Plain Talk Is There a Future in Electrical Rebuilding? COLUMN BY ROB BUKSAR The effects of globalization are amazing! At this time no aspect of any of our lives is untouched. We could fi ry probably spend days A discussing globalization and at the end of the final round realize we’d only scratched the surface. Presently there are high-level debates taking place over some real heavy issues. How about this for a first course: Does the U.S. need to maintain basic industries any longer? The U.S. International Trade Commission continues to investigate alleged (ha-ha) dumping of steel by foreign producers. So far Washington is not answering a basic national security question: Does the U.S. need to maintain a viable domestic steel industry to ensure the country’s national security? The same question is being asked about assuring domestic production capacity for alu- minum machine tools, semi-conductors, petroleum products, bearings, electric motors and repair parts, etc. So where does all of this leave us as domestic electrical rebuilders and sup- pliers? Based on present conditions I’d say six miles north of purgatory. No matter which side of the debate you support this I can tell you—you have lost a whole bunch of market share and will continue to lose it and there isn’t squat you can do about it. Of course there are a few lucky exceptions out there but they’re far from the rule. Those who support globalization (ironically these folks never own or operate small to medium domestic business) claim we don’t need domestic industry and scoff at tariffs and protec- tions for domestic business. Martin Anderson, a senior lecturer in management at Babson College, Wellesley, MA, states: “To put it simply, protection is always a stupid and coun- terproductive policy. The easiest way to keep domestic industry is to open it to the full forces of global competition.” If there was one spec of viability to Anderson’s argument we could still find a few American-made goods on the shelves of retailers and wholesalers alike. But as we’re all painfully aware, there aren’t any American goods left. Along with the productive capacity to make them—it’s real gone also. I always wonder if the Ph.D.’s working in the “think tanks” where this incredibly wild-eyed thinking comes from didn’t arrive at their conclusions during a bad drug trip. The American worker has enjoyed a higher standard of living than most on the planet. Ask your help if they’re willing to return to 14-hour sweatshop days in order to take on the full force of global competition. Will the American businessman be relieved of the heavy-duty state and federal mandates that must be complied with—hell no! Then as long as we have to play by the rules and global competi- tion does not, we can all look forward to continually being blown away. A few of the large U.S. rebuilders remaining are now dealing directly with China for sub-assemblies and complete units, more and more 40-foot containers full of cores are now sent to China to be rebuilt and returned. The shipping vol- ume between the U.S. and China has become awesome. You can actually do a round-trip container to China and back cheaper than a round-trip from Chicago to California and back. Cheap freight, no rules or regulations, and sweatshop labor has some real financial appeal. Although when you quit producing you give up capacity and along with capacity, “know-how” goes out the window also. More and more smaller rebuilders are finding it attractive to unload their expensive skilled help and buy com- plete units for resale. I recently called a sizable supplier friend to ask about the condition of his business. He said sales were better than ever. He also said complete units now comprised over 50 percent of his business. Growing numbers of his rebuilder customers are moving away from actually rebuilding and becoming somewhat of a sales agent for Delco and the offshore boys. When I asked my friend what he thought of this trend he said, “It looks pretty good and fairly profitable short- term. However, once more guys jump on the same bandwagon the complete units will become overly competitive and the only winners will be Delco and the offshore boys.” We’ll end up distributing for these guys for nothing—what a deal! At the same time rebuilders will have let go or lost their skilled, experienced help. This means few will remain who actually know how to fix anything. Let’s fact facts: Once you turn all the work over to other nations to do it’s only a short time before “know-how” is lost. If you don’t use it, you’ ll lose it. At the rate we’re going in the near future someone will be paying a Chinese consultant big bucks to tell us which hole takes the uninsulated screw in a 7127 brush holder. Don’t laugh, crazier things have already happened. Is there a future in electrical rebuild- ing? Of course there is. But only if you continue to rebuild and work at being a better and more productive rebuilder. If you have a decent game plan