Weight Weenies

I also read about this. Fact is that the last quality check of the products is still in Italy. I guess it has to do with lower production costs to stay competitive with the other players in the market.

I've never thought of Romania as a manufacturing powerhouse... any other industries outsourcing manufacturing/assembly to Romania?

So, what's the likely hood of cheaper campy components as a result of this move?

Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com

There's alot of precision engineering going on out there, it used to be of questionable quality but from some of the work i've inspected recently the engineering proffession is alive and well over there, unlike here in the UK where it seems that labour rates are way too high by comparison.

Romania- a manufacturing powerhouse?
hell yeah! well thats where my job will be in 2 years time,(probably).

You think descendants of the great count Dracula are overseeing Campagnolo production? Is this all grades of Campy? or just some of the lower?

.

Skyleth wrote:I've never thought of Romania as a manufacturing powerhouse... any other industries outsourcing manufacturing/assembly to Romania?

So, what's the likely hood of cheaper campy components as a result of this move?

Italy has low salaries compared to Nothern Europe, but Romania and Eastern Europe in general has much lower salaries than Southern Europe.
But I'm sure Campagnolo will try to keep is a secret as long as possible. Many customres buys Campy, Colnago etc. mostly for the reason that it's made in Italy for some odd reason, just because Italy has a long history in bike manufacturing.

This practice is becoming more commonplace...

Colnago - Some frames are now being produced in Taiwan

Assos - R&D etc remains in Switzerland but Assos have 'assembly' plants in Slovenia, Bulgaria and Greece.


These big companies wish to take advantage of lower wage costs so they outsource manufacture/assembly to these countries. Whilst this practice dilutes the 'made in italy' or 'made in switzerland' marketing tags, IMHO, they do not appear to have affected the quality of the products. Indeed, it could be argued that lower salary costs firstly, make the product less expensive for the customer or enable the companies themselves to invest more in R&D (and of course make more profit )

I had heard somewhere maybe a year ago that only Record (maybe Chorus) and the highest-end wheels were still made in Italy. I think that if companies want to place labels they should be required to specify where the item is actually made/assembled, which could be different than where designed.

I got a confirmation (right spelling?) from the shop where I usually go about Campy moving their production in Romania.
To confirm what he said there's the fact that last July/August for some time it was difficult to get stuff from Campy as they were moving their factory.

Paulio wrote:This practice is becoming more commonplace...

Colnago - Some frames are now being produced in Taiwan

Assos - R&D etc remains in Switzerland but Assos have 'assembly' plants in Slovenia, Bulgaria and Greece.


These big companies wish to take advantage of lower wage costs so they outsource manufacture/assembly to these countries. Whilst this practice dilutes the 'made in italy' or 'made in switzerland' marketing tags, IMHO, they do not appear to have affected the quality of the products. Indeed, it could be argued that lower salary costs firstly, make the product less expensive for the customer or enable the companies themselves to invest more in R&D (and of course make more profit )

....but of course what are the citizens of your home countries to do for work when all the jobs are outsourced. Eventually there will be no one there to buy the products because they are all jobless and homeless.

Or they move into service industries and hi-tech, like you see in the UK. There is always also room for niche manufacturers. Look at the UK unemployment figures over the last 20 years and the removal of traditional industry at the same time. Employment has increased, not decreased.

Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com

drjones96 wrote:....but of course what are the citizens of your home countries to do for work when all the jobs are outsourced. Eventually there will be no one there to buy the products because they are all jobless and homeless.

It's called "the race to the bottom" aka: destroying the middle-class, but that's all another topic.