I work for an engineering firm. Manhole covers, catch basin grates, etc. are generally referred to as “castings”. We specify these castings to the standards of the State/City/Town where they are to be installed. We have noticed the increase of submittals for castings that turn out to be Indian. If we notice that a casting fails (cracked frames, corners breaking off catch basin grates), it is almost always with imported castings. There are some quality foundries in this area (LeBaron, Campbell), and we have rarely had problems with their products. Dependable castings may not be that important for a catch basin grate in a lawn area, but no one would want to drive over a catch basin grate on a city street if there was any chance of that grate breaking.
I’ve had good luck in specifying the weight of the frame and cover or grate. For instance, I will specify that a 24" I.D. manhole frame and cover, 8" high should weigh 425 lbs. (Doing this off the top of my head, so that may not be exact weight). If we get a submittal for an Indian casting, it will generally weigh a lot less and we will reject it. When we get a submittal that meets the weight requirement, it is generally from a local foundry. This would lead me to strongly guess that the cost savings for foreign castings comes not only from cheaper labor, but also from inferior iron and lower shipping costs.
At least with Indian made manhole covers there’s no need to spend time on the phone seeking technical support from someone who can barely speak English.
In some cases, you don’t even get 95% of the solution. I’ve heard of lots of folks getting stuff that was utterly unusable. Some of it has been so bad that they’ve had trouble getting people to buy it as scrap.
Downsizing is a problem, but almost every machine shop I know of has trouble getting in the raw materials they need. China has been buying up all the steel they can get their hands on, and happily paying well over market price for it. Supposedly, most of it is going for construction materials of the Three Gorges dam. I know that it can take us six months to get the material we need for an order, because all metal production before that point has already been sold.
If it make you feel any better, around here they’re all (manhole covers as well as sewer grates and alot of other metal things you see on the ground) made in Neenah Wisconsin.
And in many cases, the US company’s stuff is being made in Mexico or China anyway. AINSA was a subcontractor (mostly for Sanyo, but also for Toshiba, Sony or Radiola) for about 30 years before the founder died and his inheritors sold the majority, at which point the company became Sanyo Spain. I know many similar cases. Many Mexicans complain that they thought Nafta would bring more industry and know-how, make it easier to keep the brains in the country; instead, the US contractors are keeping all the know-how in “gringo” brains so the technology transfer isn’t happening… and yet, the salaries have gone up, and now some of the companies that built in Mexico because it was cheaper than the US are moving to China - but the Mexicans still don’t know enough to just take over the factory and keep it running (seen in conversations with Mexicans and in local Mexican newspapers, the kind of badly printed rag that I doubt has a webpage). This perception isn’t necessarily true, remember that perception always implies distortion.
A local foundry that started in 1848 is now in the process of closing. I remember seeing the “Casa Sancena” labels on manhole covers and fountains all over Spain, but they simply can’t compete any more. (Link’s in Spanish)
I was going to post something very similar to this, as I also work for a civil engineering firm.
LeBaron and Campbell castings are fine, as are Neenah and Quality Water Products.
I just had a project where the contractor submitted on Indian-made manhole frames and covers, as well as Indian-made valve boxes. I have nothing personally against Indian manufacturers, but in our experience, they use less steel in their castings (resulting in less structurally sound castings), and their steel contains more imperfections as well as being more brittle.
Fortunately, our standard specifications have weight standards for manhole covers, as well as a catch-all requirement dictating that the contractor get engineering approval for non-approved manhole covers. Our specs flatly state that all valve boxes must be manufactured in North America. I was therefore able to reject all of the Indian-manufactured products.
(Incidentally, I had a lot of trouble figuring out where the submitted castings were made. I actually had to call the company to determine that they were made in India.)
They are certainly showing up in submittals more and more often. They must be really cheap.
(My job as an engineering consultant working for a municipality is to ensure that our client gets what we specified and what the contractor bid on. Contractors generally try to use the cheapest product they can. If the products they want to use don’t meet our specs, we reject them.)
I mean, suppose the steel is absolute crap? Or, from a few years ago: several cast-iron outdoor tables at a Boston restaurant, we found to be DANGEROUSLY radioactive. it turned out that the tables had been cast by a foundry in Mexicao-that had melted down a batch of scrap from an old nuclear reactor! people could have gotten a lethal dose from sitiing at those table.
Nothing against the Indians, but how do we know that structural steel from India is strong enough and meets all safety specifications?
Sure the manhole covers are made say they are made in India,but in reality they are made in the USA. See we have a factories that make all sorts of inputs into the manufacture of manhole covers. These factories outputs are called computers, services, chemicals, plastics, cotton, wood etc. These inputs are put into a machine called a boat. The boat manufactures manhole covers. Or at least it seems to. Since what I put on the boat is those inputs and what comes off the boat is manhole covers.
True, just look at what happens to politicians who recommend tax increases that would fund all sorts of good things like education, health care, etc. They lose elections.
Additionally, you can’t poll the shareholders for every Corporate decision. For one thing, most of the holders of the shares are institutional investors, who would vote down any subsidy. But even still, as agents of the shareholders, management’s primary goal is to maximize shareholder wealth. This means securing the lowest price on materials, relative to quality. Of course, another way to subsidize domestic companies is to impose heavy tariffs on imports. In general, this leads to more tariffs slowing down trade and hurting both countries, and hurting the competitiveness of domestic companies.
