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> Was it less common before supply chains were exported? There are factories that run "midnight shifts", where the same workers, on the same production line, s
by turbinerneiter 6y ago
> Was it less common before supply chains were exported?
There are factories that run "midnight shifts", where the same workers, on the same production line, spend a night building a batch of counterfeits.
If you rent instead of own the manufacturing line, you are open to this. A design is easy to copy, a factory not that much.
I see all of this as way to tip the scale of profit sharing between the ones with the idea/design and the ones who make the product. Whether it is balanced or not, I can't tell.
A cheap copy that performs well is also in a way pressure to innovate. The factories innovate in making things cheaper, the designers innovate in making things better. Someone who manufactures themself gets to do both.
- toss1 6y agoNot sure why you're getting those bogus downvotes - these 'midnight shifts' are absolutely real, and can cause serious problems. I know of a specific US-based specialist manufacturer who makes some of the best-in-class products in the world - a LOT of R&D and optimization. The castings and machining were done at a plant in Asia. After shipping their product, they discovered an obvious Asian knock-off selling for 1/3 the price. They immediately called their manufacturing partner and got that shut down, but it was too late - the Chinese competitor already had inventory, customers, marketing, etc., and just switched factories. And there's still debate in the purchasing community about which to buy. Those 'midnight shifts' literally enabled a new competitor from the starting gate for just a bit of extra temporary profit - straight up theft. (If it was my biz, I'd have not only gotten them to shut down the backdoor selling, but also put as a top priority finding a new manufacturing partner and moving production at the earliest possible date).