Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/01/07

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Subject: [Leica] Cost of Made in Germany?
From: douglas.sharp at gmx.de (Douglas Sharp)
Date: Sat Jan 7 10:53:57 2006
References: <ac.21de88d.30f14185@aol.com> <7F1A8127-44A3-4D59-AB35-CA756B232B51@ralgo.nl> <43BFF23B.5050006@gmx.de> <9DFD3A58-C8E6-4946-B369-4DA2E012E72D@ralgo.nl>

I'm not sure how much of the product must be actually manufactured or 
assembled in Germany, but at present there is a lot of argument about 
introducing the mark Made in EU for all members ot the European Community.
On a historical note, it was the British who forced Germany (and other 
countries ) to use the Made in mark, this made it easier to boycott 
German products.

Overheads in Germany are incredibly high, here they talk of a "second 
salary" which is the amount an employer has to pay over and above what 
his employee is actually earning, the breakdown is 50% of health 
insurance, then come contributions to state pensions , social security, 
unemployment benefit, accident insurance etc
 Add to this the terms of notice ( for an employee with, for example 25 
years or longer in a company, a contract can only be terminated  with 3 
to 6months notice),and compensation aspects are based on a formula 
considering age, length of employment, marital status, number of 
children and a couple of other facors. Then, most German employees have 
come to expect 30 to 35 days paid holidays(over and above the public 
holidays, of which there are many)
and a thirteenth month's salary at Christmas. The present terrible 
economic situation and 11% unemployment  in Germany is forcing a total 
rethinking of all these processes, so many of these benefits may soon 
become a thing of the past. Although it may already be too late - by the 
time it happens Leica could be Made in Poland,Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania 
or anywhere else in Europe that offers wage rates 60-75 % lower than in 
Germany. Though what happens when these ex-Eastern block countries have 
totally recovered from the aftermath of communism is anybody's guess, 
maybe they'll all shift their production to Senagl, Togo, 
Eritrea........ Interesting is that German coastal shrimp and prawn 
fishers already send their catch to Algeria Tunisia and Morocco for shelling
Douglas

bruce wrote:

> I seem to remember that officially, the use of "made in xxx" is based  
> upon more than 50% of the cost of the product coming from the "xxx"  
> land ......... and the overheads in Germany are very high ...........  
> Douglas?
>
> B.
>
> On 7-jan-2006, at 17:54, Douglas Sharp wrote:
>
>> It actually works a little differently, a certain amount of the  
>> parts production and sub assembly still has to be done in Germany  to 
>> allow them to use  the tag "Made in Germany".
>> A similar business with a lot of watches, they may have a Swiss or  
>> Japanese movement but the watch can still be M-i-G.
>> Douglas
>>
>> bruce wrote:
>>
>>> I think it's called PR ............ still, the serious move to   
>>> Portugal was begun some ........ seven or eight years ago, as far  
>>> as  I learned from "insiders" at Solms.
>>>
>>> B.
>>>
>>> On 7-jan-2006, at 17:08, Grduprey@aol.com wrote:
>>>
>>>> In a message dated 1/7/2006 9:46:55 AM Central Standard Time,
>>>> nathan.wajsman@planet.nl writes:
>>>> Leica does not make much in Germany these days. Most of their  
>>>> stuff is
>>>> actually produced in Portugal, with only some assembly activities  and
>>>> final inspection done in Germany. Solms is by and large an R&D and
>>>> corporate HQ shop.
>>>> They sure seem to be making lenses there and also M adjustments  
>>>> and  final
>>>> assembly.  Either that or they are sure waisting money with the   
>>>> show and tell.
>>>>
>>>> Gene
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Leica Users Group.
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Leica Users Group.
>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
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>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>

In reply to: Message from Grduprey at aol.com (Grduprey@aol.com) ([Leica] Japanese paper reports Canon to take over Leica)
Message from bruce at ralgo.nl (bruce) ([Leica] Japanese paper reports Canon to take over Leica)
Message from douglas.sharp at gmx.de (Douglas Sharp) ([Leica] Japanese paper reports/ Made in Germany?)
Message from bruce at ralgo.nl (bruce) ([Leica] Japanese paper reports/ Made in Germany?)