ausrock said:
What has me curious about Rode's claims of moving all manufacturing to Aust., is that in doing so they will lose a lot of money in Gov't tax exemtions which they currently enjoy, not to mention additional wages, etc..........this just doesn't make much business sense. It is always possible that they will be using a lot of smoke and mirrors to achieve their goals.
Hi Aus,
I'm not 'clued in' on tax exemptions etc.....and smoke and mirrors...hehe...please explain?
From what I do know though, it makes perfectly good sense to me...if some parts are currently being made elsewhere (really, so what, if stringent QC is in place etc.) and they have decided to bring all manufacturing to Oz, then great! If using automated equipment in Oz and having even further (or ultimate) control 100% of the time over all manufacturing means better quality, less expensive (less labour) mics then its all good for all of us, isn't it?
I recently got a mic serviced at Rode (BTW,
my NT3 was a little noisy and out of warranty - but they repaired it on the spot for me) while they gave me a short tour of their factory at Rhodes in Sydney. Among other interesting machines was what they call a 'pick and place' machine (methinks). Man, I don't know how many companies use these machines - I'm guessing that some may use them but also many other companies use cheap labour in other parts of the world - but this thing picked up all of the tiny components - resistors, capacitors etc. and placed them on a big PCB board (which was essentially a number of boards attached together) in lightning fast speed and in exactly the correct position. The board then went over solder then through a heater and ready for testing. (This machine is a little hard to explain but its on their demo CD and website as well). This machine apparently cuts out labour costs in a massive way and reduces the chance of natural human errors.
This automated equipment would be very expensive I believe but they are probably now in a position where they can buy these machines and do everything in Australia as I think their owner / director Peter Freedman originally intended.
They also showed me their capsule making area which consisted of clean benches (these enclosed bench things that has two holes that you stick your hands in) which I think filters the air to keep it ultra clean. Now, I don't know which or how many capsules are made in OZ, but they told me that they certainly are in the process of moving everything to Australia (and into the new factory at Silverwater) and we'll all be better off for it - except maybe some other mic companies...
Aus what surprised me most about this was how willing they seemed to be to show me around their factory - I think they are aware that there are a lot of lies and innuendo floating around the place and that it is to their benefit to show people around and prove that they have nothing to hide. I don't know if this is normal practise to do a factory tour for the normal public but if you want further information and are interested, why don't you ask them for a tour yourself Aus (or anyone else, for that matter)?
And yes it does seem that I am very biased towards Rode - and I am, with good reason. I've never been 'overly' patriotic before BUT I am an Australian who lives and works in Australia, who likes buying Australian - it can only be good for our economy and keeping Australian people employed. Rode just seem to have by far the best combination of product, performance, price and distribution than any other mics currently available in Australia - ask the majority of main Rode dealers in Australia - they will tell you the same story.
I guess I'm just as biased towards Rode as some other people are towards some other mic manufacturers or 'rebadgers' (sorry, couldn't help it!). But I'm certainly far from being that biased or blind to think that Rode mics are the best for everyone.....there are a lot of different sound sources and environments out there, everyone has different hearing, style and taste etc. It always helps to have a selection of mics at hand.
.........And I realise there is only so much you can do within the current distribution structure.
