Yoyofactory Instagram

[da5id]

@Philip

?

One lathe has a sub-spindle so that counts as half a lathe

[Yoyo]

@Steve Brown

No one said that but you. What is your point?

What reason would onedrop have for outsourcing to China if their machine shop is viewed as the best by the biggest yoyo company there is?

[unklesteve (Steve Brown)]

@da5id

You are conflating the high-end and the low-end markets. I’m talking specifically about the high-end.

I think in your thought experiment that if we outsourced some of our production to China that our quality would suffer. But that will never happen. The basis of One Drop is in house manufacturing -it’s what we are good at and thankfully enough players appreciate it to keep it going. Also enough other companies (including Duncan) appreciate our work enough to source us. I think the difference in quality is undeniable and currently the market agrees because we are still here. Hopefully there continues to be room for both in our small industry.

I think it’s the “small industry” part that I have such a problem with. I want the industry to be BIGGER, so I always tend to lean towards everyone pushing towards developing a lower end line in order to help expand that player base. I know that’s not the right move for every company, but I still have this idea in my head that it should be the end goal. You start off making high-end product because it’s relatively easy and fairly low risk…then you expand your product offerings, then you branch into larger runs of lower-end product that you can use to expand the player base. It’s an old way of thinking about things, and I’m constantly fighting what I know is one way to do things that I’ve seen work really well in the past, and the new way of doing things that companies like yours and CLYW have become very adept at.

There’s a middle ground, and I’m still working out a sustainable strategy for it. But regardless, I think giving all the credit for One Drop’s success to your domestic machining doesn’t take in to account the rest of the work you’ve put in to building the company. However ham-fisted I may be at saying it, my main point is that the location of your machine shop should, to my mind, be the last thing your fans worry themselves about.

[da5id]

@Steve Brown

I think it’s the “small industry” part that I have such a problem with. I want the industry to be BIGGER, so I always tend to lean towards everyone pushing towards developing a lower end line in order to help expand that player base. I know that’s not the right move for every company, but I still have this idea in my head that it should be the end goal. You start off making high-end product because it’s relatively easy and fairly low risk…then you expand your product offerings, then you branch into larger runs of lower-end product that you can use to expand the player base. It’s an old way of thinking about things, and I’m constantly fighting what I know is one way to do things that I’ve seen work really well in the past, and the new way of doing things that companies like yours and CLYW have become very adept at.

There’s a middle ground, and I’m still working out a sustainable strategy for it. But regardless, I think giving all the credit for One Drop’s success to your domestic machining doesn’t take in to account the rest of the work you’ve put in to building the company. However ham-fisted I may be at saying it, my main point is that the location of your machine shop should, to my mind, be the last thing your fans worry themselves about.

The location matters because we can be there. Our business was founded on this principle. If we outsourced, we would not be able to do the all the things that bring us our success. There are so many advantages to having the machines here including speed of R&D and experimentation, short run flexibility, and most important, quality management. It matters and our supporters get that (we are blessed). And it matters to our partners who we build yoyos for. I don’t think anyone “worries” about it, but I know that many appreciate the result.

[Yoyo]

Onedrop’s whole “thing” is that they make they’re own yoyos.

[da5id]

@Yoyo

Onedrop’s whole “thing” is that they make they’re own yoyos.

Exactly Well said.

[Totalartist]

I buy the spectrum, which is proof that there is support for both the exclusively U.S.A. made and companies that diversify their manufacturing. But, I think that when a company makes it’s decisions, they have to be satisfied with their position. They chose that position. If a company is based on certain principles, and they want to stick with that image, they should always do it with a smile, no matter the outcome.

[yoyomaster3456]

Hmmmm I sense a rage addict

[IGINLA (H.J.Fras)]

If anything this thread is pulling the community apart

[GoCrazyForYoyo (Amplified)]

I like the photos on YYF Instagram.

This thread isn’t pulling anyone apart. It’s called lively intelligent discussion. We should do this more often.

[Totalartist]

@yoyomaster3456

Hmmmm I sense a rage addict

Hmmm…I sense an instigator too. An instigator, meaning a person who chimes in and bumps a thread with a one-liner, that has nothing to do with the original topic, and they have contributed nothing of substance to the thread as a whole. The last argument began when that occurred, and it continues to happen.

Moving on, I agree with GoCrazyForYoyo. Some of the lively intelligent discussion is way over people’s heads. I love YoyoFactory Instagram too. It is the way I keep up with what to buy next, and find out when things are being released. I hate Facebook though.

[Iron_Knuckle]

I’m all for domestic companies. I’m also all about seeing companies with a mission to produce enough yoyos for everyone.

Correct me if I’m wrong, the problem of starting up and producing large quantities of goods in most cases for domestic machine shops is machine cost, industrial CNC lathes can run from $30,000.00 to $150,000.00 USD or more. Though, realistically most shops would lease their machines instead of owning a few right out of the gate. But that still doesn’t begin to cover sourcing material, insurance, maintenance, operator costs, software licenses, and having a shop big enough to hold the machine itself.

I don’t know much about milling, but I can’t imagine the process of producing yoyos from a single lathe is exactly speedy. So I guess that’d be partly why we see small boutique companies that have limited runs.

The caveat to expansion is that you need money, and yoyoing is a niche hobby as it is. I think some companies could take the risk and be rewarded however, and they try to snake a loan out of someone to expand. At some point I think there is a bit of responsibility to try and increase production to draw in more customers. Not just for profit but to make yoyos more recognized as something awesome. Yoyo producers don’t just make throws. They make players.

In the end this is all easier said than done for someone like me. My livelihood does not depend on a personal business.