We recently published our first MythBusters post in response to what a not-so-friendly competitor was saying about our company. Today we want to address another part of this. Here’s what was said:

“Well – some companies think you can just pound (or “bam”) a round metal post in the ground and attach a vinyl post to it and like magic you are done sipping a cold drink enjoying your new cheap Chinese Fence (yes – they don’t advertise the made in China…)…”

What About China?

The reality is that we have never hidden the fact that we manufacture in China.  Every single box has always been identified as being  “Designed in the USA, Made in China”. In fact, you can read a blog article that was published in May 2010 where we fully disclose this fact.

We are proud of our long standing partnership with the leading manufacturer of vinyl  fence in China. For well over a decade they have done a fantastic job in meeting all the ASTM standards for vinyl fence, and have successfully shipped thousands of containers into many highly respected fence installation and manufacturing companies across North America. That’s right. Thousands, not dozens.

Our product design, quoting, marketing, sales, warehousing and shipping are handled by a fully qualified team of people working right here in North Carolina.  At the end of the day, we manufacture in China for the same reason Apple does. When it’s done right, you, the consumer, get better value for your money. Just because something is made overseas does not automatically make it cheap. Your iPhone, iPad, and iMac are perfect examples of this.

That being said however, we totally respect anyone who wants to purchase American Made products only. It’s a free country and like our friend Lee Greenwood sings….. God Bless the USA!

Stay tuned for the final post in our MythBuster series next week!

Some of our team at our factory in China. We are proud to be partnered with the largest manufacturer of fence in China!

Part 1 of 3 in our MythBusters Series!

This statement  below was actually brought to our attention by a customer who called us and said, “I noticed this on another website and that’s how I became interested in the no-dig solution. I thought there must be something to this if someone is attacking it so publicly?”

“There are some vinyl fencing companies claiming they are digless vinyl fence systems – do they work?
Well – some companies think you can just pound (or “bam”) a round metal post in the ground and attach a vinyl post to it and like magic you are done sipping a cold drink enjoying your new cheap Chinese Fence (yes – they don’t advertise the made in China…). Not true at all – this is a gimmick, we feel it is faster to dig the holes, with all of the work screwing in each rail with multiple screws (weak connection), steel posts (not stainless…) and leveling, you have the same amount of time installing our much higher quality fence. From our experience these Chinese systems are weak (no metal insert in the bottom rail), do not save installation time (only 7′ wide), AND are almost impossible to to keep straight and level. Also, the 4 grooves in the posts collect dirt and insects and really are not aesthetically pleasing. What is the old saying – you can’t cut corners for quality – remember, our American Made vinyl fencing will last a lifetime, so do not fall for the gimmicks of a quick installation. Nobody honestly thinks a fence post with absolutely no concrete around them will last a lifetime, well we know they will not….”

Firstly, in the spirit of WamBam we thought it would be both appropriate and fun to respond to this  by asking you to ask yourself some questions. You’re intelligent, so all joking aside, if the no-dig installation method is a gimmick:

Fred proudly stands by his no-dig vinyl fence which was installed over 20 years ago

1. Why would customers who installed vinyl fence the no-dig way almost 20 years ago still be raving on about it? 

• • Read about customers who installed their vinyl fence the no-dig way up to 20 years ago

2. Why have numerous well-established multi-million dollar companies staked their future on do-dig fence?

Check out these links, which are by no means comprehensive:

• • Straight’n’Level has been installing fence the no-dig way for 13 years. They also have a great video available for viewing.
  • Digless Fencing Solutions has partnered with Straight’n’Level to bring digless fencing to America. Watch a video of them trying to pull a pipe anchor out of the ground.
  • Here is an informative video about no-dig installation systems
  • This company has a lot of great stuff telling why they are firm believers in no-dig fence
  • Here are a couple other different companies who use the no-dig install method: http://www.post-mate.com/, http://therookpostmount.com/
  • Read a professional fence company’s PDF talking about the benefits of driving pipe or read about their preferred no-dig installation method

Over 1/2 million feet of no-dig vinyl fence installed in Western Canada over the past 15 years

3. Why has there been over 1/2 million feet of fence installed this way in the past 20 years, with more and more professional fence contractors getting on board every year?

See what professional fencers are saying about digless fence

4. Why would ASTM International Standards Worldwide ever consider developing new standards for the no-dig fence system?

• • Read an article from The World Fence News April 2012.

5. Would a fence that’s “a joke” be independently laboratory tested and certified to withstand wind loads of up to a category 1 hurricane?

