NAV-TV, maker of car audio interfaces, also owns an in-house manufacturing facility, which it is offering for use to other 12 volt companies who may want to bring their manufacturing back to the US in light of recent tariffs on Chinese goods.
Since the tariffs were announced in July, NAV-TV began working with about a dozen additional 12 volt suppliers seeking to switch to US manufacturing, said NAV-TV VP Derek Schmiedl.
NAV-TV, under its subsidiary called Federal Electron (located in NAV-TV’s building) can manufacture products using printed circuit boards.
Federal Electron now manufactures for companies that sell LED lighting, CAN-related interfaces and MOST interfaces (that are non-competitive with NAV-TV’s products). Federal Electron also manufactures USB networks for an unnamed company, and communication boards for the US military, as well as other products for both 12 volt and non-12 volt companies.
In anticipation of the announced tariffs, Federal Electron added two more SMT production lines, increasing capacity by 40 percent and hired an additional 10 employees.
“We have spoken with numerous 12 volt companies that are faced with either increasing prices as a result of the new tariffs or absorbing the additional costs. Although we cannot compensate for the tariff impacted rising costs of materials and components, we are pleased to offer competitive, high-quality contract manufacturing services to companies looking to move electronic PCB manufacturing back to the USA…” said NAV-TV CEO Moni Melman.
Federal Electron has seen double digit growth each year since it launched 2005 with the exception of 2008, during the recession, said Schmiedl.
In some cases, tariffs on Chinese components are assessed at 10 percent or under, but tariffs on finished Chinese goods may reach 25 percent. So, manufacturing products in the US can help work around the higher tariffs, even when using some Chinese parts, he said.
Additionally, NAV-TV announced that it will hold prices steady on its car audio accessories for all of 2019, despite the tariffs on Chinese goods, barring a major economic catastrophe. Ninety percent of NAV-TV’s 900 aftermarket 12 volt products are built in their own US facility, but some of the parts used in those products have been impacted by the tariffs.
“We have carefully assessed the impact that the new tariffs will have on NAV-TV products and, although component costs have been affected, we have decided that, short of a global financial crisis, to maintain all current dealer, retail and MAP pricing through 2019,” said Melman.
NAV-TV is rad
Great job NAV-TV.
It’s good to see our industry working together in solidarity to solve an issue that affects us all.
Bringing more manufacturing projects and jobs home is always a good thing despite some costs increases.
We build 35% of our products here in the US and the tariffs have given us a chance to bring more off-shore manufacturing home even though some have said “it’s can’t happen” or “never will happen”.
I think we all need to be more positive and “work the problem people”.
MMATS Pro Audio builds about 20 models of amplifiers here in the USA. We populate all of our PCB’s with SMT, Contact and final wave-soldering with full testing. We do import other products and those will have to see price increases.
Building in the USA has always been our passion and pride. I believe now it might really start to payoff.