the Manufacturing Enviroment and to arrange a couple of samples to be shipped for assesment. This facility is located in Shanghai in the Pudong area.
the first picture is actually a hight rise Condominium Gated Community with a electrified wire above the brick walls. This was across from my hotel.

[Powertig]

These are great pics, I would love to see some from the main line plant with some green machines all sitting in a row. it's nice to see how clean and organized that factory is. Unfortunately, were all going to have get over the made in the USA thing, just wait till China is the largest economy in the world as they continue to import more and more from the USA and discriminate against some of our poor workmanship. I recently heard an NPR radio segment about a Chopstick company in the south, maybe Louisiana churning out over a million pairs a day to ship to China.

[DaveO]

I missed the story on the air, but found it at their website:
http://www.npr.org/2011/07/27/138761...ticks-to-china

A shipping container's worth every other day: 4 million chopsticks per container! Use once and discard seems wasteful, when talking about that scale. I seem to recall a different npr story about how the Chinese were trying to get used to the idea of re-useable chopsticks, restaurant-goers carrying their own reuseables, or something.

[KSmith]

Thank you for the pictures. I also would like to see some 'green'.

Making chopsticks of wood is silly and wasteful. Bamboo grows faster and doesn't absorb food (ie later bacteria) like wood does, easier to clean, so is better for reuse. I don't understand why china does not make their own with bamboo. I eat with bamboo chopsticks every day, wash and reuse.

[Titan winch]

First picture is the new dual voltage 185 and the 160 being checked after changes to add protection to the 110v side

Second pic shows unit for dialing in any voltage . amp in and out you set at. Including running duty Cycle this allows me to go through all breaker settings and get correct readouts .

Third is the new torch i used with testing the 250Ex and 256


Fourth is Jane. She is a real mother Hen with me but does not listen to anything i tell her . In this picture we took the afternoon off from the Winch Factory and decided to explore some of the dirt tracks in the country side. Because we where out of Town i drove . Jane kept on bugging me about wanting to drive into rice paddys . I kept teling her just because we had 4 wheel drive did not mean we where capable of doing heavy or even mild to medium off road use . The tires where street tires and not a lot of tread at that. Add to this it was just the 2 of us and i had no idea where we where this does not lend itself to just go off and take chances. We came to one spot that she really wanted to cross so i decided to walk it first to make sure. well as i was checkingh it out she jumps behind the wheel and the truck just sinks . No recovery gear nothing.
We managed to call the factory and they somehow found us a couple of hours later with enough recovery gear to get us out
Jane had a great time and wanted to go out the following day and do it all over again.

[zoama]

Jane sounds adventurous.

[67cudafb]

Jane sounds adventurous.

Ah to be young and dumb and fearless, I vaguely remember those days lol.

[Joe from NY]

That one kind of reminds me of some old fashioned computer of 40 or 50 years ago.

[SeanMurphy265]

Are there other welders manufactured in the same plant?

[Titan winch]

The Second set of pictures shows the Auto Feed for surface mounting. With ROHS Compliancy the sytems need to be Lead Free and each year new Automated machinery is added.

The Factory is located in a busy Ship Building Town and as such a number of local Customers are heavy Industrial users ( Submerged Arc 650 amp tigs etc. ) i actually like seeing the submerged arc welders in operation welding 1'" -1.5" plate in the test area.
There is also a fairly large customer base from Small Contractors , The one Outlet store from the Factory is located close to a new Restauarant Clove Garden Restaurant ( Miss Nee the factory owners Wife owns it and i am taken there a lot for Lunch) and it seems to be a popular place as most days i stop in to say hello to the young Ladies who work there ( no idea who they are but it seems they like to have me stop in and just say hello )

Workers at the Factory seem to enjoy there jobs and i think for the most part they have good salary.s and benifets ( benifets for workers is Mandatory by law but does not mean all factories give it )
Work days are normally 6 day week with work starting at 8 am and in the spring fall winter luch is from 11.30 am till 12.30pm In Summer the lunch is extended from 11.30 till 1.00pm 5pm is the end of the work day ( although there is normally some overtime going on by some one )
Last year there was a Help wanted Sign posted for most of the year and it was basically asking for personell between the ages of 18 to 45 ( you could never do that here ) Salarys range from anywhere from 1600rmb a month up . As a example my In town Driver from the Factory Miss Chun earns about 4000rmb ( about 640usd ) a month
She has a Apartment Downtown but also has a living area provided by the Factory in a Apartment complex very close by the factory. The Factory rents out 3 -4 floors of this building and charges the workers 50 rmb a month rent hot lunches are also provided each day of the week for all workers.


As for Jane she is not dumb just a bit strong willed and exasperating at times.
Like the time we went to a Buddist Monastery and she refused to go through the Gates because it was not her religion. I got a little frustrated and just ended up telling her to go in and not to argue.
but Vanilla can be the same way some times. One night i wanted to eat at a Western Restaurant . she replied OK but i am not ordering any food ( she does not like Western food ) i will just watch you eat. I have never had a western meal with her but we have compromised and when i get the chance to visit her we end up usually at a Thai Restaurant .

