Putting "Made In America" on your panel.

strantor

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Join Date
Sep 2010
Location
katy tx
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What does the law say about the phrase "Made In America," and what hoops do I need to jump through in order to legally put that decal on panels that I build out of my shop here in Texas? I assume the panel has to contain a certain percentage of American made parts? Is that by weight or by quantity or what? And on what level? Do the 5,000 chinese discrete components inside a single Japanese-branded/Indonesian-manufactured 1hp VFD made in hold less/same/more weight as the 1,500lb domestically produced steel enclosure that it's in?

What about "Made in Texas?" Is that a protected phrase? Any hoops to jump through for that one?
 
I like the "Made in Texas". Why would that be a protected phrase? Do a search for "made in Texas". There are plenty of "Made in Texas" logos.
see
http://gotexan.org
I think this is more for agriculture, livestock, beer, wine, etc.
Texas seems to want to promote "made in Texas"

The only problem I see is customs. They might think Texas is a foreign country.
I don't see why you would get and grief from other Texans.
 
Fantastic link to the Federal Trade Commission guidelines for "Made in America" labeling and claims.

It would be very difficult to put such a label on a typical industrial control panel unless you carefully reviewed your American-vendor parts (ControlLogix yes, MicroLogix no) and were ready to substantiate your defense for a false claims lawsuit.

I just picked up an N-Tron 716TX off my desk: "MADE IN USA", though I'm sure many of the chips and components inside are from overseas.

A 1756-IB16I: "Made in Malaysia". 1756-L61, "MADE IN U.S.A".

I'm unaware of any similar regulations that apply specifically to Texas, as there are virtually no interstate tariffs or import/export regulations between American states. That's if you accept the Tyler treaty of 1845, of course.
 
Im out....

"All or virtually all" means that all significant parts and processing that go into the product must be of U.S. origin. That is, the product should contain no — or negligible — foreign content.

I was looking around and I cant find anything that I can put "Made in USA" on, even my dogs are not from here

I can qualify for the "Assembled in USA" even my lessons are sent on a flash drive thats made in China. I buy my resistors by the 1000's and just bought some yesterday, they go in just about everything that we make, I paid $0.014 ea so I do not think they are made here

I do like the 'Made in Texas' has a good ring to it... I dont know about 'Made in South Carolina' I may lose some sales ;)

(Thanks for the link Bit_Bucket_07)
 
I have seen products that state:

Made In America With Globally Sourced Parts

Plus, I think almost every state likes to have things that say they are made there. Michigan has a big "Michigan Made" program
 
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more about this subject ...

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/07/05/when-mostly-made-in-america-is-not-good-enough.html

note: this article is about a California law - and you know how nutty that's going to be ...

The California statute, passed in 1961, was designed to protect U.S. workers from cheap Japanese imports. After trial lawyers exploited the law, the content requirement was reduced from 100 to 95 percent, but it remained a strict liability statute, meaning losers must pay full damages. Rather than risk a multimillion dollar judgement in a class-action lawsuit, most companies avoid the labeling altogether.
 
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One thing I noticed in reading the FTC guidance was that they were talking about the "product". Is the "product" the panel, or the whole assembly of PLCs, wireways, power supplies, et al?

If the panel is made from stainless steel made in the US, and cut, bent and welded in the OP's shop, the "product" could be specified as: Panel made in the U.S.A. While somewhat ambiguous, this removes the worry about where the components inside the panel were sourced.

Otherwise, drop the "made" and go with "designed and assembled".
 
I haven't been able to get access to the boards with this printed on them in my car, but I know it's in others:

moebh_Tesla.png
 

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