Having been to China lately to find manufacturers for my own niche
product (guitar amps, made with vacuum tube - 50's technology) I can
tell you it just ain't that simple as demanding quality and getting
it. China has the complete range of capability (from depressing labor
conditions all the way up to modern ISO 9000 clean rooms). But you
gotta find it, find an in with that outfit (they're still communists,
ya know) and sort through all the ramifications before you ever get to
do a test production run. It's do-able to set up over there, but not
easy. That is, you need bucks to do it right. And we might as well
face it - we are a small group of enthusiasts, with a diminishing
source of salvaged cars, without the financial clout to command much
more than passing interest from some of the low-level Chinese
factories desperate to do business in the west.
We're lucky to find anyone willing to tool up and run a line of our
parts......it hangs on in England because of continued interest in the
cars there, residual expertise and tooling, and a solid installed base
of users (although that will inevitably diminish with time, since the
cars themselves are no longer in production). And some enterprising
souls have been able to start up some parts production in China,
because of China's situation at this time. We've got it made!! I was
surprised to find any ongoing sources at all for such obscure
vehicles, out of production for decades no less!
You hear the same quality complaints from guitar players using third
world parts in their amps! In the guitar amp world, purists cling to
the old tube technology because of the sound, but you have to go to
the third world to find that technology (the west gave up on tubes
decades ago - despite a persistant market among musicians). You hear
about "junk Chinese tubes" all the time! But you see, guitarists just
aren't a big enough market group to justify the economics of new
production lines, training employees, facility investments, etc. If I
had a spare $2 million I could have upgraded the vacuum tube line I
saw in Beijing to world class quality, but that hasn't happened yet.
And it won't happen unless the market justifies it. Till then, we
lovers of dead technology must make do with what we find - and we're
lucky to find anything at all!
So I understand the frustration of settling for less than original
quality in our car parts, but it mostly comes down to economics. Most
folks aren't trying to sell crap, but until the market can bear the
cost of top quality parts (and believe me, that cost would be sky-high
for most limited-run new production parts) we're gonna have to settle
for what comes through the chute. And it's only gonna get worse with
time....
So stock up on that cheap Chinese junk! In ten years that will be
like gold to some die-hard enthusiast!! Of course, if we were really
serious about quality, we car owners could start a coop, invest our
own money, and make our own deals with the Chinese or whoever -
enforcing our own quality provisions on the manufacturers. Anyone
rich/interested enough for that daunting prospect? I'd be happy to
represent such a coop to the Chinese builders!
M. Dietsche
---b-evans@ix.netcom.com wrote:
>
> > Quality costs. Would you rather the only repro of a bugeye
> > grill costs $2500?
>
> Now, now, I think that even you would have to agree that your
hyperbole
> is just a little bit extreme. You know, and I know that Asia can and
> does manufacture quality products. And they do it as rock bottom
> prices. In dealing with Asia, you are dealing with minimal
> manufacturing costs. The cost comes AFTER the manufacturing process,
> and those costs would remain the same. There would be no increase in
> shipping, duties, packaging, marketing, and margin, the biggest
factors
> in pricing end-product pricing. An improvement in quality control and
> end-product quality would not be a herculean effort, and would make
the
> consumer price prohibitive.
>
> If "quality costs", how can one explain the fact that I can get better
> quality at lower cost from England?
>
>
> > It's not unreasonable, as the cost to produce
> > rises the end cost rises which cuts into sales, and the unit
> > cost rises from the low production.
>
> Sorry, but it doesn't necessarily work that way. Again, production
> costs are minimal when compared to the other cost factors that would
> remain stable. Shipping costs remain the same. Packaging remains the
> same. Shipping remains the same. Because China and other Asian
> countries are "most favored nation" trading partners, the dutie are
> negligible. Marketing remains the same. The manufacture of the part
> itself is but one small part of the sum. Improvement of quality would
> result in a minimal difference in cost.
>
>
> > Nobody is stopping you from starting a production line. If
> > the economics are so simple, you'll have a fleet of LBCs
> > in no time, right?
>
> Now that is beyond hyperbole!
>
> The bottom line is the those who issue purchase orders have to care
> enough about their customers to demand quality.
>
> Bob Evans
> Anaheim, California
> Frogeyes AN 5L/762, AN 5L/26893
>
>
>
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