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For some reason, I'd thought GW only makes a portion of their stuff in the UK, and that the upcoming tariffs might be bad news for GW stuff... (and of course now I can't find where/what I based this information on...!)

So maybe I'm wrong?

This thread claims it's all made in the UK. Is that still correct? Just curious, thanks in advance!

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/601282.page

A lot of their terrain kits are made in China and I suspect their tools/brushes are too.

Their books are printed in China, models made in UK.

 pancakeonions wrote:
For some reason, I'd thought GW only makes a portion of their stuff in the UK, and that the upcoming tariffs might be bad news for GW stuff... (and of course now I can't find where/what I based this information on...!)

The biggest mistake that you can make when you ask this question is assuming that the answer isn't changing without anyone making an announcement or making a big deal about anything.

After a quick walk downstairs to look at my brother's boxes, I can see:
* Books that say "Printed in China"
* Sector Mechanicus and Sector Imperialus boxes that say "Manufactured in China"
* Various plastic boxes that say "Manufactured in the UK"

If a production run for something gets made in China, that production runs boxes are going to labeled as such because of various legal requirements concerning imports. And you'd never know without seeing the box.

GW produces pretty much all their models in house in Knottingham - their HQ site. They are also building a new factory at that site currently to increase their production capacity. Forgeworld is also produced, in house, on the very same site.

Their printed material (books, cards, tokens, etc...) is all made overseas*; the terrain and endless spells (Age of Sigmar) are all China and, of course, Battletomes, codex are all printed and thus all overseas.
In fact right now Sylvanath for AoS are waiting for a shipment issue to resolve since its books, terrain and endless spells are all tied up and unable to be released.

GW keeps a lot in-house and that really helps them, but they still rely heavily on imports.


Most of their tools are rebranded items from other companies (eg their brushes are, I believe, made by Windsor Newtone) or are brand items, also produced overseas. I've no idea where they make their paints ,but I wouldn't be surprised if they are manufactured overseas as well.

GW is probably in a good position that they could move some product to their UK site for production if importing got bad; eg endless spells and terrain could come home to the UK, esp once GW gets their new factory up and running. However things like printed material are unlikely to be economical for them to attempt to produce in house nor even in the UK so chances are if this trade war does spark rises in import duties it is going to increase costs for them. By how much until they have to pass it onto customers is up for debate, but we'll have to wait and see. Baring in mind GW also has to go through Brexit along with the rest of the UK (if we ever make it there

*far as I can tell almost everyone prints overseas because of the vastly cheaper costs.

I think some of their paperback books are still printed in the UK, or at least were until recently.

Being made in some place and being sold from someplace are two totally different things. Shipping is cheaper than manufacturing.

Thanks all, very interesting. And it never occurred to me that I could go downstairs to my workbench and look at the boxes to see where they were made - but of course that's the case.

Cheers!

I am surprised they are making models in house still. I thought the sprues were made over in China and then boxed up by GW in house.

I know both GW and Forge World did produce some models overseas in China.

Terrain makes sense because it's likely their in-house injection molding process can't handle the larger injections and China probably does it cheaper.

Though every model produced in China instantly was being sold on the gray market. Which was funny. GW IIRC was not pleased.

phillv85 wrote:
I think some of their paperback books are still printed in the UK, or at least were until recently.

I seem to remember them saying that hardbacks were imported, but paperbacks were done in the UK.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

meatybtz wrote:
I am surprised they are making models in house still. I thought the sprues were made over in China and then boxed up by GW in house.

While China is cheaper, it's not always better. The quality can be off (the Noctilith Crown is a terrible kit to build), shipping is problematic (current issues with Sylvaneth) and the factories add an unofficial shift or two producing grey-market stuff using your moulds.

A lot of KS companies have found factories in china a pain to work with, especially because they tend to not flag problems earlier and thus problems can persist for a long while before they are detected and resolved - esp since production is done in big shipments so if an error happens early on it can be repeated over a whole shipment.

Wargame customers are also not your standard customer; we care about mould lines, mould slippage, errors, missing details - we do paw over every mm of the product. So small errors in casting are big issues that require replacement products.


GW keeping it in house can keep a much tighter lid on such things and keep in control of their product. If they outsourced it woudl be cheaper; but it puts them at risk of having issues as well. I also think that they've likely done in-house production for so long that its a culture for them and nto something they'd want to outsource except where necessary.

*Nottingham.

Wasn't there chitchat a few months back about their building expansion meant that they were taking everything in-house? Printing and scenery?

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
Wasn't there chitchat a few months back about their building expansion meant that they were taking everything in-house? Printing and scenery?

I know their new factory is partly to help overcome stock issues they've had recently in terms of delivery of their core product. They could also use it as a chance to get new machines for terrain, perhaps even dice. But I think the issue with printing card/paper is the cost of those machines combined with paper and ink costs. The latter two being big reasons why overseas printing is far cheape.r

I can certainly understand that. But with the growth they've been having, if they could take 100% of everything themselves and cut out everyone else, i'd say it would be worth it. If only for the control element it would give them.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
I can certainly understand that. But with the growth they've been having, if they could take 100% of everything themselves and cut out everyone else, i'd say it would be worth it. If only for the control element it would give them.

