American manufacturing is the single most multiplying activity in our economy in terms of building America's power to innovate and grow GDP. It matters to every one of our employees and adds meaning and worth to the job we do. When we send a product out to our customers, it is truly OURS, and that is intensely satisfying.
The vast majority of NK's Kestrel, KestrelMet, RainWise, and NK Sports products are labeled "Designed and Built in the USA." There are many legal and regulatory standards for determining the country of origin of a product. What do we mean by this marking?
NK employees all work together in and around our facility in southeastern Pennsylvania to conceptualize, define, research, design, build, test, calibrate, market, ship and support NK's products that carry this marking. We also purchase many of our components from US partners, including:
- The majority of our injection molded parts
- All of our product labeling, nameplates, panels, packaging, and printing
- Berry-compliant options for cases and sewn accessories
- Precision machined metal parts
- Non-rechargeable batteries
In general, the end-user products we do not build here include the Ambient branded products, rowing wiring harnesses, and soft-sewn carry cases.
Inside our products are many, many electronic components, from microprocessors to capacitors and resistors, as well as sensor components, printed circuit boards, and displays. Essentially none of these items are manufactured in the USA in the 21st Century, so these components are sourced overseas - mainly from China, Taiwan, Japan, and Germany. We select these components for optimum performance and reliability, not the country of origin. However, when we say "built" we mean we are starting from individual components and bare circuit boards, assembling, programming, and testing the circuitry, then assembling, testing, and calibrating the final product.
When we do partner with outside resources for software or industrial and mechanical design, we generally work with US companies, although we enjoy some long-standing relationships with global engineering partners, which are particularly helpful when complying with export regulations.
We actively support US manufacturing through Lean continuous improvement of our processes, as well as sharing of best practices with other companies seeking to do the same.
Every NK-built product qualifies for preferential treatment under NAFTA under both the change in tariff classification and regional value-content requirements of Preference Criterion B. Every NK-built product also meets the requirements of the Buy American Act because more than 50% of the cost of its components is produced or manufactured in the United States.