Too Many Things "Made in China" Backlash?-Where Do My Things Come From? - Page 2

That's very true, even the nouveau riche Beijingers and Shanghainese don't particularly want to see '中国制造'(Made in China) on their uber expensive, supposedly foreign, high markup, designer Gucci, Versace, Burberry, etc.
Edited by MikeDT - 11/1/11 at 8:14pm

That's true it can't go on forever. However this sort of thing happens in nearly every country which has undergone industrial revolutions and development. e.g. Radium girls in the USA around the beginning part of the 20th century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_girls The UK in the 19th century with sending boys up chimneys, down mines, etc.

Probably once China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao, etc. have completely developed. Maybe all the shitty cheap labour manufacturing jobs might move to Africa?

Even in China, all the really horrible cheap labour stuff is moving inland away from the more affluent coastal areas, like Shenzhen.
Edited by MikeDT - 11/1/11 at 6:15pm

 

Yes Mike these are the folks I am talking about, And can you blame them?

 

Toshiba is a Japanese brand. The only laptops I've ever purchased that were defective, were Chinese made laptops. By my experience, the Japanese brand was more reliable and had higher standards of quality than that of the Chinese brands. Pure confirmation bias by my own experience. Say it is made in China, perhaps quality assurance standards in combination with maintaining the expectations of the Toshiba brand is enough to make my consumer experience (even if only mine) much better than the ones I had with Chinese brands.

 

I am aware that China does not make large size airliners at this time, I was merely being rhetorical in putting it out there that not many Americans would feel comfortable flying in a jet for 14 hours that was manufactured in China (I certainly wouldn't). 

 

I've never shot Chinese weapons, thus I cannot put a personal and definite judgement on their quality. Yet, I would venture to say, between the innovative nature exemplified of US arms manufacturers through various revolutionary improvements in weapons - and the experience of American gunsmiths and arms engineers; I personally would be lead to assume that Chinese arms are inferior, thus I would choose an American firearm over a Chinese firearm. Unfair to say?

 

I

Toshiba outsources to Taiwan, which is then made in China.  And don't worry too much about firearms; China has been catching up in counterfeiting/imitating [advanced] weaponary and selling those for good $$$

Does anybody know how goods from China compare to union-made products made in the USA in terms of quality? Are there things made in China that people buy because they are actually better than things made in the USA? I there there can be an argument of work ethic in some cases as well.

Just to note, I am not saying this is the case, but I have heard things like this and never gotten good examples. I, myself am very pro-made in USA, or at least pro-1st world.

It's easy to generalise across all classes of goods that made in China means bad quality, and made in USA (or whoever's home country we're talking about) means good quality, but it's just not necessarily true. I've been involved in sourcing things from China and like everywhere there is a wide spectrum in the quality of goods available. If a manufacturer has taken the trouble to institute a good quality control system, the output can be every bit as good as that made elsewhere, excluding perhaps certain "artisan" goods where the know how might not exist. If this is done then the price difference between made in China vs USA (or elsewhere) becomes purely a function of labour and materials cost.

For example, a factory putting out large amounts of machine stitched shirts made from bottom of the barrel cotton is going to turn out equally terrible product whether the factory is in the USA or China, the only difference being that in the USA there will be a larger drive towards labour efficiency (usually meaning more automation, not something this forum particularly looks for in goods) per unit output. Another class of goods I've had experience with is audio gear: you can get any number of insanely cheap items out of China, using substandard components and shoddy construction, but if you pay attention and insist on good parts and construction you can get some serious products rivalling the best put out by first world makers. It just takes a little more work identifying these items, as there's always someone wanting to polish up the crap and sell it to you for the premium price...

That said, I do support local production wherever possible, and as a New Zealander in the USA I try to buy things made in the USA, just as I bought made in NZ when I lived there. It comes down to energy and resource efficiency, as well as the resiliency strong local economies have to outside shocks, such as stock markets falling over.

I don't believe in boycotting brands that are made in countries with shit labour standards. You either end up with a company with reduced surplus causing massive lay offs (keeping in mind that the money people are making from their wages is barely enough for subsistence); you have a labour reserve that are willing to work for less; or these workers just end up in domestic manufacturing industries that are even harder to regulate. Yes cheap consumerism is going to make this problem perpetual but boycotts without development incentives will make shit even worse.

 

Mass produced products' qualities are 99% dependent on the company's QA standards and its supply chain control and 1% on the place of manufacturing.  It's just more convenient for companies to blame their outworkers than to be responsible for their supply chain.

 

American companies usually have much lower QA standards compare to the Japanese, and the Chinese brands are several notches lower than Americans. 

 

But in terms of manufacturing, the large Chinese ODM/OEMs have world class QA to accommodate the top tier customers.

Oh some Chinese brands and products are absolutely horrible, especially with clothes and toys. Much of which isen't actually fit for export to western countries like the US or UK. There are some good Chinese brands though, e.g. Lenovo. Probably because they learned how to make good quality computers when they bought IBM's PC devision.

I really agree with these two points, and I think they are interrelated. As an under-30 myself, I can attest to a longing for quality good. I've grown up surrounded by plastic, toys, clothing, tools, on my food. The actual quality of USA vs Chinese production is not the issue, kids are more concerned with the perceived quality. Specifically, we are interested in goods that are more than the sum of their parts. Durability is great, but so is the fact that a product was made by people you might bump into in as the gas station, with stories similar (culturally) to our own.

Without diverting the thread, I think that this sentiment is related to the OWS 99% shenanigans. People realize the impermanence of what we have today, and worry that it may all be different tomorrow. Knowing the history of a product, the people involved in manufacturing, and that it will last for years is a way of slowing parts of life to a manageable pace. It helps people understanding how the individual fits into a vast, rapidly changing world.

Or maybe not. Just my 2cents.