19 American Iconic Products That They Don’t Produce Anymore is a copyrighted article from the World Correspondents
1. Rawlings baseballs
Last production was on 1969. It is the official supplier of baseballs to Major League Baseball. The St. Louis shop was founded in 1887 by George and Alfred Rawlings. In 1969 the brothers moved the baseball-manufacturing plant from Puerto Rico to Haiti and then later to Costa Rica.
2. Etch a Sketch
Last production was on 2000. It is an iconic American toy since the ’60s. It was used to be produced in a smalltown of Bryan, Ohio. On December 2000, toymaker Ohio Art decided to move production to Shenzhen, China.
3. Converse shoes
Last production was on 2001. Marquis M. Converse opened Converse Rubber Show Company in Massachusetts in 1908. Chuck Taylors, which was named after All American high school basketball player Chuck Taylor, began selling in 1918 as the show eventually produced an industry record of over 550 million pairs by 1997. But in 2001 sales were on the decline and the U.S. factory closed and now these shoes are made in Indonesia.
4. Stainless steel rebar
Last production was approximately around 2001. Many forms of this basic steel product aren’t domestically available. Multiple waivers to the Buy America Act have allowed purchase of rebar internationally.
5. Dress shirts* (Manufacturers that prduce in large quantities and supplies major brands)
Last production was on October 2002. According to NYT. C.F. Hathaway’s Maine factory had been producing shirts since 1837.
6. Mattel Toys
Last production date was on 2002. Mattel is the largest toy company in the world which closed their last American factory in 2002. They headquartered in California, produces 65 percent of their products in China as of August 2007.
7. Minivans
Last production was around 2003. A waiver to the Buy America Act permitted an American producer of wheel-chair accessible minivans to purchase Canadian chassis for use in government contracts, because no chassis were available from the United States. The waiver specified: “General Motors and Chrysler minivan chassis, including those used on the Chevrolet Uplander, Pontiac Montana, Buick Terraza, Saturn Relay, Chrysler Town & Country, and Dodge Grand Caravan, are no longer manufactured in the United States.”
8. Vending machines
Last production around 2003.
9. Levi Strauss jeans
Last production was on December 2003. Levi Strauss & Co. shut down all its American operations and outsourced production to Latin America and Asia. The company’s denim products have been an iconic American product for 150 years.
10. Radio Flyer’s Red Wagon
Last production date was on March 2004. Radio Flyer decided that Chicago plant was too expensive, it began producing most products, including the red wagon, in China.
11. Televisions
Last production date was on October 2004.
Five Rivers Electronic Innovations was the last American owned TV color maker in the US. The Tennessee company used LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) technology to produce televisions for Philips Electronics. But after Philips decided to stop selling TVs with LCoS, Five Rivers eventually filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Oct. 2004. As part of its reorganization plan, the company stopped manufacturing TVs. According to Business Week, there are ZERO televisions made in America.
12. Cell phones
Last production date was around 2007.
according to Manufacturing & Technology publisher Richard McCormick, none was made in America out of the 1.2 billion cell phones sold worldwide in 2008.
13. Railroads (parts including manganese turnout castings, U69 guard bars, LV braces and weld kits)
Last production around 2008. Manganese turnout castings are used to widen railroad tracks, and they were used to build our once-great railroad system. U69 guard bars, LV braces and Weld Kits, along with 22 mm Industrial steel chain are basic items that were certifiably not available in the US.
14. Dell computers
Last production date was January 2010.
Dell closed its North Carolina PC factory, its last large U.S. plant. Analysts said Dell would be outsourcing work to Asian manufacturers in an attempt to catch up with the rest of the industry, said analyst Ashok Kumar.
15. Canned sardines
Last production date was on April 2010.
Stinson Seafood plant, the last sardine cannery in Maine and the U.S., shut down in April. The first U.S. sardine cannery opened in Maine in 1875, but since the demand for the small, oily fish declined, more canneries closed shop.
16. Pontiac cars
Last production was on May 2010. The brand was formally killed on Halloween, as GM contracts Pontiac dealerships expired.
The 84-year-old GM brand was famous for muscle cars.
17. Forks, spoons, and knives
Last production date was on June 2010
The last flatware factory in the US closed last summer. Sherrill Manufacturing bought Oneida Ltd. in 2005, but shut down its fork & knife operations due to the tough economy. CEO Greg Owens says his company may resume production “when the general economic climate improves and as Sherrill Manufacturing is able to put itself back on its feet and recapitalize and regroup.”
18. Incandescent light bulb
Last production date was on September 2010. The incandescent light bulb (invented by Thomas Edison) has been phased out. In 2007, Congress passed a measure that will ban incandescents by 2014, prompting GE to close its domestic factory.
19. Pontiac
GM is canceling the 84-year-old brand after winding down production over the past few years. It is restructuring and rebranding to compete with foreign companies.
