US manufacturing is something that is ingrained in our company's business model. Many of the components are made in the US. This however has caused issues. For example, the lid clamp is made in Ohio. We originally were quoted 4 weeks for the clamp we needed but that quickly changed to a 8 week sample time and 8 week production run. However we were not going to back away and move that production overseas. We also had a local independent engineering firm look over the drawing and approve for pressurization. This took much longer than scheduled and completely halted developent but I will not put our name on a product that is unsafe for our customers.
-Ben
Kinda disappointed in how long its taking to roll out.. seems like ssbrewtech has something new and awesome rolling out every other week.. this week they rolled out their nano stuff that looks bad ass.. I love my spike kettles and really want their fermenter but I donno about waiting probably another year for the 1bbl to come out when ss just released theirs fully decked out..
Is the conical body coming from China?
unless spike changed something they stated previously that the conical tank is made in china but the ports and other components are added stateside along with finishwork.
Thanks for the Note. What is the current release timing? Also, your note kinda says USA manufacturers and engineering services let you down....but your going to stick with them anyway.
Rewarding US companies, who can't compete on a global basis, in the long run, hurts more then helps the economy of the United States. Demand excellence to get excellence.
Well nice to get a reply from Spike, but, what does that mean for a release date? Was this just to let everyone why it WAS delayed, or that it will be delayed even further?
Thanks for the update, get some of those 20 gallon kettles in too please.
Huge difference is SS brewing doesnt make there stuff. Its all ordered from chinese manufacturers like most of the other homebrewing sized conicals avaliable on alibaba like the ones glacier and brewerhardware and the like sell as well. The SS conicals appear to be from the same makers that make the bru gear conicals if you look closely they are VERY similiar.
I hate to split hairs and I dont mean any offense to Spike, but if you're trying to differentiate Spike's supply chain model from ours by saying that they DONT order from Chinese manufacturers and they make their own "stuff", you are misinformed.
Spike also sources their vessels from Chinese manufacturers, as do most other equipment suppliers, as you pointed out. Their kettle and conical body will be made and welded in China. I think the difference you mean to point out is that their fittings and accessories might be sourced domestically, and/or installed domestically.
Cheers,
Michael
Sorry if I wasnt clear but I believe I stated here and many times over that spikes as well as some of blichmans and pretty much everyone elses kettles for that matter are chinese sourced. But that basic stamped kettle or tank is not the finished product by any stretch. Chinese labor is super cheap and a product completely built there would be much cheaper and quicker.I hate to split hairs and I dont mean any offense to Spike, but if you're trying to differentiate Spike's supply chain model from ours by saying that they DONT order from Chinese manufacturers and they make their own "stuff", you are misinformed.
Spike also sources their vessels from Chinese manufacturers, as do most other equipment suppliers, as you pointed out. Their kettle and conical body will be made and welded in China. I think the difference you mean to point out is that their fittings and accessories might be sourced domestically, and/or installed domestically.
Cheers,
Michael
That's just Auggie ... he seems to hate chinese made products ... chinese stainless steel and california homebrew equipment suppliers more the those in the midwest. Not saying he likes the midwest suppliers, just hates them less
I lost faith in Spike after they kept dangling "almost ready" in front of my face. What kind of businessman doesn't take preorders??? I was ready to throw $600 at them and get a 14gal. I got tired of waiting and frankly, the bait and switch. I was told that there would be a mid march special incentive... never happened. Then here in early May they back peddled and said the incentive would be the advertised $600 and that it would quickly go to $650. No way to do business. I wanted to buy American and was willing to pay to do so. I'm making my own HDPE conical for a third of the price....and it's American made too! Disappointed.
Um, my whole brewery is chinese based... I dont hate it. I dont make enough to pay what they want for american made stuff if I could even find it. the only thing I even bought from midwest before bud bought them was 4 used kegs for $100 and some beer kits back in the day..
I just dont like all the rebranding, markups involved with much of the chinese stuff and misleading marketing, pretending its something other than what it is being sold for 2x3 times more...
I know exactly which conical you mean.. it actually IS the same one resold by brewers hardware.(used to come with all the accessories too vs BH). You can sometimes get them on amazon too. the smaller ones that glacier imports to sell also come from alibaba but if you go to their website they sure imply its all handcrafted in the US by them.... A member here actually asked them and they told him its not worth it to make the homebrewing ones themselves. I found the manufacturer of both of thier TC hop strainer filters in china too.I appreciate that you have a unwavering viewpoint on this. I have a colleague who is importing a single fermenter purchased via Alibaba. It looks identical to Brewers Hardware 20 gallon jacketed. He doesn't have it yet, but he's fnding out that the process is more challenging then he thought it would be. Right now, he's dealing with the paperwork to get shipped and through customs. If all goes well, he'll save 55%. On the other extreme, if it's a disaster, he'll be dealing with his credit card company for reinbursement. Most likely, this will end somewhere in the middle. He receive it, their will be a few quality related issues that he'll have to live with or deal with on his own, he'll save some money, but not as much as he expected to save, and he'll have a good story to tell.
