August 9, 2013

No longer made in the USA?

As some of you may know, Fox is filing for an IPO. Buried in the SEC filing is this little gem:
Improve operating and supply chain efficiencies

We intend to improve operating margins in the medium term by enhancing our design and production processes to increase efficiencies, reducing new product time to market and lowering production costs. Specifically, we have begun the process of moving a majority of the manufacturing of our mountain bike products to Taiwan and intend to complete this process in 2015. We believe this transition to Taiwan, once completed, will shorten production lead times to our mountain bike OEM customers, improve supply chain efficiencies and reduce manufacturing costs.”
As many of you know I recommend Fox forks to those customers looking for suspension. It will be hard for me to continue doing that in 2015, so in the meantime I’m planning to do some test rides on White Brothers forks – which I have not ridden in many years. 
What a shame. Fox was profitable (at least according to the filing) to the tune of $14 million last year. Selling stock and moving overseas would make sense if it were impossible to compete while manufacturing in the US, but that’s obviously not the case. 
Anyway, rant over. Sad announcement. I wish all the folks at Fox the best as they (presumably) prepare to get laid off.