| Author | Message | ||
     Bob uk Unregistered guest Posted From: 94.197.122.76 |
Shandong linlong rubber co make.tyres These are Chinese made. And with a name like a dewop band they must be good. They look good and are average price. They are not suitable for RR use but the name is great. The wheels on the bus go round and round Shandong linlong (Message approved by david_gore) | ||
| Jan Forrest Grand Master Username: got_one Post Number: 587 Registered: 1-2008 |
There's a lot of decent stuff coming from the Middle East these days. China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, et all are all raising the quality almost by the day. Unfortunately there's still a lot of crap floating around plus a lot of the workers are little more than slave labour. | ||
| Bob uk Unregistered guest Posted From: 94.197.122.74 |
And it is hard to know what's rubbish and what isn't. The linlongs looked fine but not particularly cheap. They had the relevant euro marks I would fit them to my jeep if I needed tyres I have a Chinese made guitar and it is good. The slave labour puts me off. But it is employment for maybe someone with no shoes. I think in the west we some times have to much. Our sense of entitlement is maybe out of wack. (Message approved by david_gore) | ||
| Jan Forrest Grand Master Username: got_one Post Number: 594 Registered: 1-2008 |
I'm not pointing the finger at any particular corporation, but ... High end items of fashion clothing are being made by children forced to work long hours with no days off. They are pushed into crowded sweat shops - literally as there is little ventilation plus all the doors and windows are barred and locked shut. When the long days are over they are all trooped back to locked barracks where they are given a meagre ration of rice, permitted a few hours of sleep before the process starts again. A Euro mark means very little to some of these manufacturers. The EU expects each manufacturer to ensure that any item marked as such has been tested by the maker. Many haven't because they know they wouldn't pass the requirements. In almost all areas of China the concept of 'registered trademark' and patents are simply not regulated by law. Remember the Phantom copy that a Chinese car maker brought out? Even some of the better quality items (mostly electronics) may be up to snuff at first, but if/when they break down the backup/parts availability turns out to be non-existant. Almost anything bought that's made out there is a gamble. It may be good, but it also my be crap. | ||
| Bob uk Unregistered guest Posted From: 94.197.122.74 |
Jan I know where you are coming from over the use of children as slave labour. China has over 1 billion people and government of China is gradually coming round and sorting it out, it will take maybe a 100years. If the west didn't buy the goods then those young children would get even less and would likely end up dead in the gutter. I am careful what I buy from China the guitar was obviously good and I payed £50. A western version would be about £80. Electronic stuff like I pods last maybe 2 years I wouldn't dream of attempting any repair apart from a thump. My vcr goes ok if thumped. You pays yer money and takes yer choice Copyright and patent infringements are legendary. I suspect that in the future China will start to realise that ripping people off is bad for business. I understand perfectly where the bright young things are coming from when they call for people not to buy Chinese goods and cut diplomatic ties. But the west cannot do anything except talk to China. A foreign country once asked the UK for something and the UK gov said no because it was illegal the foreign gov said change the law. The changes in that thinking takes at least a generation (Message approved by david_gore) | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 1424 Registered: 4-2003 |
There is more than one Asian "powerhouse" of current standing that largely started in a similar fashion to the China of today. There are countries in the sub-continent which are now also competing in the low-price market using similar practices and labour policies [or lack thereof]. If these are a concern, the only effective weapon we have is to make it very clear to those importing such products into our countries that we will not purchase them and a majority of us also vote with our wallets by only purchasing "fair trade" and "ethical" products. The choice is yours to make each time you purchase an imported product. | ||
| Bob Reynolds Prolific User Username: bobreynolds Post Number: 135 Registered: 8-2012 |
If you avoid buying everything that is made in China, then you would never buy anything. Virtually everything today is made in China. | ||
| Bob uk Unregistered guest Posted From: 94.197.122.82 |
I like engineering because it defined. Where as politics every body is right. Politics pull ones thoughts in many different opposing directions and what's best is never clear and changes often. (Message approved by david_gore) | ||
| Randy Roberson Prolific User Username: wascator Post Number: 279 Registered: 5-2009 |
