Nebraska town in the grip of outsourcing (was “Home of the Vise-Grip.”)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120902/MONEY/709029991/1685#nebraska-town-in-the-grip-of-outsourcing

SHENZHEN, China — Every day, hundreds of Chinese laborers here pass in front of a factory sign that may be true, but still reads like an insult to the people of DeWitt, Neb.

“Home of the Vise-Grip.”

Photo: http://www.omaha.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=OW&Date=20120902&Category=MONEY&ArtNo=709029991&Ref=AR&maxw=598&maxh=400
More photos at link.

For generations, that was DeWitt's proud claim. Vise-Grip locking pliers were invented in DeWitt, a Saline County village about 30 miles southwest of Lincoln, and produced in a factory that sits on the town's main street.

Some townspeople spent their entire adult lives making pliers. After work, guys at the local bar would test each other's strength by squeezing a pair of Vise-Grips with one hand, tightening the tension and passing it on. At night, DeWitt residents went to sleep to the clang of steel and the hum of metal presses as the plant churned out millions of pliers a year.

FULL story at link.

[progressoid]

1. Sad K & R.