EuroWire May 2016

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Transatlantic cable
May 2016 25
† Meanwhile, hourly manufacturing wages in China rose about
12 per cent a year, on average, between 2000 and 2013,
much reducing the traditional Chinese advantage in labour
costs. With the ready availability of inexpensive oil and
natural gas in the USA, the average cost of production there
is now only ve per cent higher than in China, according to
a Boston Consulting Group report cited by Mr Rothfeder.
For most businesses, he wrote, “the calculus in favour of
reshoring or maintaining existing US operations is obvious.”
† All the “campaign-trail bluster” about winning back jobs
from China is the more repellent to Mr Rothfeder for the
appeal it holds for the many blue-collar American workers
whose manufacturing universe has been altered beyond
recognition by technology and globalisation. Their former
jobs are gone forever.
For those seeking one very big job – the presidency of the
United States – he observed, “saying ‘China’ over and over is
far easier than understanding the relationship between its
economy and ours.”
Manufacturers in various places are
preparing to ride a new old friend – the
bicycle – to a potentially lucrative market
The bicycle industry worldwide was worth $48 billion in 2014,
driven by the sale of some 133 million bikes. It is expected to
reach an estimated $65 billion by 2019 on the back of rising
fuel prices and growing tra c congestion. These statistics,
supplied by the Adelaide-based news service The Lead South
Australia, are signi cant well beyond the region that has hosted
the big cycling race Tour Down Under since 1999, producing
champion riders including Rohan Dennis, Stuart O’Grady and
Jack Bobridge. But they have particular resonance locally, where
General Motors Holden’s car manufacturing plant in Adelaide
will close next year with a loss of thousands of jobs: at the plant
but also at component manufacturers that have supplied it for
decades.
As South Australia’s traditional car making sector winds down,
a high-end bike manufacturing industry is breaking out ahead
of that trend. The Lead’s Caleb Radford reported on companies
that are taking advantage of the state’s industrial strength and
access to university testing facilities to produce brands that can
command $3,500 for a wheelset. (“Bicycle Manufacturing on
Rise as Cars Take Back Seat,” 2nd March). Custom-made titanium
bicycles from Astir Frames are assembled in Adelaide from
imported parts. Founder James Moros said the decline of the
automotive industry was opening doors for him. “If there are
factory machines that are idle, I’ll ask to use them,” he told Mr
Radford. “I’m not scavenging. I’m utilising available equipment
that other people aren’t using at the time.” Another company
nding success in South Australia is Bouwmeester Composites,
which makes high-performance carbon bre wheels for o -road
racing bikes. Founder and CEO Mello Bouwmeester brought the
composites work to Adelaide after previously manufacturing
overseas.
Finch Composites, which is testing a prototype carbon wheel
equipped with disc brakes for racing bikes, is looking to partner
with auto parts suppliers suddenly open to new business
opportunities. Co-founder Ben Tripodi said that, for the present,
the Adelaide-based company is concentrating on local business.
But, he told The Lead, “We do really want to target the American
market.”