Made in China

Redirish

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Thank you Gordon, good post. Before I retired, the company I worked for bought quite a lot of Chinese measuring tools for general use in the shop. We checked the accuracy against my Mitutoyo and Starrett tools and found it to be very good. Some of it didn't have the smooth feel that the Starrett and Mitutoyo has, but was good in a shop where you KNOW someone is going to drop it on a concrete floor.
 
There is a difference in quality in differing chinese products....
You have cheap chinese products, made cheap and cheap quality...
There are also good quality chinese products, and they are priced to reflect the quality.

computer motherboards come to mind, as do welders..
 
Gordon,
I am like you in that for a number of years I was very ambivelent towards anything made in China or Taiwan. Matter of fact just about anything from asia. I was a child of the 60's and 70's when "made in Japan" was synonimous with junk. Over the years they began to produce some very nice tooling and some excellent cars and the quality improved to a par with US made at the time. Since then Japan has continued to improve and I believe that they build a better car today than we do. The Honda Accord and Preludes are a testimony to that fact. I worked in the dealership and aftermarket world for a number of years and got the opportunity to watch a lot of vehicle manufacturers go from junk to quality. Anybody remember the original Hyundai Excell? Talk about junk, if it didn't burn down or blow up you got a good one. The recall for the reed valve plate in the intake was a major improvement once they figured out how to keep the cars from burning down. They had some trans problems too along the way, but eventually they figured that out and now they make a darn nice car. My wife bought an elantra and put nearly 200K on it in 4 years and other than timing belts it only ever needed a coil because it was breaking down when hot. So Asian equipment is OK by me. As long as the buying public continues to demand quality the Asian manufacturers will respond with the quality we demand. The main reason the Asians dont build a lot of quality into their stuff is because we demand a low price point and will accept a lower quality piece of equipment. Could you imagine if Hobart, Miller, and Lincoln did the same? So my thought is buy whatever you want from wherever and demand high quality. The Everlast and Other Asian import welders are a perfect example of this at work. The first few years were fraught with DOA machines and units that consistently let the magic smoke escape and now you do not hear of that as an issue any more. So as with anything the Asians become more astute and improve the product until it is on par with American or European made. Will they displace the big three, not in a million years but they will force the big three to be competative and offer more machines at a better price point. The reason I am saying this is I got a flyer from Lincoln today, they are bringing back the Square wave 175 tig/stick welder and it is cheaper than Everlast and Millers diversion 165/185 with more options., I think Lincoln has seen the light, now it is up to Hobart and Miller to follow suit or get left behind in the global fight for new equipment dollars. Just my long winded .02, any other opinions would be open for gentle and sane discussion too.
Bob
 
Yes Japanese cars are right hand drive.

We sell around the world and to the orient, now whether or not they are Chinese held companies or not, who knows. I do know that the quality of the design drawings that come from companies that know better has dropped over the last few years. The experienced designers have been let go, inexperienced now drawing up the plans or poor QC. At times I have had to kick back drawings that were missing dimensions, etc and had to wait months for the return of the hopefully corrected drawings.

Now don't get me wrong, we will take the work, but do not blame me if the parts match what drawings you sent me and they don't fit, etc.
 
Chinese contacts

Gordon,

I too, have close ties with a Chinese manufacture over in Jingzhou City, west of Shanghai. I've been over there several times over the past six years.
Have a great time every visit. Drink lots Mati!
Yes, they can provide quality products. Most issues are minor, easily fixed. Many issues, they find and let you know so decisions can be made on acceptance or rejection.
Materials are much better now than they were several years ago.

I too can't talk about these things on the other website!

Ken
 
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