manufacturing location

[Jason in Enid]

While talking to a dealer yesterday, we were talking about our favorite model, the E-Trac. Anyway, he was telling me how Minelab sold out to another recently ( Codan), have lost many of thier top personell, closed down all thier manufacturing facilties and opened up a manufacturer in Malaysia. He hasn't seen any that are marked form the new location, but apparently dealers are having trouble getting new shipments.
Apparently the change in ownership is also the reason model names are changing too. Such as Xterra 70 is now 705, 50 is 505, 30 is 305 etc.

So... has anyone here gotten an E-Trac or any other model recently that says made in Malaysia or anywhere else in Asia?

[coinnut]

Hey Jason, Gave mine a quick lookover and couldn't find anyplace that states where it was made. But I must admit, mine is a bit muddy :yes: I bought mine soon after they came out, so I hope it ain't from Malaysia, unless quality control was enforced. Any place in particular on the E Trac where it states where it was made:huh:

[Jason in Enid]

I had to look at my copy of the warranty card to find it. Mine says made in Ireland.

I have done some more digging this afternoon, and it seems the move to Malaysia is very recent. The company (Codan) stated that it may take until June 2010 to complete the transfer of production. So there may not be any Malaysian Minelabs yet.

[Epi-hunter]

I just can't wrap my brain around the thought that Minelabs will be made in Malaysia... or that the company sold out. I hope the quality doesn't start to suffer.

[angellionel]

Minelab's name reputation would suffer much harm, perhaps even irreparably, if they were to allow the quality of their products to become sub-par. I hope it doesn't come to that.

[Jason in Enid]

I agree. I keep going back and forth on this. I don't like that they were bought out, but the new parent company says they will let Minelab stand as it's own company. But then they decided to move all production to Malaysia. But they are also a military electronics contractor, who was already using the Malaysian factory. So maybe the quality will remain high.

My dealer said that when he contacted Minelab about picking up the dealership again, that NOBODY they dealt with just a few years ago is there anymore. He also said that other Minelab dealers are dropping the line becuase of the new corporate enviroment. Apparently Minelab is pushing for single-line dealers.


I guess we can just wait, and hope for the best.

[deltacornbread]

Most of the time these deals result in lower quality. crying01 Everyone who is a manufactuer has to have some sort of cost/quality ratio. What is important is that quality should be No 1. Maybe the owners will realize that us dirt diggers are a pretty demanding lot. And with other quality makers out there they should. Time will tell.

[marchas45]

I wouldn't worry to much about the quality actually I think it may get better.

http://www.codan.com.au/Portals/0/investorpubs/1.%20Acquisition%20Announcement%20.pdf

[Stang1968]

Coden is still an Australian company so thats a plus. I imagine it will much easier to supervise production if it is moved from Ireland to Malaysia as Malaysia is much closer to the corporate offices than Cork, Ireland.
Hopefully, everything folks have come to expect from Minelab will remain true; if not expect a large premium on early e-tracs as compared to the malay ones.

I hope that this change in ownership doesn't become the MD version of AMF owning Harley Davidson through the 70's....

[RickO]

I think I commented on this somewhere else. The move of a product line to another country is NEVER without pain. In all my years in business, every single supplier that moved a line either to Mexico or offshore to the far east etc, had a drastic drop in quality. Now they may be a large company, but so is Honeywell... a LOT larger, and they had absolute crashes in product quality when they moved lines. Took months to recover. There is no way I would buy a Minelab out of Malaysia, at least for two years. RickO

[deltacornbread]

[
I hope that this change in ownership doesn't become the MD version of AMF owning Harley Davidson through the 70's....
[/quote]

Amen to that.

[coinnut]

[
I hope that this change in ownership doesn't become the MD version of AMF owning Harley Davidson through the 70's....


Amen to that.


That would stink :ticked: Didn't AMF make bowling balls too rofl