Tucked away in an industrial section of Sun Valley, QMP Inc. has built a steady flow of international customers for its water filtration systems.But now the global economy is biting back.
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QMP has lost about 40% of its customers in the last two years to Chinese firms that make filter systems for a third of its cost.Chief Executive Freddy Vidal isn't sure how much longer he can keep the family business in Southern California.Vidal's problem is shared by manufacturers across Southern California. Chinese manufacturing has become more sophisticated. At the same time, entrepreneurs there have gained a level of English proficiency that enables easier movement of design plans. Now, Southern California companies are finding that they can no longer compete simply by moving upscale and making small runs of specialized goods that couldn't be reproduced on a mass scale."We've been losing customers because they want us to match the price of the Chinese products, which is impossible," said Vidal, whose business employs 65. "If the situation doesn't change soon, we'll have to either close the company or play the same game and move our manufacturing operation to China."
QMP collects about $5 million in revenue annually from faucets and other products that go to customers such as Home Depot Inc. in California and filtration systems to such foreign retailers as Water Shop in Australia and Air River Co. in Japan.
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