ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Made in China

My dad is heavily involved in manufacturing, and his assement is that China is years behind Japan, Europe and the US. The level of quality is just not there right now.
And, as Bjarney mentioned, "workers rights" is something of a foreign concept to many manufacturers in China.

However, as heavy foreign investment $$ continue to flow into China, I suspect the quality will get better, as INTP menitoned.

this is the result of NAFTA , remember Ross Perot?

he warned us about that 'giant sucking sound south'

We had one of our supply house sales idiots over to our works office about a week ago telling us all about these new double pole switched sockets, (double pole, switches neutral and the hot off at the same time)in from the far east,

he comes on saying that they are all up to spec, and then produced three of them from his case,

I had a look at all three and then asked him if we could test them, `yes mate, no problem` was his answer,

off i go to the workshop, wired up and loaded with 13amp 230v ac, went to get a coffew, came back after ten mins, the GCFI was out,

looked into the test area and there was this plastic mess, the piece of sXXt had melted !!

the cost of this socket was about $4.50 cheaper than the usual ones we use, but the moral of the story is, (to me any way),

Always use what you know and trust, cheapest aint always the best.

I sleep very well at night because i know all my staff and myself will only fit good and reliable quality accessories to our sites.

John H

I hate to rain on your parade guys but some of the finest tools with the American name are made in China. China is every bit as capable as the US in producing quality products. But since their overall pay structure is lower than ours it is very lucrative to take their sub standard products and dump them here. Where do you think our junk goes? We have been dumping our stuff all over the world a lot longer than China. If any of you can pry yourself away from listening to corrupt politicians tell you how wonderful you are, and visit the rest of the planet, looking back in gives a rather different view.

True ... a lot of things are made there by companies you all know.

The difference is that when you are buying a part from an " American Company " who happens to own a factory over there you can be assured that they will stand behind the products and fix quality issues that may arise. They can afford to give you better service. (Back to the main subject)

If you ever run into a problem caused by a ultra cheap " no-name " Brand, who will you call? Yourself?

Chances are that you will eat any replacements, because I'm sure that your customer will not buy the "I sold you junk by accident and you need to pay to replace it" Story.

Am I wrong in assuming that most of you warranty your work and equipment for a year?

I think we have a moral obligation to not do business with China. Why? You may ask. Because we are financing their communist government. We're going to end up fighting those people one of these days, and they are going to be using weapons that we paid for.
I was in the Navy around the time that that F-16 that we sold to Iraq, fired upon the USS Stark. We may not be selling weapons to China, but we are sure as heck funding their war machine. As far as I'm concerned, that government is our enemy. If you remember not very long ago they held one of our P-3's, and it's crew, and we had a heck of a time getting them back. I'm sure there are some fine people over there who don't back their government, and I feel bad for them, but I say, "cut the government off".
I could give a rat's butt about the quality of their products when religious persecution, and forced abortion are the word of the day in China.
Do I have some made in China items in my house? I know I do, but as with many things we buy made in China because that is all that is available at the time, but I still don't think it is right. Shame on me!
I'm not an isolationist. I believe in fair trade, but I also believe in what I would call moral trade. I'm sure that there are other countries that we do business with that are just as bad or worse than China, but IMHO right now China is the biggest threat. By the way, get in line N. Korea, you're cotton pickin' next.
China is a serious issue with me because our government's sponsorship of China is second only to the UN's, so when the loaf does hit the fan we'll be standing alone with the British (thanks PaulUK, and Sir J A Harrison) just like we are right now in the situation with Iraq.
I'll by conclude by saying that the heat coming off this post is not directed at any member of ECN, or anyone who has responded to this thread. I get a little upset when our government funds the oppressors, and the last time I checked, our government was us. Sometimes I wonder how it all got this way.
Now, if y'all will excuse me for a minute, it's somewhere between 40 and 50 degrees outside, and I'm going to take off my shirt, and lay in mud puddle for a little while. Got to cool off.

Popping the buttons off my shirt,
Doc

Well said Doc. There's really not much that is untrue about what you said. IMHO, the general public is not aware of these issues that you raise.

Interesting fact: Wal-Mart Stores is one the largest importers, if not the largest, of merchandise from China. Everyday low prices maybe. But at what cost to society?

the cost to you: that soon you will be buying your supplies from a catalog or website cheap...... because most of the local professional suppliers will be out of business....

You can always go to the Orange Nightmare for seconds or factory rejects....and wait in line behind a bunch of Ladies buing custom mixed Paints and a Toilet Bowl Brush....

Maybe Walmart will start selling electrical supplies too some day.... and Cars ... and Maybe they will start building and wiring houses some day too....for $ 7.50 per hour