4 ms·

> To be good, scissors have to be sharp, even, and fit together juuust right. A tiny deviance creates a huge about of suck. Do you think the tolerances in a Sa

> To be good, scissors have to be sharp, even, and fit together juuust right. A tiny deviance creates a huge about of suck. Do you think the tolerances in a Samsung phone manufactured in China are laxer than that? High quality scissors can be manufactured in China. For people in UK to waste their time on it is unnecessary. And that's probably the reason why such endevours usually fail.

wahern 8y ago
They can be manufactured well in China, but will they? Companies like Apple have the clout, money, and time to supervise production and guarantee quality. But the typical story is that some small or mid-sized business abandons a reliable and high-quality domestic process to the promises of some sales rep from China. Consistency and quality drop precipitously but it's excused because the CEO has already relegated the company to the race to the bottom. The domestic companies are usually the ones left behind after a century of intense competition during a time when quality and longevity were paramount and customers couldn't afford to constantly replace equipment. Chinese industry has arisen in a global market built around a different dynamic--cheap industrial labor selling products to rich consumers who are less discerning, or in any event don't mind buying throwaway tools. That says little about the inherent skill of Chinese labor and industry and everything about how free markets operate and industrial processes evolve.
- jdietrich 8y ago
  Moving production to China is often (but not always) a cost-cutting measure. It's often about volume - Chinese manufacturers can scale production in a way that Western manufacturers can't. They have shorter and more agile supply chains and a much deeper labour pool. Scaling up production always carries the risk of quality degradation, mostly because you're diluting the skill base of your manufacturing workforce. China can't match the quality of the very best German and Japanese manufacturers, but they're pretty damned close in a lot of areas. Quality usually starts to slip because the OEM customer demands it - cutting corners to keep the price down is usually the more profitable option.
- culot 8y ago
  The book 'Poorly Made in China' offers an excellent glimpse in how that process works. A fascinating and harrowing read!
albertgoeswoof 8y ago
> For people in UK to waste their time on it is unnecessary. What does that mean? Why is it a waste of time for a British person and not for a Chinese person?
- mdpopescu 8y ago
  The value of an hour of your time depends on each individual; the average value of your time depends on region. (The average salary in Romania, for example, is around $1k before taxes - about $600 after. I assume this is much lower than the average salary in, say, SV.) Given that, wasting an hour to do something yourself instead of paying someone else to do it for you can be counterproductive (see Ricardo's law).
toomanybeersies 8y ago
China has to import ballpoints for ballpoint pens from Japan because they don't have the skills to manufacture them in China. Incidentally, Japan also make incredibly high quality scissors. I am yet to find good cutting tools from China, whether it's chef knives, pocket knives, scissors, or even sidecutters and other hand tools for electrical work. My point I'm trying to make, is that China is good at making certain things, but not others. We can also add that there is a certain amount of elitism to say that it's not worth Westerners' time to manufacture something as lowly as scissors.
- jimnotgym 8y ago
  Sheffield make the 'finest steel in the world', yet all quality machines seem to use Swedish bearings from SKF! I think everywhere has their specialisms.
- thrownow623 8y ago
  > China has to import ballpoints for ballpoint pens from Japan because they don't have the skills to manufacture them in China. You're info is outdated now. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/18/finally-china-manufactures-a-ballpoint-pen-all-by-itself/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c5303b23df38 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/18...

wahern 8y ago

They can be manufactured well in China, but will they? Companies like Apple have the clout, money, and time to supervise production and guarantee quality. But the typical story is that some small or mid-sized business abandons a reliable and high-quality domestic process to the promises of some sales rep from China. Consistency and quality drop precipitously but it's excused because the CEO has already relegated the company to the race to the bottom. The domestic companies are usually the ones left behind after a century of intense competition during a time when quality and longevity were paramount and customers couldn't afford to constantly replace equipment. Chinese industry has arisen in a global market built around a different dynamic--cheap industrial labor selling products to rich consumers who are less discerning, or in any event don't mind buying throwaway tools. That says little about the inherent skill of Chinese labor and industry and everything about how free markets operate and industrial processes evolve.

jdietrich 8y ago
Moving production to China is often (but not always) a cost-cutting measure. It's often about volume - Chinese manufacturers can scale production in a way that Western manufacturers can't. They have shorter and more agile supply chains and a much deeper labour pool. Scaling up production always carries the risk of quality degradation, mostly because you're diluting the skill base of your manufacturing workforce. China can't match the quality of the very best German and Japanese manufacturers, but they're pretty damned close in a lot of areas. Quality usually starts to slip because the OEM customer demands it - cutting corners to keep the price down is usually the more profitable option.
culot 8y ago
The book 'Poorly Made in China' offers an excellent glimpse in how that process works. A fascinating and harrowing read!

albertgoeswoof 8y ago

> For people in UK to waste their time on it is unnecessary. What does that mean? Why is it a waste of time for a British person and not for a Chinese person?

mdpopescu 8y ago
The value of an hour of your time depends on each individual; the average value of your time depends on region. (The average salary in Romania, for example, is around $1k before taxes - about $600 after. I assume this is much lower than the average salary in, say, SV.) Given that, wasting an hour to do something yourself instead of paying someone else to do it for you can be counterproductive (see Ricardo's law).

toomanybeersies 8y ago

China has to import ballpoints for ballpoint pens from Japan because they don't have the skills to manufacture them in China. Incidentally, Japan also make incredibly high quality scissors. I am yet to find good cutting tools from China, whether it's chef knives, pocket knives, scissors, or even sidecutters and other hand tools for electrical work. My point I'm trying to make, is that China is good at making certain things, but not others. We can also add that there is a certain amount of elitism to say that it's not worth Westerners' time to manufacture something as lowly as scissors.

jimnotgym 8y ago
Sheffield make the 'finest steel in the world', yet all quality machines seem to use Swedish bearings from SKF! I think everywhere has their specialisms.
thrownow623 8y ago
> China has to import ballpoints for ballpoint pens from Japan because they don't have the skills to manufacture them in China. You're info is outdated now. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/18/finally-china-manufactures-a-ballpoint-pen-all-by-itself/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c5303b23df38 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/18...