Saw a program once, condemning soccer balls being made by children. Western companies quit buying the balls; turned out the children were better off making soccer balls, than being sexually exploited. Westerners take a lot for granted. Made in China? They do order Boeing and Airbus aircraft by the dozen. Best policy is outcompete them. If not, then why not? | ||
| Geoff Wootton Grand Master Username: dounraey Post Number: 449 Registered: 5-2012 |
Hi Randy "If not, then why not?" - 6 yuan to the dollar is probably the biggest factor. A level playing field it is not. Geoff | ||
| richard george yeaman Prolific User Username: richyrich Post Number: 194 Registered: 4-2012 |
Hi I think Automation in Industry taken too far is a bad thing a machine that does the work of one hundred men is all right for a while that means there is ninety nine people out of a job that cant buy those products all they can buy are the cheap alternative any wonder China is doing so well. Incidently there are more Rolls Royce cars exported to China than anywhere else, I say its our own fault and we should get back in the factories and start fighting back lower our prices and work for less wages or else get used to buying MADE IN CHINA | ||
| Jan Forrest Grand Master Username: got_one Post Number: 596 Registered: 1-2008 |
"A foreign country once asked the UK for something and the UK gov said no because it was illegal the foreign gov said change the law." IIRC that was Saudi Arabia. They were involved in a bribery scandal concerning an arms contract with BAE Systems. When it seemed about to become public and several 'high ups' in both governments and Royal families could be prosecuted the whole thing was hushed up after the Saudis threatened to renege on the ££multi-billion££ contract. As for the quality of some Middle/Far Eastern manufactured items: Toyota no longer make cylinder heads for several older models - most which were Home Market Only - but have since been distributed throughout the world through car auctions dedicated to exporting them after sale. Since these are popular as used cars a few casting factories have started to make them again and ship them everywhere these cars can be found. Unfortunately the materials and dimensional stability often leave a lot to be desired. In the worst of them valve seat recession is so bad that the valve clearances can completely close up in a few thousand miles! Similarly the gaskets for these heads have been copied even though OEM ones are still available; albeit at a significant higher cost. The problem with the bad ones is that they restrict the flow of coolant at just the point (back of the head) where the castings are at their weakest and temperatures at their highest. Over time this leads to excessive stresses which eventually result in combustion chamber cracks which propogate forwards destroying the cylinder head. | ||
| Randy Roberson Prolific User Username: wascator Post Number: 280 Registered: 5-2009 |
In reply to Mr. Yeoman, I respectfully disagree. This thinking resulted in riots at the beginning of the industrial revolution. It is proven that the widespread availability of goods at lower cost increases everyones' standard of living, plus jobs designing, building, operating, and repairing automated machines, pay far more than doing their work the hard way. | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 949 Registered: 6-2009 |
Some general observations: 1. It behooves everyone to be an informed consumer. Far too few consumers even care to be somewhat informed. 2. There are plenty of situations where choices vary among degrees of sub-optimal. I am not talking about product quality exclusively or even primarily here, either. 3. We (as in the people of the world) will never be able to reverse the globalization of markets. [This is one of the reasons to try to become informed about what the unintended consequences of buying choices might be.] 4. Every consumer makes his or her own decision with regard to what's suitable in terms of both quality and price point in combination. (What they're willing to turn a blind eye to only comes into play if they even care to know about the sources of what they're buying.) 5. Many nations, and I definitely include the United States at the top of that list, have chosen to endanger their own national security by outsourcing a huge amount of basic manufacturing. It also hasn't helped their citizens or economies, either. A solid manufacturing base across the board is essential to national security. 6. In Western capitalist systems, the current trend to rush back to the policies of the Gilded Age, which was gilded for the very few, is pure folly. Markets become extremely depressed, or collapse entirely, when "the working class" is placed in a position of a race to the bottom as far as wages and benefits go. 7. Poul Anderson (no, not Paul) nailed it with his observation, I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when looked at in the right way, did not become still more complicated. Brian |
