Hillman’s entire production process was highly labor intensive. That included the cutting and machining as well as the assembly process as Dave detailed above.
I made an unsuccessful bid for the business with the specific idea that I would streamline much of the production process, as well as making a small improvement to the clamp profile that would increase the clamp’s strength and thus prevent one of the occasional failure modes some of us had discovered.
Streamlining of the production process would have eliminated about half of the handling and time during the machining operations and would have allowed use of a smaller cross section of brass stock to make the same size clamps. This change would eliminate quite a bit of mill cutter wear, along with much of the large volume of brass shavings that result from the current operations.
My bid fell way short of what the Hillman’s wanted for the business, with Silvergate being the successful purchaser. I don’t know whether Silvergate continues to manufacture the same way as the Hillmans, but I am not surprised the price is higher if they have not revised that system. Again, as Dave points out, it is one thing when all the family gathers 'round to help out, but another when you are paying employees to do all the work. That doubly so in a high cost labor market as exists in San Diego and a high cost to manufacture state like California.
Too bad, as I really believe in the Hillmans and their product. I guess I should offer some of my systems engineering consulting services to Silvergate to implement the changes I envisioned. It might serve to help keep costs in line, especially with increasing prices on everything from the brass stock to the tooling to the labor.
The thought of a Yahoo Family Forum work bee is good for a hoot! 
Happy RRing,
Jerry
