Foosball & Air Hockey Maker Back Home In North Texas
RICHLAND HILLS (CBSDFW.COM) - It isn't something you hear about very often but a North Texas company decided to save money by moving its operations from Mexico back to the United States.
You may have never heard of the company Valley-Dynamo, but chances are you know the games shuffleboard, foosball and air hockey! Kelye Stites is president of Valley-Dynamo and said the move from Reynosa, Mexico to Richland Hills will save money.
"I think a lot of CEOs look at the cost savings [of operating in Mexico], just from doing the simple math. But there are a lot of other variables," he said. "The labor is $2.10 an hour and our average labor up here is about 12 to 14 bucks. So on paper it doesn't look like a great move, but what a lot of people underestimate is the quality of the work and the efficiencies."
Stites said those 'other variables' ran up costs considerably. "There's duty [taxes], theft, and there's shrinkage. There's actually a union down there that people don't realize. You provide breakfast and also lunch for the employees.
The gaming and sporting goods company has manufactured coin-operated products for decades and had also been operating two manufacturing plants in Richland Hills and Haltom City.
Stites said after seven years of outsourcing the move back to North Texas was good for the company and it's customers. "We saw the quality really deteriorate in Mexico and we brought it back up here. Our quality went up in the first 30 days... just unbelievable."
The Valley-Dynamo Limited Partnership is the merged company that was once Valley Recreation Products, Tornado Table Sports and the Dynamo Corporation. The Dynamo portion of the trio has a long North Texas history and was Dallas-based for decades.
"Were actually building our product cheaper right here in Texas than we were in Mexico," Stties said.
The new Valley-Dynamo facility is 170,000 square feet and is now home to some 100 employees.
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