Yep - the Specialist Games team are getting very frustrated that they can't get card decks & transfers sorted out in a timely manner.

It would be wonderful if they did their printing in-house. These books made in china are garbage. They warp within minutes of pealing off the plastic - all of them. I wouldn't mind if they were all $20 or less, but they're $40+. This is an issue that has been going on for 6+ years.

GW has only two product lines that are made in the UK. Yes, only two. The models (excluding all terrain) and their paint. That's it. Thankfully, it's IMO the most important ones. It would be nice if they made all of their hobby items in the UK but they don't.

Absolutely everything else from them that isn't a model or paint is made in China. And 100% of the terrain is made in China.

White Dwarf sold in the USA is printed in the USA.

Which books are warping? My battletomes and rulebooks haven't warped at all.

 Overread wrote:
Which books are warping? My battletomes and rulebooks haven't warped at all.

I've seen copies of Doom of Molech and Hedonites of Slaanesh where pages have come loose within minutes of been opened.

beast_gts wrote:

 Overread wrote:
Which books are warping? My battletomes and rulebooks haven't warped at all.

I've seen copies of Doom of Molech and Hedonites of Slaanesh where pages have come loose within minutes of been opened.

Really? I've been using my Hedonites book quite extensively and it's still perfectly fine. Sounds more like outliers.

I have every single 8th Ed. book (inc. FW) and more than a few from 7th, 6th and 5th Eds.

None of them are warping and none of them have pages falling out.

 Overread wrote:
Which books are warping? My battletomes and rulebooks haven't warped at all.

Almost every book I have. And I buy all of them. Rulebooks, codexes, etc. There is a range of warpage, some slight, some extreme, but nearly all of them warp to some degree.

My new C:SM v2 codex warped in the time it took me to walk into my kitchen to throw away the wrapping. I seriously took the wrapping off, set it down on the table in the living room, walked away for only a few moments, but when I got back... both the front and back covers bowed out about 3/4 inch. I kid you not.

I live in PA, so extremely high humidity isn't a chronic issue. I also closely monitor the humidity with hydrometers on all levels of my house and keep it closely under control.

The books are just junk.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:

beast_gts wrote:

 Overread wrote:
Which books are warping? My battletomes and rulebooks haven't warped at all.

I've seen copies of Doom of Molech and Hedonites of Slaanesh where pages have come loose within minutes of been opened.

Really? I've been using my Hedonites book quite extensively and it's still perfectly fine. Sounds more like outliers.

Yeah, probably. Someone returned a Hedonites book at the local GW store while I was there, and a couple of people mentioned Molech in the AT FB groups -

IMO the outliers are the ones who have not seen the issue. That or I am seriously the most unlucky GW customer in the world.

I think you're just unlucky. Between my group and I, we've gotten all the released battletomes and expansion books and no one's had issues like those. Very odd.

You really just sound unlucky. Then again, people have always been complaining about the quality of the books and how quickly they fall apart, but all my decades in the hobby and I have yet to have that happen to me.

meatybtz wrote:
I am surprised they are making models in house still. I thought the sprues were made over in China and then boxed up by GW in house.

It's not surprising at all. When you've already got your own facilities and equipment, there's not benefit to outsourcing overseas to do the same thing.

Perhaps people are using their books wrong.

I wonder if the warping might be a heat/humidity issue in some overseas countries? What works in the UK might not be the same as overseas so a product ends up performing worse even though its made to the same standard?

 oni wrote:
IMO the outliers are the ones who have not seen the issue. That or I am seriously the most unlucky GW customer in the world.

You get warping where the ambient humidity in the place of manufacture is significantly different from that in the place you open them (potentially made worse by not leaving the books to stand long enough after printing, the thinkness of the card so hardbacks are more at risk than paperbacks and by shrink wrapping which seals moisture present in),

it's possible you're just somewhere where there's a bad matchup with the bit of china where GW does it's printing

The vast majority of Games workshop products are made in the UK or a US sub-factory. Games Workshop what I know of them treat staff well, offer promotion and career and hold core manufacturing in western countries with employment standards.
Yes they gouge us on prices but do not outsource core manufacturing to third world countries with employment conditions tantamount to slavery.

I have no problems kicking GW when they feth up, but I like opportunities such as this to show the other side to their business ethic. Many popular miniatures companies outsource to Chinese sweatshops. GW prints in China, to a largely automated factory that has cheaper access to energy and paper and uses some bulk tooling that is best outsourced.

For all the fuss with Finecast people forget why GW changed manufacturing policy, they moved away from lead alloy ahead of other manufacturers for reasons of employee health, then moved away from white metal for the same reason. Despite scum like Kirby GW has in some aspects very good business ethics.

The guy who makes many of the models we see and like probably works a slave shift and has zero prospects, while the guy who makes space marines gets decent pay and conditions.