Made in China.

[NortonDommi]

Hello all,
I would like to hear some thoughts about made in China. I will be upfront and say that I am damn grateful for the ability to purchase machinery and tooling that otherwise I would never be able to afford thanks to China in particular.
I'll also say that my personal dealings with Chinese companies has been mostly favorable. hat said I own Chinese made machinery that really needed remedial work from new but that was all bought locally. Stuff I brought in myself has been excellent value for money and well made from good stock. Thanks Alibaba and your buyer advice. Caveat emptor. Asking questions does pay.
The reason I am asking other opinion is that I have stuff from all over the globe and in my opinion every country produces crap. Every country has companies that also produce state of the art top quality goods although overall I think there has been a general decline in quality of materials and amount of material over the past 20 - 30 years.
Production methods have improved but products are actually designed to have a finite lifespan unlike in for example the Victorian era when a manufacturer strived to build an item that would become a heirloom.
The single biggest problem seems to be the rush for a quick buck and in China right now that race is taking its toll and I invite you to enter the term 'Tofu-dreg project' into a interweb search engine.
Very scary to think that some of these products may be at your supplier but think about this. There is always someone willing to meet a demand no matter what it is or how low the bid.
I'm just using China as an example as they do make stuff that is in the top 1%. I have pre-Glasnost Russian stuff that is far superior to the modern stuff and India? Total hit and miss there. I have over the years also had 'Made in U.S.A.' that failed miserably alongside 1970 'Made in Taiwan' so I am impartial in my detest of rubbish.

[Toolmaker51]

The import issue is only partially due to China as a supplier. Not being an Alibaba, Bangood etc customer and no direct dealings probably colors my opinion.
However I have plenty of domestic brand tools that are Taiwan made that perform as well or better than expected. Same goes for imports of Europe and the Americas outside USA.
1] A very good friend owns a large (60k sq ft, loads of it 20' high) retail outfit selling hardware, tools and material. He won't offer very much China-made product.
2] Predictions about offshore manufacture all came true; copyright and patent infringement, inappropriate, out of spec or wrong materials, poor general quality control + assurance, inability to get timely service and parts, excess suppliers but limited interchangeability, multiple/overlapping part numbers, instructions lacking clarity, domestic markets flooded with items from unlimited suppliers (many of which carry multiple individual names), there are still remaining communication hurdles, and other disagreeable aspects I'm tired of listing at 4:40 in the morning.
3] The monetary influx facilitates their ability to carry out varied negative Geo-political and ego-political issues worldwide.
4] Those occur outside our borders; the stream has renewed a new set of epic monopolies, formerly disbnded in not to distant past; but this time nobody seems to be watching. It doesn't take a conspiracy theorist to wonder at the possibilities driving that, particularly in view of recent events.

[Frank S]

The day I found a Mitutoyo dial indicator that said China on the package I thought it had to be a mistake. I never thought a Japanese owned company like that one would ever have their products made in China. But apparently they do because the UPC code was 690
. I you have doubts where a product originated from just check the bar codes
Here is a link to the list.
https://barcodes.pro/blog/barcode-co...20and%20Canada

[Toolmaker51]

Screen shot from recent public ad on the web. Black text within is mine, including remark about 'cast jaws'. Well, the operation is close to correct (die cast); but visual evidence indicates 'die-cast' and large sprue says pot metal.



I've just re-visited "tofu-dreg project" as a general search. Same result as other times, there's a recent article updating situation, as not resolved or an end in sight....Jan 18, 2022

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...o1-XB2E_vH_nLH