China: An Observation

In the 1950s as Japan was slowly recovering its economy, there was always the comment of "Made in Japan" meaning poor quality but cheap. Japan worked hard to overcome that fault and today Japan makes some of the best products in the world. Just look at Honda versus any GM vehicle.

Now recently I purchased an optical device for my work. It was "Made in China", and not for a US company but by a Chinese company. It was sold in the US. Now what did I observe, well it was in a cheap box, a several hundred dollar electro-optic device and not a toy, the instructions were in Chinese with some English, and when connected to the computer it failed, never worked.

So off to the web site, not there, in fact the web site was a bit shabby. Then to the phone, a several hour delay and a call back and still not working.

Observation, Chinese companies can manufacture for American suppliers if and it appears only if they do exactly what they are told and the US company uses Chinese cheap labor. Stan alone, and the Chinese companies have no understanding of a customer. One would suspect that the same would be true if they marketed drugs or sold cars. Perhaps having cheap labor works if it is leveraged off of a well established quality system and distribution channel. Left to their own, well it seems they are not yet ready for prime time. Just an observation.