Zebralight moving production from China to Dallas?

I noticed a post in the Marketplace from Cellguy (who is offering a good deal on new SC52 over there at the moment). He mentioned that Zebralight will be moving production to the US in December. Sounds interesting (and unlikely) - anyone know any more about this? Sorry if this isn't right forum, but thought discussion in Marketplace probably the wrong place.

Dubois said:

I noticed a post in the Marketplace from Cellguy (who is offering a good deal on new SC52 over there at the moment). He mentioned that Zebralight will be moving production to the US in December. Sounds interesting (and unlikely) - anyone know any more about this? Sorry if this isn't right forum, but thought discussion in Marketplace probably the wrong place.

Click to expand...

I find it hard to believe but good for them if true.

That would be cool. Might justify the purchase of an SC600.

I find it unlikely as well but. great if true!

Would be great if true... who knows, might also result in a US style warranty like Foursevens and Eagletac which are HQ'd here.

Hopefully they won't cost an arm like those Surefire when manufacture in US.

I think he say "shipping products to Dallas"
Last few years whenever I buy from Zebralight, it's shipped from Texas, and I have to pay tax too.

I am sure they just have a U.S. headquarters based in Texas to provide better customer service.

glockboy said:

I think he say "shipping products to Dallas"
Last few years whenever I buy from Zebralight, it's shipped from Texas, and I have to pay tax too.

Click to expand...

flame2000 said:

Hopefully they won't cost an arm like those Surefire when manufacture in US.

Click to expand...

I was thinking exactly the same thing - how much will they have to jack up the price, for the U.S. made light, in order to make the same profit they're making now, with foreign assembly?

One of the marketing guys told me this past spring and again last month that they are about to (trying to start by end of 2012) begin construction of a production plant in Texas. I was thinking he said Arlington though....not possitive about which city. This does mean that they will produce zebralights here in the US. Not sure if they will continue to also produce lights in China, although it would make sense for them to produce in both so they can better keep up with demand. This will be good news for warranty service and customer service.

david57strat said:

I was thinking exactly the same thing - how much will they have to jack up the price, for the U.S. made light, in order to make the same profit they're making now, with foreign assembly?

Click to expand...

Hard to tell but if they heavily automate the production assembling process and you think that they wouldn't be paying import duties and adding shipping costs on the final tag, they might keep within the same price range. You add potentially higher sales thanks to the "made in the USA" hype - which will make most US consumers happy to cash out a few more dollars on their lights - and there you go: they'll still make a profit. Or else I guess they wouldn't even play with the idea of opening a production pant in the US. Curious to see how it goes!

Ok then let's ask ourselves, what are the main reasons for a flashlight company to shift production from China to USA?
Apparently ZL must be dissatisfied with the current production situation.

Or is it in the end all about money only?

A US company is more profitable imo if the produce is manufactured in China. See Apple.

shelm said:

Ok then let's ask ourselves, what are the main reasons for a flashlight company to shift production from China to USA?

Click to expand...

Juicy military contracts.

Whatever the situation, I am glad and will not think twice about buying another light from them. I just sent a new one (still under warranty) in for repair, to their Irving location. If I can remember correctly, every one of us who wanted to make a warranty claim had to send the light back to China, and I didn't want to fork out that money nor wait on the turnaround time. But Zebralight contacted me back shortly after the first email about sending it to China and told me to just send it into their US location for repair. I am now a happy camper with Zebralight. So much that the H600W is back on the "to-buy" list.

I recall a post somewere on cpf that the T3 and T5, which are announced as future products for more than a year, are planned to be tactical and American made lights.

We'll move to a new location in Las Colinas next week. The new manufacturing facility will house cutting edge 5-axis machining centers, robots, etc., and above all, a manufacturing system based on a concept we believe that's move advanced than today's robot cells or FMS.

:thumbsup:
_

Good Luck ZL with your new manufacturing plans. I hope we will continue to see innovation and improvement in quality of production like none before!

If ZL is manufacturing in USA then I'll definitely pick up some of those USA-manufactured models ...

I stopped purchasing from ZL after my sample size of one (a ZL H501) started malfunctioning with flickering issues on High. I want another 1xAA headlamp but just didnt trust the QC. If that will improve as result of manufacturing location, then I'll vote for a ZL headlight with my dollar$.

It's in a Foreign Trade Zone, where foreign manufacturers can bypass US Customs.