• • See our fence undergo this test

Secondly , digging holes and pouring concrete is a fine way to install fence. We would never disparage it, with the exception of saying that it’s a heck of a lot of work that’s not necessary in a lot of applications. But digless fence isn’t for everyone,  and that’s why we also offer a line that is installed traditionally by digging holes and pouring concrete.

Thirdly, we admire our competitors, and believe they offer solid value. If they did not, they would not be in business. If you’re interested in a traditional install you would be well served by almost any vinyl fence company that sells traditionally installed fence on-line.

Lastly, a wise man once said that you can fool some of the people some of the time but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. We believe you are a wise person capable of making good decisions. Whatever your choice, you can be 100% certain of one thing about a fence. A good one makes for good neighbors. Tally ho….and good fishing!

Stay tuned for Mythbusters Part 2 and 3 coming shortly!

(WamBam Fence reviews)

Injection Molding Machines at our Chinese Factory

It’s no secret that “Made in China” is a sticky subject. Here at WamBam, we want to be forthright with our customers, so we don’t want to hide or camouflage this fact. Would we prefer that our stuff was made domestically? Of course. But unfortunately, that’s not an option for us.

Our roots are in New England Arbors, a company that manufactures beautiful arbors, trellises and pergolas. Originally we manufactured our products domestically. We designed everything in Canada, manufactured all the components and pieces with our partners in the US, and packaged it all at our warehouse in Canada. It was “Made in North America” and we were proud of that fact.

Things started to change. Raw material costs went up. Packaging costs went up. Labor costs went up. By far and away the tipping point for us was when the US dollar weakened to the point of being worth slightly less than the Canadian dollar at one point in 2007. Currency losses were massive. We raised our prices to offset these challenges, but we were pricing ourselves out of the market and becoming uncompetitive. We had to make a tough decision. Either find a more efficient-faster-better way to manufacture and keep the business intact, or continue to raise our prices at a serious risk of further hurting our sales and business. We really didn’t have a choice but to find a more efficient way to manufacture.

Aluminum Powder Coating Line

Fully aware of all the challenges and potential pitfalls in dealing with China, we were resistant to the idea. We are passionate about quality and didn’t want anything to hurt our reputation. We started doing serious homework in China by visiting numerous factories—numerous times and over numerous years—to do due diligence in finding a good partner we could absolutely trust.

It wasn’t an easy process, but we did find a good partner. We chose a top notch factory with happy, loyal and well treated employees. Thus began a tip-toe, take-it-cautious approach to doing business in China. The factory was also passionate about high standards which was evident by their state-of-the-art quality control. Best of all, this factory had a partner living in the States so there were some solid links back to the homeland.  They were already manufacturing for many large American companies and had a flawless track record and many happy customers. They offered us pricing that could keep us competitive which in turn meant that we could sustain our business.

Quality Assurance Lab

With this change, repercussions to employees were very minimal because we were still largely manufacturing domestically. A few things slowly changed. Some employees left for different opportunities, some were re-positioned, and one went on disability due to unfortunate personal health issues. But the best news was that the existing employees kept their jobs because sales started picking up again.

When we started WamBam we decided to move to the States to be closer to our customers. Here at WamBam, we do manufacture in China. But all our design, product development, sales, marketing, and customer service employs people in the States. If we manufactured domestically we wouldn’t be competitive and would probably be out of business and subsequently out of jobs.

Do we wish it was easier and more efficient to manufacture domestically? Of course. But the bottom line is that for us it’s not. Rather than resist this truth, we have chosen to work with it. Even though our product is made overseas, we’re confident in our factory’s capabilities and quality control. We are confident we are offering our customers the very best product at a very competitive price to give real value. And because we can do this, we’re creating jobs in America.

To sum it up, at the end of the day we believe that we bring better value and innovation to our customers by partnering with China.

Right now I’m now working on at least a dozen projects with people from the following countries: Macedonia, India, Ukraine, Russia, China, California USA, Georgia USA, North Carolina USA, and Canada.

They don’t know each other and they are all working independently of each other.

Yes, time zone and language barrier issues occasionally arise. Yes, it’s a lot to manage sometimes. And of course there are problems. But it’s a very cool way to do business and I’m thrilled with the results so far.

I love technology. Sometimes the rapid pace of the world scares me, but I want to embrace it.  And right now I’m happy to report that it’s working for me.

How can I relate this back to fence that’s fun to install? Um, let’s see…well, it’s good to embrace new ways of doing things. And the new WamBam way of installing fence is very cool, fun, easy, and overall a much better way for a do-it-yourself person to install fence.

Ok, that was a stretch. Sorry. But it’s all I got.