Burt Group

[Paul Gilbert]

My assertion, on another forum, that Jet, Powermatic, and Grizzly are all made in China by the Burt Group was challenged. There it was stated that Jet and Powermatic were manufactured in Taiwan. Does anyone know how to check this out for sure?

[Dwight Rutherford]

I would ask Jet and Powermatic.

[Bill Bulloch]

[David DeCristoforo]

I'm dyin' here. Puleeze... Taiwan is now the place where the "good stuff" is made? It's all the same, folks. China, Taiwan, what's the diff? It's not made in America either way. It's all moot. What's important is who is in charge and how dedicated they are to quality and service. This is hair splitting at the extreme...

Just sayin'.....

[Roger Chandler]

Paul......the Burt Group has several facilities where they manufacture. Actually, their website lists 7 manufacturing divisions. Some parts on the different brands are the same parts and assembled in a particular place. From what I heard, they use the same manufacturer for motors and inverters. The PM & Jets use the Delta Electronics motor and S series inverter. The Grizzly uses the Delta motor and the M series inverter.

That does not mean the different brands are made in the same factory, but are made by the same manufacturer, in one of their manufacturing facilities. I have heard someone speak to the foundry that is a location where most of the lathe beds and leg castings are made, even though to the individual vendors specs.

[Geoff Whaling]

Saying a brand or a model because it comes from the same factory or same country so "it must be good" is a very general statement and is fundamentally flawed logic. Manufacturing is global these days, parts are sourced on specification, price, ability to deliver etc. Machines etc are "created" to a market niche - a specification that meets a price point and hopefully satisfies customer expectations. Plenty of very good engineered designs & model specifications are tailored to the marketing guru's demands. Each tool or machine even each new model perhaps even a new batch from a changed manufacturing schedule must be assessed on its merits. The thing that matters is the responsiveness to customers requirements of the whole chain from designer, manufacturer, quality control, logistics, to sales & marketing, and after sales support.

There is not much point in manufacturing a good machine & delivering it in crap condition etc. Or making a wiz bang machine that very few can afford.

[Hilel Salomon]

David,
You're generally right, but.... I was a China expert before I retired, and worked with companies doing business in both China and Taiwan. If the company is very conscientious about overseeing quality control, there is little difference. It is, however, much harder to do so in China than in Taiwan. China also has a tendency to demand some oversight and this can complicate matters. Patents have been copied, etc, and there is more bureaucracy at work. Personally, I've found that machinery which is made in Taiwan has closer tolerances and a longer life span. Ask those who have Nova chucks made in NZ and those made in China. Also ask those who have grizzly copies of the Nova chucks which are made in China. The quality control is starkly different. I think that addresses your point about being made in the US. The fact is that not much is made in the US.

[Matthew Bashore]

I just looked at my Jet 1221VS. It also says Made in Taiwan.

[Matthew Bashore]

Checking the Burt Group website, it states that they have six factories all located in mainland China. This website does show the lathe they make and is sold by Grizzly and says it has a minimum order quantity of 10.
Based upon a few minutes of looking at the website, I don't know who makes the Powermatic and Jet lathes in Taiwan, but it does not look like it is the Burt Group.

[Roger Chandler]

Back when I purchased my former Grizzly G0698, the Burt Group website was different than the one they have currently. Back then [2009-2010] they proudly displayed the Powematic, Jet, Grizzly, Laguna and some other logos as brands they manufactured. I researched that to see who actually made the lathes I was interested in.

They do manufacture those brands, I believe, but do not display the logos on their website any longer. Each vendor can contract for certain specifications on the machines manufactured by them.

[David Walser]

Back when I purchased my former Grizzly G0698, the Burt Group website was different than the one they have currently. Back then [2009-2010] they proudly displayed the Powematic, Jet, Grizzly, Laguna and some other logos as brands they manufactured. I researched that to see who actually made the lathes I was interested in.

They do manufacture those brands, I believe, but do not display the logos on their website any longer. Each vendor can contract for certain specifications on the machines manufactured by them.

Isn't it possible that the Burt group no longer makes lathes for Powermatic and Jet? If I had designed a lathe and hired a firm to sub manufacturer it for me, I'd be fairly upset if that firm started making substantially similar lathes for my competitors based on my designs. I'm NOT saying that's what's happened here. But if it did, I wouldn't blame Powermatic for pulling the work from Burt. Nor, I might add, would I feel good about doing buying products made by Burt.

[James Conrad]

Some of Powermatic's equipment is made the Harvey Company as well as the newer Laguna REVO line of lathes.

[Roger Chandler]

Last night I was doing some research on this, and came across KPM Machine co, and there was a pic of a PM 3520b. and the manufacturer was listed in India......of course, every PM I have seen is from Tiwain, or the older models from the USA.

The wood lathe manfacturers list was some sort of global list of Businesses on Alibaba. I am pretty sure that all that info listed was not accurate!

[John Keeton]

I am with DD on this - what does it matter? The true measure of quality in today's world rests in the initial R&D, the specs provided the manufacturing facility, or facilities, the level of inspection and quality control, and ultimately, the level of support to the consumer. If those basics exist, names mean little. The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

[Hilel Salomon]

The Jet metal working lathes are made in China. One of the larger distributors says the following:
"Affordable Chinese made lathes have become popular now that their quality is improving. But before using one for the first time please thoroughly flush the gearbox oil to get any chips and manufacturing grit out. Also check to make sure all the bolts are still tight after shipping. If you need to minimize runout or use the machine for many hours per day, please choose one of our better machines made in Taiwan." They note, in the descriptions of the various lathes they have that the Taiwan made machinery has much tighter tolerances. Now these are metal lathes, but I strongly suspect that it is also true for woodworking lathes.