Swapping out products for an almost identical-looking Chinese copy made to order by some outsourcing factory. They think they'll be able to super-size their profit margins and people will keep buying their stuff. What they don't realise is that any old fool can order generic tools from China for pennies and their hollowed-out "design"-only office-based tool manufacturing company won't serve a purpose any longer.
The issue comes in the cost cutting, not China being the source.
I work for a major company doing quality control, and I can tell you our most consistent and problem free suppliers are from China. Factories where workers work on dirt floors on their hands and knees, yet still producing finer quality work than our domestic suppliers.
Its mostly an issue with the American companies not caring much about their products. For most aspects, it isn't hard to improve the quality immensely. A view from the consumer is
Outsourcing is seen as a way to save money so corporations treat it that way. It doesn't matter if it's software or a wrench. The entire rationale for shipping work to China is going to make the end result suspect from the start.
Like the article bluntly stated... this isn't about Chinese factories being bad but American management being bad.
Big corp. execs think they're clever (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
The issue comes in the cost cutting, not China being the source.
I work for a major company doing quality control, and I can tell you our most consistent and problem free suppliers are from China. Factories where workers work on dirt floors on their hands and knees, yet still producing finer quality work than our domestic suppliers.
Its mostly an issue with the American companies not caring much about their products. For most aspects, it isn't hard to improve the quality immensely. A view from the consumer is
Re:Big corp. execs think they're clever (Score:2)
Outsourcing is seen as a way to save money so corporations treat it that way. It doesn't matter if it's software or a wrench. The entire rationale for shipping work to China is going to make the end result suspect from the start.
Like the article bluntly stated... this isn't about Chinese factories being bad but American management being bad.