Local Company Thinks “Made in the U.S.A.” Makes Sense Again

A Port Jefferson Station manufacturer of analog guitar pedals moved its operations from China to Port Jefferson Station following a trend at many small companies who find producing in the U.S. cheaper and more convenient, according to a story in Bloomberg Businessweek.

In a report titled “Small U.S. Manufacturers Give Up on 'Made in China,’” writers David Rocks and Nick Leiber made the case that despite the fact that “manufacturing in China can cost a third what it does in American factories, small companies are bringing production back to the U.S.”

They cited examples from small manufacturing companies across the country who, for multiple reasons ranging from convenience to keeping in line with complex government regulations, have found domestic production of their products is the best bet.

That included Port Jefferson Station-based Pigtronix, a maker of specialty analog guitar pedals.

“Even with strong Mandarin skills, Brian Bethke grew frustrated with manufacturing in China,” Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported. “The co-founder of Pigtronix, which makes pedals that create electric guitar sound effects, discovered that he couldn’t adequately monitor quality at Chinese factories.”

Bethke was actually living in China at the time but technical problems with almost 30 percent of the products and the fact that Chinese factories made Pigtronix produce many more pedals than they actually needed lured them back to U.S. shores, Port Jefferson Station to be exact.

“At its small factory in a Long Island office park, the company can run multiple tests on its products and even has a guitarist play each of the 500 to 1,000 pedals it sells monthly before they’re packed and shipped,” reported Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Pigtronix has been producing its pedals locally for three years now and the company is as happy as a pig in, well, you know the rest.

Click here to head over to the Bloomberg BusinessWeek website to read the rest of this story.