BCA moves 10% of bike production to US after investing in robots
Bicycle Corporation of America has brought back 10% of its production to a factory in the US, invested $6m in robots and created 140 jobs that would otherwise have gone to China. Arnold Kamler, the CEO of the family-owned company in Manning, South Carolina, said automation created jobs and enabled the company to be price competitive with China. "We're not replacing other jobs with these robots. What we're doing is adding equipment that makes us more efficient," said Kamler.
NEW YORK (BRAIN) — Kent International's Bicycle Corporation of America factory in South Carolina was the subject of a segment on CBS Evening News this week, which emphasized the factory's use of automation to reduce labor costs.

Kent opened the factory in early 2015 and got a boost later that year when U.S. Customs allowed bikes made there to be given a "Made in USA" label.

Arnold Kamler, Kent International's chairman and CEO, told BRAIN then that "As we add higher levels of automation at the factory, we are looking to bring our pricing on par with Chinese-sourced bikes, and maybe even cheaper as we do not have transportation costs to tack on. In the Midwest, the 'Made in USA' label is very persuasive."

Kamler told CBS News that its U.S. factory could only make sense with a significant investment into automation. But the story noted that, while the automation reduced the number of workers needed, the factory still employs about 140 people whose jobs would otherwise have gone to China.