Controversy with Conn instruments

[wolfgang]

Labor controversy. Conn horns to be made in China

Conn Selmer closing Ohio plant. Some instruments to be made in China.

[LabMaster]

3 hours ago, wolfgang said:

Labor controversy. Conn horns to be made in China

Conn Selmer closing Ohio plant. Some instruments to be made in China.

How does the tariff piece fit into this?  Tariffs were supposed to bring manufacturing back to the US, or keep it in the USA.  

[jameseuph]

Student horns, low brass, and marching brass production moves to China. Many parts for these instruments are already made in China. Pro French Horn production (Conn 8D) will move to Elkhart at the Bach factory. King 2B, 3B, and Conn 88H trombones are already made at the Bach factory. 

[KVG_DC]

2 hours ago, LabMaster said:

How does the tariff piece fit into this?  Tariffs were supposed to bring manufacturing back to the US, or keep it in the USA.  

If the parts were already made in China, I suspect the tariff costs are essentially the same. They’re just moving the assembly to where the parts are.  

[Jeff Ream]

12 hours ago, jameseuph said:

Student horns, low brass, and marching brass production moves to China. Many parts for these instruments are already made in China. Pro French Horn production (Conn 8D) will move to Elkhart at the Bach factory. King 2B, 3B, and Conn 88H trombones are already made at the Bach factory. 

so then tariffs will be applied

[wolfgang]

Which brands of marching brass instruments are manufactured in the U.S.?

What about marching percussion? Any marching drums or keyboards manufactured domestically?

[rmurrey74]

18 hours ago, LabMaster said:

How does the tariff piece fit into this?  Tariffs were supposed to bring manufacturing back to the US, or keep it in the USA.  

Tariff's are misunderstood. My company assembled parts in PA based off of components made in China.  400+ jobs assembling and shipping parts.  When the tariffs went in place in 2018, it was cheaper to do the assembly in Mexico.  he assembled part had a lower rate than the components themselves based on the HTS codes.  That immediately put plans in motion to shut down all US operations and within a year, we moved all assembly out of the country.  Before the move, we added tariff charges to the majority of our customers as a separate invoice line item.  The business wanted to pass on that cost. 

I don't know it's the same for Conn-Selmer, but it's most likely cheaper to assemble in China, save money and pass any tariff on to the consumer.

 

 

[perc2100]

On 1/8/2026 at 12:04 PM, wolfgang said:

Labor controversy. Conn horns to be made in China

Conn Selmer closing Ohio plant. Some instruments to be made in China.

Dang; that headline saying "Labor Controversy" feels wildly misguided.  From the article:

The stunning news came after the employees’ union, the United Auto Workers, had a meeting with the company about a new contract.

“It started immediately. We usually started with introductions and they let us know immediately that we would not be negotiating and that they would be shutting the facility down, so we didn’t even have a chance to get into negotiations,” said UAW Local 2359 President Robert Hines.

This doesn't sound like 'labor controversy' so much as 'sheer greed on the company ownership's part.'

[LabMaster]

20 hours ago, KVG_DC said:

If the parts were already made in China, I suspect the tariff costs are essentially the same. They’re just moving the assembly to where the parts are.  

The same as what?  Tariffs are supposed to be on any goods made offshore.  Full assemblies, partial assemblies and parts for assembly in the US.  

[LabMaster]

4 hours ago, rmurrey74 said:

Tariff's are misunderstood. My company assembled parts in PA based off of components made in China.  400+ jobs assembling and shipping parts.  When the tariffs went in place in 2018, it was cheaper to do the assembly in Mexico.  he assembled part had a lower rate than the components themselves based on the HTS codes.  That immediately put plans in motion to shut down all US operations and within a year, we moved all assembly out of the country.  Before the move, we added tariff charges to the majority of our customers as a separate invoice line item.  The business wanted to pass on that cost. 

I don't know it's the same for Conn-Selmer, but it's most likely cheaper to assemble in China, save money and pass any tariff on to the consumer.

 

 

That is how I understood it as well.  I was buying material manufactured in China during that same time period. And tariffs were applied if the product came to the US.  Mine did, so a tariff was applied and passed on to consumers, even though what I was buying, was a DTC item like merchandise is/was.  What I was buying required final assembly in Canada, but it was shipped to LA and SFO first.  My bothers company got around tariffs from Asian manufacturers,  by shipping product to Mexico (no tariffs at that time) then on to the US for final assembly.  So I am sure these instruments costs will increase due to tariffs.