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2ndRick
08-28-2013, 11:34 AM
In this profile, IP member James Banfield from Terra Speakers takes on the series of questions for our profiles.
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Rick Murphy, IntegrationPros:
First question: How long has the company been in business?

James Banfield, Terra Speakers:
Terra Speakers has been in business here in Maine for 14 years.

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Rick:
2): Where are the locations of your production facilities?

James:
Our production facilities are located here in Brunswick for 10 years.
We spent the previous 4 years in Sabattus, another town in Maine.

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Rick:
3) How many people are employed in total?

James:
We are two full time partners. My partner's daughter came on board here in the Summer, bringing it up to three.
Depending on the time of year, we employee 1-2 additional people in manufacturing.

We also work with a PR/Content agency on our outreach and advertising efforts

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Rick:
4) What percentage of the SKUs in your product offering are produced in North America at some level?

James:
95% of the SKUs are US made.
Our amplifiers are imported.

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Rick:
5) In the spirit of the American Automobile Labeling Act, requiring automakers to report what percent of the parts by value in any given model hail from both the United States and Canada. What is the rough percentage of N. American content of the components and materials of your products?

James:
Between 75% to 80% of the content of the components that make up our products are US made.

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Rick:
6) What would you say is the difference in the value proposition that you offer to the dealers and end users compared to your peers who utilize off-shore production? (materials quality, labor force, logistics, JIT capabilities, etc.)

James:
We were recently at a trade show (InfoComm2013) and dealer after dealer let us know that our weatherproof speakers are the only ones they have encountered that are worth their weight. Compared with other weather/waterproof speakers, ours continue to impress while others last for a year or two before needing some work. We attribute this to the fact that we are from a place known for its rough weather and we make speakers made for that weather.

When we get feedback from the folks we sell to, we are able to instantly turn that feedback around into a refined product and design. There is no middle-person or process standing between us and the product. That goes a long way when it comes to making a great product. Also, we are able to offer life-time guarantees on our lines because we trust the product enough to make this sort of commitment. Why? Because we know we can trust in the process of production, as we oversee it every day.

This is one of the great things about manufacturing in the States. It would appear that whatever advantage a company gains by manufacturing overseas also interrupts the flow and process of making good product and being there for dealers, representatives and distributors. Our proximity to our product makes for a great line, and we wouldn't be able to ensure the quality we do if an arm of our operations were located overseas.

2ndRick
08-28-2013, 11:42 AM
James also sent me a picture from the production facility, of a rack of their proprietary ceramic anodized aluminum (ACAD) drivers.

In addition to the special ceramic process, these drivers also use a magnetic fluid in the voice coil to center and control the voice coil motion so that the spider could be eliminated.

These are built in Maine and are used in the Terra products, as well as sold to some other manufacturers with whom Terra/CAMM have created OE relationships.


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