Why Not Just Make MTB Parts in the USA? The Inside Line Podcast 18

Darren Murphy of PUSH Industries discusses the realities of making mountain bike parts in America.

sspomer
3/10/2021 10:54am
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Welcome mountain bikers, thanks for tuning in to Vital MTB’s The Inside Line podcast. I’m honored to have Darren Murphy of PUSH Industries on the show today to keep the conversation rolling about mountain bikes, products, Covid and the economy.

 

 



A big thanks goes out to jensonusa.com who’s supported our show for the last 4 years. Use coupon code INSIDELINE at checkout and receive 10% off qualifying items.

Maxxis tires keep our show and the fastest mountain bikes rolling and Santa Cruz bicycles, who offer free lifetime bearing replacement and have a handful of models that can run a PUSH elevensix shock help us keep the lights on, too.

Inside Line Podcast with Darren Murphy from 2019

  1. MTB Suspension Q&A with PUSH Industries
  2. Darren Murphy of PUSH Industries

Show Questions

  • Darren thanks for being on the show!
  • As you know, we talked with Joe Graney at Santa Cruz to discuss the bike supply issues, but I’m glad to have you on for a couple reasons. You’re a component supplier for some OE spec, you make custom shocks individuals, but you make everything in the USA. That seemed to be a theme of a fair number of comments on Joe’s interview that said “just make stuff in the USA, that’ll solve everything” - so what better person to speak with than you. Thanks for being on!
  • There may be a lot of people out there who don’t know what PUSH is. Give us a quick rundown of what you do.
  • I love asking you this because it’s probably impossible to answer, but what bike is getting the Elevensix request most these days?
  • How much business is tuning vs. new products these days at PUSH?
  • Let’s get into PUSH products and supply and demand. Are you sitting on inventory, has there been no real change or is it a struggle to keep up with demand?
  • Is high demand a good problem?
  • What’s out of your control that’s impacting manufacturing or delivery times?
  • What about material prices or labor prices?
  • Are you dependent on any international suppliers? You make everything here, but is international freight an issue at all for you?
  • How realistic is a “made in the USA” mountain bike product for existing brands out there?
  • PUSH Elevensix shocks are offered as options on a handful of new bikes. How is the OE game going right now?
  • How do you plan future business with uncertainty in the market?
  • Are you seeing a change in what customers want this year compared to a year or two ago?
  • If I’m a PUSH customer, what’s my lead time?
  • Do you have any insight into how the bigger suspension brands are being impacted?
  • Gaze into your crystal ball: How long do you think the market is going to be like this? Do you see a light at the end of the tunnel and if so, what does it look like?
  • Despite big demand now, do you have concerns about dark clouds on the economic horizon?
Related:
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The Inside Line
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PUSH
18 comments

View replies to: Why Not Just Make MTB Parts in the USA? The Inside Line Podcast

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Burgh
3 years ago
Really enjoy these Insider Line podcasts. Please keep them coming. Brings great perspective to these companies instead of the man behind the green curtain hearsay.
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HAP
3 years ago
this was probably the first time in his life for the former president to say "sorry" LOL
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Skerby
3 years ago
I already thumps upped the former president, but your comment wins this one Darren. btw, been riding an HC97 for 2 years now and Im still in love.
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MPH24
3 years ago
Great Listen. Very insightful.

I know it's a touchy subject and also some of the IP Darren talked about with manufacturing, but it would be cool to get more insight on the labor side. I know another outdoor brand that moved it's manufacturing from Asia back to the US five or so years ago and is now shipping the manufacturing back to Asia and other locations because the labor side of things was a semi-nightmare. I think some of this was HR related plus the labor pool demographic.

How much of a challenge is this aspect because I think it's a vital component that is glossed over?
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sspomer
3 years ago
good question and i didn't mean to gloss over it. darren says that labor isn't a big issue in the podcast and i left it that. this is assumption on my part (based on talking w/ darren over the years), but PUSH never started overseas, so they have that going for them. they make premium, high-end products using high-end machinery with a price to match. skilled labor isn't cheap in the US, but i'd have to figure cost of skill labor has been part of their business model since the beginning, especially when dealing with the manufacturing equipment they have. i'm not sure about the brand you're referring to, but if the goal is to keep product prices at a level that rivaled what they were when made overseas, i could definitely see US labor costs/skills as problematic. i would think location of US base of operations is a big one too. where you'd find a good labor pool may be an expensive place to reside for a business.
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PUSH Industries
3 years ago
We've invested heavily in people, and still are, as this thing doesn't work without them. It has taken us some time for sure, but we have a strong team, and now have a great process for finding talent and integrated them into our environment efficiently.
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MPH24
3 years ago
Thanks for the replies.

spomer didn't mean to imply you glossed over it but I think the general "make everything in us" crowd does at times. I don't want to mention the brand but it is a large one in a major metro area. One issue they brought up is that price isn't really the big issue but finding quality people that wanted to do the work.

To Push, more of a general business questions, but do you find you spend more time or HR resources on finding, developing, and retaining talent on the manufacturing side vs. the sales, marketing, design functions?
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PUSH Industries
3 years ago
Initially we did for sure as we use very high tech equipment which requires highly skilled/trained people, but are in a recreational industry. This often had us being overlooked by talent in fields like aerospace where people thought MTB's were just toys. Now, we've built enough legitimacy as a precision manufacturer with all the high tech toys and have been able to draw talent from the Boeing/Tesla/Medical of the world. This has come from our partnerships with companies like DMG-Mori and Sandvik who are leaders in their fields of high tech manufacturing and often use us as a case study.
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Big Bird
3 years ago
Is Darren the first two time guest? I haven't started yet, so apologies if it's addressed in the interview.
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Brian_Peterson
3 years ago
Good stuff! Goes hand in hand with the "Build more factories " crowd.. There's just so much more to it...
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Will_Narayan
3 years ago
But that's a big problem. When you've been sending the production overseas for decades, to the point that the related jobs are not valued anymore, so that students don't want to do this, or as said in this podcast would rather work for boeing of medical, it's the whole chain that is broken and lost.

It's quite strange that people are raving about expensive bikes but that most people would feel kind of ashamed to be the guy working on it.

We totally lost it over time...

For instance you could have your welders doing "relatively-mass-produced" frames but every once in a while each welder would be assigned a custom order to break the monotony and kind of go back to the root of his job, feel proud of his job.
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