[zoama]

Thanks for the pictures and stories. This is great for business because it breaks down the Chinese stereotype and puts human faces with the product. I'd like to see all you're willing to share.

[Joe from NY]

Hey Titan, how do you handle the communication there on your visits? Do the factory managers speak English? Can you ask them direct questions, or do they all have to go through your guide? How did she come about accompanying you?

I am assuming you are a native English speaker, but your random capitalization in your post did make me wonder a bit.

[Titan winch]

The First Picture is driving back to the Hotel at the end of the Day
When i get the chance i like to wander around the older sections , Although i do have to be carefull when i start wandering down the small alleyways and lanes because it is easy to get lost .
The pictures show a small shop Early Sunday morning traffic , around 7.30 in the morning.

[hooda]

These are great pics, I would love to see some from the main line plant with some green machines all sitting in a row. it's nice to see how clean and organized that factory is. Unfortunately, were all going to have get over the made in the USA thing, just wait till China is the largest economy in the world as they continue to import more and more from the USA and discriminate against some of our poor workmanship. I recently heard an NPR radio segment about a Chopstick company in the south, maybe Louisiana churning out over a million pairs a day to ship to China.

Minnesota tried the chopstick factory idea in the early '80s under former Gov. Rudy Perpich. He had a special envoy travel to china, made TONS of media hype over breaking the "great wall" (keep in mind that the cold war was still in full rage at the time), and how this chopstick factory was the first of many that would be built to supply china's "insatiable demand" for the straight, fine-grained, pine chopsticks that only Minnesota's forests could provide. They spent MILLIONS of taxpayer dollars building and promoting this factory, hoping to revive the economy of an area once dominated by the Iron mining industry, and at that point almost dead. The chopstick factory opened with great fanfare, and died a quick, quiet death. The "happily ever after" of the story is that more recently, China has been the driving force behind reviving this very area, as their demand for Iron ore has raised prices to the point that it's now practical and economically viable to revive the once-dormant mines of northern Minnesota. Output is approaching that to the heyday, people are back to work up there, and life is good. I point this out to anybody that bitches about Everlast being a primarily chinese made product, and how it costs American jobs. What a bunch of HOOEY! The fact is that there is no welder company that manufactures their product in the USA exclusively, that's right none! The big players make some of their lines here, and pimp out their global-supplied machines under the "American" umbrella, which is in my opinion, misleading. Everlast is an AMERICAN company, that employs American workers, and happens to have most of their product line produced over seas, just like them, only they don't hide the fact, and that honesty goes a long way in my book. LONG LIVE GLOBAL TRADE!!!!!! I will be posting a portion of this text in another thread, sorry for getting off-topic

[Titan winch]

Here are some pictures from our primary Manufacturer ( 99% of our product is with one Factory) I spend most of my time at this facility in fact i average about 3 1/2 months working there each year .
The majority of my time is not spent in areas such as this ( do not want to get the young lady,s all flustered with my presence LOL ) but more down on the production Floor and final testing dept.

[Joe from NY]

Yeah, let's see the production floor. I remember seeing a bunch of old photos of the south bend plant in the 1930s and seeing how the lathes were made was cool.

[Titan winch]

Yeah, let's see the production floor. I remember seeing a bunch of old photos of the south bend plant in the 1930s and seeing how the lathes were made was cool.

The first picture is Vanilla ( english name ) checking out a lathe. Vanilla sometimes helps me out if i need someone to translate for me if i am going to be traveling around a lot. She will normally take the time off work to go with me and keep me out of mischief.Her Boss Joe is the Owner of the Factory i work with for my 4x4 stuff so we have been friends for a few years now.
Second is Yan and if i need help talking to workers on the floor i normally ask her to help me . ( just finished her Masters in english She finds coming to the Factory and helping me very interesting
The Chinese Guy is head of the Testing Dept his name is Ding . Nice guy and i swear he knows more than the Design Engineers kmow .

[Powertig]

Now we are talking, I love these pics would still love to see more but I am not sure you could satisfy my curiosity no matter how may pics you put up.... Thanks for your input Hudda, what a neat story, I am glad we got back on topic, I was afraid I steered the thread over to chop sticks permanently.

[Jason]

Now we are talking, I love these pics would still love to see more but I am not sure you could satisfy my curiosity no matter how may pics you put up.... Thanks for your input Hudda, what a neat story, I am glad we got back on topic, I was afraid I steered the thread over to chop sticks permanently.

I agree.. I could look at these pics all day long.Thanks for sharing Titan Winch.

[Titan winch]

I was able to pass on the Snake for lunch but was stuck with the Soul of the Fish. Aparently the head is the soul of the fish Yummy.


We have added some stricter guidelines for more visual inspections . This has just been put in place recently to add more personall acountability to each work station hence the rather bulky full scap paper being used for the initial run. The pertanent infromation is on there and it is Billingual so i can keep tabs on it as well ( this will be changed to the cardboard tab for later orders). These do not overide the other procedures we have been working on but rather they compliment and hopefully improve upon them.

Here is the Moat around the Factory it actually only goes around 2 sides , the front Pictured both ways from the main gate and along the main road where you can see the curve as it makes the bend