Sorry if I wasnt clear but I believe I stated here and many times over that spikes as well as some of blichmans and pretty much everyone elses kettles for that matter are chinese sourced. But that basic stamped kettle or tank is not the finished product by any stretch. Chinese labor is super cheap and a product completely built there would be much cheaper and quicker.
The difference here is the finished product is made here meaning each piece is gone over and extensive quality control is checked as the ports area are measured out and added as well as the stand, lid and whatever else is fabricated and added here in the states. Plus we know that he is responsible for at least some of the engineering contracted to different firms and done in the states.
I honestly dont know your system or if you engineer your products or just supply idea and concepts to the chinese manufacturers or have the engineering done yourself but im fairly sure that at least most of your products come from overseas complete and are shipped out right after you pick them up at the docks.. That can make all the difference in how long something can take to "roll out" and thats the comment I was referring to with my comment. I am not comparing your products to his only the possible reason for delays and longer manufacturing times.
Thanks for answering the questions needed to understand your business model more. I honestly had no idea if you did the engineering or not since many companies actually rely on the manufacturers engineering teams when selling their products..The kettle merely ships without any ports, and they install those domestically. 90-95% of the construction still happens in China. It would be an interesting analysis, but if you were to measure the seam weld running the entire circumference of the kettle, where the kettle bottom is attached to the cylinder portion. Then also measure the seam weld where the cylinder is formed. Then compare that to the amount of welding that is done stateside, I would bet that more welding is done in China than the U.S., despite the advertisements saying "Welded in the U.S.A."
From what you're saying, a significant piece of the finished product manufacturing happens here, and I know that's not the case.
Since it seems like you have some holes to fill in on how our company functions operationally, I'm happy to fill you in.
We are able to design and introduce products at a faster rate then most home brewing or pro brewing product companies because we invest heavily, in wait for it, U.S. jobs. We have an entire engineering team that is actually part of our company, that designs our products in-house, we dont utilize any outside engineering resources. Our CTO and co-founder is an engineer himself, and leads this team.
Moreover, we are using the same manufacturing partners in China since Ss Brewtech was founded. We don't purchase our product through intermediaries, and we dont jump around from factory-to-factory, Spike does on both accounts, which can cause some delays when trying to introduce a new product. We know this, because we know the factories that he is using.
Lastly, from a QC perspective, you bring up a good point. We actually have an entire team in China, 9 people in supply chain, logistics, and QC, that work directly for Ss Brewtech, not our manufacturing partners. In addition, our CEO and co-founder spends roughly 4-5 months out of the year there. No other product company either in the Home or Pro world that we know of have invested in amount of resources that we have there. We have our own warehouse space there to assemble and QC our product. Then once our product arrives in the U.S. each product is often unboxed here and rechecked in our domestic warehouse. We often pack accessories with our products, so its an easy exercise.
So if you really want to know the secret sauce of our organization, its our investment in people both domestically and overseas that care deeply about our design, engineering, quality and the home and pro brewers that we're serving. I know its probably easier for you to think its just 1-2 guys running this operation from a computer in the U.S., and buying from whatever Chinese factory we can, using their cheap labor, and then drop shipping from some contracted warehouse, but that is a complete falsehood.
Thanks for answering the questions needed to understand your business model more. I honestly had no idea if you did the engineering or not since many companies actually rely on the manufacturers engineering teams when selling their products..
I only have one question. If you dont do your manufacturing china to take advantage of their cheap labor than why exactly DO you do it there?
And why lease extra space there to assemble and do QC work there vs doing it here?
Ok I lied I have another question...
If adding the ports and cleaning up the welds to the kettles is such an insignificant thing as you imply than why do you all charge so much more money for your kettles with them vs a chinese kettle without them? It seems its often literally more than twice the price or more for that as you say "extra 5 to 10%" additional work? That hardly seems right if thats the case?
I was looking at anvil brewing the other day... Just heard Blichmann owns them. If thats true does that mean its american made? I doubt it. The brand and website and marketing sure doesnt imply chinese made products to me but I can find no mention of manufacturing or country of origin.
I understand SS Micheal's perceived need to answer questions in this thread but at what point do 500 word essays become thread Hijacking or trolling? Not the interweb police , just curious
Exactly! and "welded in the USA" can clearly be misunderstood as as made in the USA since the whole thing is welded including the kettle and conical tank (Which is actually a large portion of the welding done in china) as SS mentitioned the ports are added as well as accessories here.. Just like final assembly and paint are done on many harleys here with many foreign parts... its a very grey area and some companies like to take advantage of that to imply things..I think the majority of the people who buy these products research the hell out of them. Only an idiot would look at Spike and see the USA flag and say "Oh yeah its made in America Baby. Buy American. MURICA WOOOO!"
Its clearly printed "Welded in the USA"
I understand SS Micheal's perceived need to answer questions in this thread but at what point do 500 word essays become thread Hijacking or trolling? Not the interweb police , just curious
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