iRobotics 6
I have been posting content about the new iRobotics 6 massage chair by Luraco Technologies of Dallas, TX. The big selling point and the thing that really makes this chair stand out, in my mind, is the fact that this is the first chair that is made in the USA.
I received an email a week ago from someone who challenged that claim, showing me images of an identical chair made by a Chinese manufacturing plant called Dotast.
I immediately emailed my contact at Luraco to ask them to explain why this chair was showing up on the website of a chinese massage chair manufacturing plant and to also confirm that this new model of theirs is truly a US made chair. Here is what I learned from this inquiry:
1. The chair on dotast.com is Luraco’s proprietary design and Dotast was sourced to build the body of the chair for Luraco Technologies. The design of this chair belongs to Luraco and Dotast has been given permission by Luraco to sell this design with their own chairs anywhere in China. Since it is Luraco’s proprietary design they are the only ones who can use this design in North America.
2. The chair body and material is the only thing that is chinese-made in this iRobotics 6 massage chair. According to what Luraco filed with the US Department of Commerce, the make up of the chair is 61% domestic and 39% foreign. According to Luraco, the frame, leather, plastic, and metal parts, which they consider “non critical parts”, are made in China.
3. In a letter from Dr. Kevin Le, CTO/Research Scientist at Luraco, he explains “All electrical components (motors, air pumps, electronics, PCB, software) (critical parts) are from LURACO. If you pay attention to the details, you will notice that the remote and all electronics are made by LURACO.”
From that same letter from Dr. Le, here is the clarification of the role that Dotast plays in the making of this chair…
“…we worked with a Chinese vendor (Dotast) to make the frame, leather, plastic, and metal parts for our massage chairs (non critical parts)
It is our design (Intellectual Property, R &D). But, since they spent money for the moulds, we allowed them to sell that design (their motors and electronics) in China. They cannot import that design to USA and Canada.”
4. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines, Luraco Technologies is compliant with their “Made in the USA Standard.”
http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus03-complying-made-usa-standard
5. In accordance with the guidelines mentioned in #4 above, the following label has been created by and sanctioned for Luraco Technologies to represent their massage chair products.
I hope this sufficiently explains how Luraco Technologies has adopted the “Made In The USA” statement.
Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com
