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Old January 12th 18, 02:32 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
AMuzi
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Posts: 13,447
Default DIY China

On 1/11/2018 8:43 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 1/11/2018 8:54 PM, Emanuel Berg wrote:
Andre Jute wrote:

As for value, the Chinese offer superb value
to those who know what they want and how to
evaluate it. Much of what you buy in America
under familiar brand names is made in China.


Here, virtually all tools sold are made in
China (i.e., the PRC). I have a torque wrench
that is also made in China, only in Taiwan.
I also have a (new) revolving punch that is
made in Germany. Other than that, all my
Swedish tools (e.g., Bacho), German
tools (Heyco), Japanese tools, socialist Poland
tools, etc., are old, from the
"pre-China" period.

Also clothes are often, but not always, made in
the PRC. HH, the famous Norwegian brand of
winter clothes, have there stuff made there, as
do many, many others.

Even tho they seem to make all the stuff for
the western contractors and DIYers alike, one
thing I wonder is how much of a DIY culture
they themselves have?

My father, who has a Chinese wife, told me
about their shopping palaces and how shopping
is the key pass-time for people there.
And apparently the biggest building in the
world isn't the Pentagon like in the 50s but
a Chinese mall! So I asked him if he could get
tools as well? And he said he never saw any!

And I have met many Chinese people during my
computer years at the university and by the
look of their bodies and they way they carry
them around, compared to westerners - N.B.
also university people - from the looks of it
the Chinese guys and girls never used a hand
tools or did any physical labor whatsoever,
and some of them, surprisingly, I don't think
ever did any sports or dancing or
whatever either.

Obviously their skill of manufacturing stuff is
beyond doubt, but I wonder if it is limited to
the people doing it, and not a reflection of
their entire society as it was during the
European/American industrial era?


There are some interesting ideas about the evolution of a
nation's manufacturing capability at
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/shimano333.html

Start reading at "Background: The International Bicycle Cycle"

The author seems to have the opinion that the skill in
manufacturing is not inborn, but is brought in by companies
from other countries looking for cheaper labor and cheaper
manufacturing in general. I think that's a reasonable
explanation for China's manufacturing growth.



Let's hobble our manufacturers with endless licenses,
permits, fines, fees, inspections and various impedimenta
then mandate high labor costs, obfuscate those costs with
additional employer expenses, insanely inflate
transportation and energy costs, throw in a frenetic
plaintiff's bar and see what happens.

Ya think chinese vendors could beat the price?

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971


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