NORTH SMITHFIELD – “I’m not going to lie,” Tracey Beck, owner of The Beck Companies, said in a release this week. “This has caused us a tremendous amount of time, money, and gray hairs.”
The statement comes with a note on the “cascading effects” that tariffs, passed over the past six months by President Donald Trump, have had on the company, rippling through the entire business, as well as the cabinetry industry at large, according to the owners.
Perceiving the tariffs as a potentially mortal blow, the company moved quickly to retool operations to stay competitive and avoid the downfall they say that they already see starting to hit the industry.
A release from PR firm 508 Consulting notes that many other companies that are manufacturing and sourcing overseas will ultimately go under because they won’t be competitive due to extended lead times and increased expenses.
“With the stroke of the President’s pen, the business environment has changed overnight, and not everyone is moving fast enough to stay ahead of the tsunami of changes coming,” noted the firm. “Margins will shrink, and meanwhile consumers will hold off on projects due to higher costs, further squeezing revenues and impacting growth. It really is an existential crisis, which is why The Beck Companies believed it would be deadly to do nothing and just ‘wait and see.’”
The business, which produces high quality cabinetry and countertops from their headquarters on the corner of Providence Pike and Industrial Drive, is an entirely local, single-sourced operation that is now 100 percent American made – and independent of the impacts of tariffs on foreign imports.
The release notes the owners are proud of the accomplishment, but that it wasn’t an easy feat. Many of the cabinetry components, finishes, doors and hardware were previously imported from overseas. In response to the tariffs, the business had to change up all of its product lines, work with new suppliers, change its color selections and more, all while making sure to keep quality the same or higher and keeping costs the same or lower.
It meant purchasing a whole new stock of materials, tossing old brochures and color guides, updating its website and marketing collateral, in-store demo units, and pricing matrices, to name just a few of the tasks, said Beck.
“This affected every single department, from purchasing to sales to our design consultants, installers and more,” said Beck. “We had to invest a lot of money buying and stocking new materials, establish new supplier relationships. It’s been a lot. I’m very proud of the team for pulling this off without missing a beat.”
Beck said the company can now produce custom cabinetry and counter tops locally in Rhode Island without delays, and with complete price assurance. The owner notes it was a Herculean effort but now that the changes are complete, the team believes it has made the company stronger, creating a stable business for the foreseeable future.
First established in Johnston, the family-owned business known as The Beck Companies moved to North Smithfield in 2016. The umbrella Beck banner includes KB Surfaces, CAS America, Closettec and Great American Recreation brands.
In March, the business received Planning Board approval to construct a new 45,900-square-foot warehouse addition to its existing 73,000-square-foot industrial building, where the business offers wholesale fabrication of granite, marble, soapstone, engineered stone, and solid surface and case goods.
For more information about The Beck Companies, visit https://www.TheBeckCos.com.
Nice to see this is one company that won’t be destroyed by trump and his tariffs.
Made in the USA. What a beautiful concept. This starts another American industrial revolution. All with the stroke of a pen.
Wake up MAGA! East wing of the Peoples house is being torn down for a $300 million dollar ( Trumps new estimate) ball room. To be possibly paid for by the DOJ money Trump wants to be given because of the FBI going into MAR A LARGO to retrieve classified documents he refused to give back. Never mind the January 6 th insurrection and Trump pardoning the insurrectionists. Elect a rapist, expect to get F…..!
Under the new Obama care, TDS will be covered with no deductibles.
MAGA!!
❤❤❤❤❤
You do realize this is not costing the taxpayer a single cent! This is all being done with “DONATIONS” and money out of our GREAT Presidents pocket! You far left extremists have no clue what you are squawking about!
He’s suing for the exact amount he’s claiming it’d cost. So…. it’d be our tax dollars.
I guess in your mind he just keeps winning lol. Whatever you think is fine by me. Keep posting your nonsense away 🙂
It also doesn’t mean that’s it’s not reasonable pricing. Reasonable is an arbitrary opinionated adjective that you’re using here to spew fear.
Gas is under $3.00
MAGA!
Spew fear? The costs for retooling, resourcing, and paying US based employees will be added into the final product cost. That’s Econ 101.
Comparing the price of gas to importing vs. domestic manufacturing has zero relevance.
The MAGA moniker was superfluous. Everyone already knew once you accused me of spewing fear. Have a wonderful day Gus.
And everyone knew the point to your smug comment once they saw your name.
That’s ok you keep rooting for other countries vs. America and the American worker.
No one is surprised you’re doing that. It’s expected.
Glad to report there is still no kings today in the country after you and the other boomers marched them away on Saturday.
Thanks Art.
I don’t think it was just boomers, all available generations looked to be there according to photos I’ve seen. It’s also a very real question to ask. As we’ve seen, from mom and pop shops all the way to big box stores, tariffs are raising prices everywhere. CPI of meat is ~14% year over year, lumber is ~14% as well, etc… Companies are almost forced by their stakeholders, to raise prices to meet the new tariff price as it would increase their margins (x+t-1= raised prices but cheaper than their competitors).
Also, price of gas was under 3.00 last year as well. As for the America vs other countries, why bail out Argentina farmers? Why buy their beef? It seems your story is unraveling at the seams. Once again, this is just macroeconomics at play.
As quoted from above “…..all while making sure to keep quality the same or higher and keeping costs the same or lower”
Even though the business owner is happy and proud to be making an all American product while keeping the costs same or lower, you and Uncle Art want to create your own narrative and false truths.
You keep doing you guys.
I think it’s time for another 100 person rally!
Math is a false reality? Oh okay. They should be happy and take pride in their work, no one is saying otherwise.
That’s referring to their costs from the suppliers. Cost ≠ Price. If a business spent money and didn’t recoup it elsewhere, they wouldn’t be a business for very long.
Why wouldn’t you want American made products? Don’t you want to live in a country that’s self sufficient? Why would you want to rely on countries that hate our way of life to make them rich? Your argument makes no sense. All businesses will have to conform at some point so why not now? Just get it done and move along.
It’s a phenomenon called country of origin bias, could be positive could be negative.
All of this could have been avoided if you Democrats did not let ALL production of ALL the products, we use to go over seas! Clinton and Obama sold us out many years ago and we have been paying for it ever since. Bring ALL manufacturing back to the good old U.S.A.!
Jobs starting leaving in the 70s, accelerated in the 80s, and continued. It’s not just those two people’s faults
Doesn’t every company have the same issues?
“Complete price assurance” doesn’t mean reasonable pricing.
The consumer will pay the cost to retool and rework sourcing.
Exactly. They have to recoup somewhere, somehow. On the end consumer. They will never see the harm being done by one man all over, now ppl are scrambling for food for God’s sake. Our ppl. Food, education, jobs, benefits…..one man has made a mess. And yet he claims he’s making it all so great. SMH.
Glad this company had a plan of action, but at what cost to change things over, not every business can afford to rewrite the game plan.
And just what good did your useless President Biden do for you???????? Go ahead I’ll wait!
Same nonsense. Different term. Heck he had to be led around because he didn’t know where the heck he was going or what he was saying, rambling. He was however a very good Senator, I used to enjoy watching him and getting things done. Sometimes they need to hang up their hat and call it a day. Btw, I will say, my brokerage acct does better under Trump! But he is doing too much, too soon, and hurting Americans in the process. You cannot dispute that.