The IAM faulted British Petroleum (BP) this week for ordering the use of low-cost repair facilities in China to modify critical safety equipment on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
According to The Observer, BP ordered the use of a Chinese repair facility to overhaul the rig’s blow-out preventer, a device that subsequently failed and led to the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.
“High-quality machining within extremely high tolerances is what American Machinists take pride in doing on a daily basis,” said IAM President Tom Buffenbarger. “News that British Petroleum sent the most critical piece of its blow-out preventer to China for overhaul comes as no surprise. Companies like BP consistently – and erroneously – equate cheaper with better.
“American Machinists have the skills to take us to the bottom of the ocean and the furthest reaches of space. But if company executives cannot tell the difference between materials and workmanship that can withstand the enormous pressures of the deep ocean and those that cannot, then they cannot be trusted to protect the environment nor even their own firm’s survivability,” said Buffenbarger. “Their negligence is unbelievable.”
Wed. July 21, 2010
This is one of the finest examples of the workmanship done in China, what happens when they are rebuilding our military jet engines and military hard ware. I spent twenty years in the Marine Corps and can\'t believe what U.S. companies are sending over there to be manufactured or rebuilt, not to mention the technical knowledge they are acquiring . It is time the U.S. military stood up and told America what it really wants when it comes to their equipment. Your children or grand children will be depending on the things that China is building now. WAKE UP!Tue. July 20, 2010
By the way. I forgot to say.to think I have been making a point to get all my gas at bp stations to help local businesspeople and to help bp pay for this huge disaster. I would like them to go under.Tue. July 20, 2010
This is not hard to believe. Business is always looking for a cheaper way of doing business. Not always better by no means. Did anyone ever think they lower their prices ,when they use overseas to do their work at a lot cheaper labor rates they charge us the same price for sub-standard material and sub-standard quality.that\'s the main thing wrong with this country.not only do they send the work overseas. We usually subsidize them to let this happen at the expense of america as we know it. This BP disaster just proves this. They are not the only ones who will skirt safety to save a (pound). May we all pray for the families that lost their loved ones because of this.Tue. July 20, 2010
When will they ever learn? When I maintained construction equipment, companies were lurred in by cheap prices especially compared to the \"outragous\" price of Caterpiller machines & their parts. They were reluctant to listen to me until I showed them that Cat parts & equipment were less expensive in the final analysis.