Date: June 24, 2024
Ever since I was a kid, I always heard people talking about manufacturing jobs going overseas.
Even then I understood why it was happening.
I was smart enough to know that if you could get something cheaper somewhere else, people would go there to spend their money. I would do the same thing! If a Snicker’s bar was 75 cents at the Circle K and 65 cents at 7-11, you can bet I was spending my money at 7-11.
But for some reason, even as a teenager, the thought of jobs leaving the States for other parts of the world merely to save a buck bothered me. Weren’t we worth investing in? Weren’t my neighbors worthy of good paying jobs in manufacturing?
It’s never that simple of course.
Or maybe it is, and we just don’t want to admit it.
The Challenges of Investing in Good Paying Jobs
As I grew up and started businesses of my own, I saw the challenges of investing in good paying jobs firsthand. As a founder and entrepreneur, you’re always aware of the bottom line.
Always.
That balance sheet stares at you day after day, and anything you can do to shave off a few cents here or there is worthwhile. But I found out pretty quickly that when I invested in my employees, the returns were worth far more than the money I spent. It’s hard to explain, but as I focused on paying people what they were worth, and then some, my business would grow in unexpected ways.
It was amazing!
My goal was to do it on a bigger scale, making a real difference in communities and individual lives. Some would say that sounds incredibly naïve or foolish, especially from a business perspective, but again, I had seen the benefits for my business too. Scaling that up seemed like a natural progression.
Meeting H.C. Quimbley and the Birth of Quimbley's Toys and Games
Enter H.C. Quimbley...
I’ve known H.C. (the real H.C. that the character is based on) for decades. He’s every bit the ball of energy and creativity that’s portrayed in the books and short stories. He’s got a big brain and an even bigger heart. When he sat me down to talk about starting Quimbley’s Toys and Games, creating not only a creative space for play and fun, but a factory where we could manufacture our own products, I was sceptical. We talked through all the details and he agreed that we would work together as a team - we have always complemented each other's skillsets, and also bulwark each other's weaknesses. At the end of the conversation, we agreed on one key item: If the two of us don't agree on a decision, then the answer is no. We have very different perspectives and will only move forward on something if we both agree it is a good idea.
So... building a factory here? In the United States? Bringing those jobs to my own town? The numbers make sense and so I agreed.
Still, going from an idea to an executable plan is not an easy task. Add to that the actual building of the manufacturing plant and the production of thousands of items, and you have a task of Herculean proportions.
Setting Up the Manufacturing Hub in the Rocky Mountains
So, let’s talk about what it’s taken to start this company and create a manufacturing hub in the Rocky Mountains. The first thing we needed was a warehouse. I already had some space in a warehouse I was leasing for my other business, but H.C. wanted more. His ideas of what we could do were massive, and he wanted a massive space to match. Well, we found that massive space in the form of a brand-new warehouse that had just come on the market. It was so new, the electrical wasn’t even complete and there were no overhead lights (as I type right now, the overhead lights are actually finally being installed in the warehouse).
But it was a good space for what we wanted to do.
From there, we moved in and immediately started acquiring the printers and laser cutters we would need. I’m going to go into detail on some of these machines in a later blog post, but trust me when I say, these are like no other printers and laser cutters you’ve ever seen. They are so big they wouldn’t even fit in your house. Those are the types of machines you need when you’re planning on producing at the speed we’re looking for if we want to compete with overseas manufacturers.
They’re big.
Size is only part of it though. These machines require skilled technicians who know not only the capabilities of the equipment, but how to maximize every inch of our production material. We immediately began hiring the best people in the business to help make our factory a powerhouse.
Building a Skilled Workforce and Ensuring Quality Control
The best part of our hiring process was how excited everybody was about the manufacturing facility itself. It was as if everyone was hungry to work in manufacturing right here at home. They would smile and ask if we were serious about bringing these jobs back to the States.
We always answered with an emphatic ‘Yes!’
We immediately went into the testing phase, playing around with different materials, speeds, inks, lasers, you name it. It became clear pretty quickly that we would be able to fix problems fast, which would make creating top-quality products that much easier.
What most people don’t realize is that when you’re using an overseas factory, you have to send them the plans for whatever you’re building, they ship you a prototype, and then every time you make a change, you have to wait for another version to arrive in the mail.
It's an excruciatingly long process.
Not for us!
We can hand the plans to one of our tech crew, they can run out to the factory floor and create it, and then immediately bring it to us to make changes. We’ve literally gone through three or four iterations of a product in a single day.
A single day!
That would have taken several weeks at least going through a factory on the other side of the world.
Another area where this ease of production helps us is with quality control. I know a lot of you have received sub-standard products and games from other companies in the past. Often, those problems are not the fault of the gaming or toy company itself, but rather the factory they’ve hired for manufacturing. Petersen Games, one of our game partners, approved high quality final products on multiple occasions, only for the factory to then produce mass quantities of less-than-stellar pieces. Petersen Games only then found out about it when customers started complaining. When you see the approved figures and games held up next to what the factory ended up making, you’d be shocked that anyone let those products ever leave the plant in the first place.
That will never be an issue with us at Quimbley’s, because we are right here for production every step of the way. If we see a problem, we can stop fabrication and fix it before thousands of items are packaged and shipped to customers.
Again, we’ve been able to spot issues immediately and make changes. We printed dozens and dozens of copies of our wood game Cluethulhu, verifying the print and cuts were just right. Even then sometimes mistakes are still made, but it’s far less common than what you’ll find when you’re dealing with manufacturers ten thousand miles away.
Plus, with a local crew of people committed to quality, we have a team that actually cares whether you get good quality stuff or not!
The Benefits of Local Manufacturing
And I guess that brings me back to where this blog started in the first place.Yes, sending manufacturing jobs overseas saves money. Labor is still cheaper in China and other nations than it is here.
But with a bit of innovation and a drive to create good-paying jobs for hardworking men and women, unseen benefits begin to take shape. Suddenly all those little things that stack up and cost a company money disappear. The employee turnover evaporates. Efficiencies and proximity allow the business to pivot quickly and take advantage of opportunities that other factories can’t match.
Everything changes!
Everything improves!
I’ve seen it before, and I’m seeing it now with Quimbley’s. It’s a joy to watch our machines humming and spitting out games, cutting through wood and giving us a higher quality product. It’s been so much fun to see the innovation all around me and to watch as good men and women have a chance to create all kinds of crazy things.
Quimbley’s is still a very young company with plenty to learn, but I think we’re starting out from the right place. We know things will cost a bit more on our balance sheet because of how we’ve chosen to do business, but I think you’ll agree that we’ll be making that up in so many ways, both tangible and intangible.
The future is bright, and I’m so grateful you’ve decided to join us for the ride. There are a ton of great products already available and even more to come. If you could sit in on our production meetings you would see just how much madness we have in store for all of you. New ideas and insane production schedules definitely are not going to be our problem. When you have as many creative people racking their brains for fun things to make as we do, you’re never going to run out of awesome stuff to build.
And we’re building it all right here.
