Tactical Gear Sewing

I have a great book to recommend to those interested in miltary tactical gear: Battle Rattle by Hans Halberstadt. The book, available at Amazon.com, is an in-depth look on all of the gear that a soldier carries. It’s well laid out going through the first, second, and third lines of gear. In addition, it has a glossary of terms which would help anyone who understands the military’s affinity for acronyms. Don’t skip over the Foreward, written by Soldiersystems.net ’s very own Eric Graves. Eric has the background, expertise, and the passion for all things gear-wise. He provides an interesting commentary on the evolution to the current Molle/PALS system as well as the Berry Amendment. Good stuff for sure.

If only I could be a fly on the wall at the DSCP, Natick, and other hubs of Department of Defense procurement. For reasons that are unclear to me and plenty of others in the industry, there have been several delays in awards of contracts. I know of several companies that have had an excruciating wait to hear on these contracts.

I don’t expect that the contracting officers care, but there is a lot of cost and pain for those companies in wait. How do I hold capacity in my plant for an indefinite time? While other work slows down, can I afford to keep my staff at high levels waiting for a contract? Can I afford to let them go and not have them when I do get the award? How will I deal with an expedited delivery that will inevitably be demanded because the government has waited so long? These are the questions that business owners and managers struggle with. With the slow down in the consumer and commercial markets, now would be a great time for a steady stream of government work in our factories. But many people are waiting. You have to wonder if some of them will be able to hang on long enough?

Some might be amazed how often I get this question. Of course, the answer is an emphatic YES!

At our company, Bearse USA, we feel very fortunate to be able to survive and thrive in the topsy turvy world of manufacturing. We took our share of lumps for awhile, but we believe strongly in what we’re doing today.

During the late 90’s and early 00’s, we endured several tough conversations with our customers. The typical one sounded something like this, “You know, you make great product and you deliver on time, but…we’re going to China because we can get it for 50 cents on the dollar. There’s a lot of pressure on us from our executives and we need to do what we have to do.”

That was then. We were a company unprepared for the globalization of our industry. It took some serious introspection.

My Dad worked here for over 40 years and retired in 1999. When he comes down here now, it’s barely recognizable to him. New products, new machines, new capabilities, and a lean and mean efficient office. We invested a lot of time, money, and emotion to make this happen. It required some hard decisions and a few leaps of faith, but it worked, and we’re not looking back.

Well, it took some doing, but my blog is live. Thank you GoDaddy for making this a confusing process, even for a guy with a computer degree. But I hope to provide some interesting viewpoints and experiences from my place in this world.