He sends out specs that are impossible to achieve,and weeds out all the plants that say "sure boss,no problem" which is MOST OF THEM. He then approaches the plants that caught his impossible specs and negotiates.
What kind of plant says ya we can build it when it's not freaking possible? And lets not forget that the decision to go with a plant likely does not rest with an engineer.That would be the board of directors,the president and the shareholders. It's the same affliction that Chrysler had during the 60's-70's;Well designed product but Chrsler had a thing for low bidders when it came to outside plant parts sources. And that was the bean counters making that choice,not the engineers or the workers,or the union.
And about the $30/hr wages. I see nothing wrong with a canadian/american making these wages; Seeing how EVERYTHING is sooooo frigging expensive,the high wages are a necessity,otherwise the worker and his/her family suffers from huge amounts of financed debt just so they can have a home.And good luck paying it off making 10 bucks/hr,that aint happenning. Without the better wages you would be looking at most all of us having debt slavery and passing that along to our kids.
Maybe share holders should take far less. That would solve a few problems.
Remember, the share holders are the only people risking their own money to make all of that work. It's called "Risk" for a reason.