Is everything made in china ????

[Sitting Bull]

I need to buy an angle grinder and router. Everything is made in China even Makita which is a Japanese company is made in China. Is there any other options out there? I wonder if the $25.00 Princess Auto grinder made in china is all that bad.
I guess paying premium prices for Name brand made in China stuff is the way it is now a days.
Just one of those days. Sorry for the rant.

[urban rednek]

Apparently, they import the labels.

[fordtruckin]

Not all Chinese made products are crap. How many TV's computers, cell phones and other electronics are made there? I think of Iphone off the top of my head and how many consider it the best cell phone. I think a lot of it comes down to 1. very few regulations as far as workers rights and environment. 2. HUGE work force that will work for pennies, 3. no issues with counterfeit products, 4. cheap materials. Capitalism at it's finest. Why pay a north American worker union wages and 5x as much for materials when they can make it overseas for a fraction of the price and have the same profit margins. You make it in North America then we complain about how much it costs because we want affordable yet demand quality.

[KC1]

Very happy with my Milwaukee tools that are made in China.
Only realized it about one or two months ago, always thought they were made in the USA.
Doesn't stop me from buying another Milwaukee or Dewalt if I need one.

[Trochu]

The Chinese can build with quality materials to the exact same tolerances and specifications than they can in the US, if they are so inclined. Alot of the time, we, well I do anyways, associated "Made in China" to Princess Auto and think most of their stuff is junk. The cheap stuff generally is, but it's cheap for a reason, regardless of where it's made.

As for the original question, no, not everything is made in China. Dewalt has a decent selection of angle grinders manufactured in the US.

https://www.dewalt.com/products/powe...ade-in-the-usa

Not sure what exactly that entails, but they are saying made in the USA anyways.

[fishtank]

Quality had a price no matter where they are made , usually you get what you paid for as mentioned Milwaukee fuel tools .

[Drewski Canuck]

Biggest Supplier of small air cooled engines in the World is RATO. Yes, from China. Funny thing is that a RATO engine will outlast anything formerly US made, and will hold its own against Honda.

Yes a clone, but the quality surpasses durability tests required by outfits like Craftsman and Toro, to name a few.

As for Price, no comparison to RATO. Oh yeah, they are made in China.

Drewski

[Dynamic]

There was a time when “made in Japan” pretty much meant your were getting junk. Then an American of all people taught the Japanese about quality control and the rest is history. Honda and Toyota was not a fluke, it was Japanese pretty much taking what they were taught and becoming a manufacturing superpower.

China is going through the same transition. Lots of stuff is still of borderline quality but that is because it’s specified that way. I have no issues buying something from China if the quality is there.

[Arty]

If you want something of particularly high quality and capacity that does not benefit as much from economies of scale, you can get it from Japan (such as lenses) or Germany (such as factory robots) or Italy (such as saw blades). But you will pay for it, and probably won't see the value in casual use. 'Luxury' German cars are capable of precisely traveling at high speeds all day long and are meant to be working vehicles for example, but you'd never realize that benefit as we are capped at a relatively low speed limit. The alternative here would be to buy an airplane and use that instead if high speed means that much to you.

Factory automation can be set up anywhere there is cheap power and basic maintenance staff for it. Cheap labor is still in supply in a number of regions, and anything that can be simplified enough to benefit from automation and cheap labor will be.

But there are some things that have an inherent higher quality of design and materials, which have a much lower demand. Those are usually bypassed by the high-volume, low cost manufacturers because it just isn't worth the trouble. If you are willing to pay three times more for something that looks and superficially functions the same as chinese-made, then there is a chance the design, parts and/or main assembly might be made elsewhere. Whether it pays off for you to do that or not depends on what your usage requirements are.

[Moosetalker]

Chinese manufacturers will make anything to whatever standard or tolerance any Company not based in China is willing to pay for.

Currently Most North American and European probably. all run on the open stock market company's have to maximize profits to pay dividends to stockholders so the stock price appreciates. Its how its done here source your parts as cheaply as possible.

Chinese manufacturing industries have one stock holder owning most if not all of the shares its the Chinese Government they control everything and make sure the Chinese company's can out-compete and underbid just about everyone else mostly due to lower wages and bulk buying raw materials.

Sadly now China also holds the papers on much of the debt incurred by our governments as well. Wonder if Country's can file for Bankruptcy debt protection. and pay back 10c on the dollar

So yeah your ATV be it Can Am Polaris Honda Yamaha whatever was probably assembled in North America or maybe Japan but many of the bits and pieces were made somewhere else even iconic tractor like Kubota the Engines are now made in china too.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by Dynamic

There was a time when “made in Japan” pretty much meant your were getting junk. Then an American of all people taught the Japanese about quality control and the rest is history. Honda and Toyota was not a fluke, it was Japanese pretty much taking what they were taught and becoming a manufacturing superpower.

For sure, they became very good at copying good designs, and then improving on them.

Yamaha pianos, for instance, were in many cases copy/paste from Steinway. Once we dropped a new Yamaha action into an old Steinway upright and it fit extremely well.

[brazeau]

Originally Posted by Trochu

As for the original question, no, not everything is made in China. Dewalt has a decent selection of angle grinders manufactured in the US.

https://www.dewalt.com/products/powe...ade-in-the-usa

Not sure what exactly that entails, but they are saying made in the USA anyways.

With Dewalt, what that entails is what the website says,"Select products made in the USA with global materials. DEWALT was founded in America and is still based in America. Each of our 7 US manufacturing facilities produces some of our most popular tools, including grinders, drills, impact drivers, and reciprocating saws."

I have a lot of the 20V Dewalt cordless tools. Here's a breakdown of where the tool labelling states it is made:

China - Chainsaw, Circular Saw, Mitre Saw Stand, Battery Charger, String Trimmer
Korea - Batteries
Malaysia - Batteries
Taiwan - Mitre Saw
Thailand - Battery Charger
Mexico - 1/2" Impact
USA - Hammer/Drill, Drill/Driver, Impact, Reciprocating Saw, Angle Grinder

And, all of the USA tools were made using global materials. At best, Dewalt manufacturing facilities assemble in the USA. Not a lot of contribution from their USA facilities to their overall product offerings. Their claim of "American Made" borders on outright fraud. However, I believe the difference is their quality control.

[HuyFishin]

Chinese products from major brands still hold a higher standard.

the chinese sticker doesn't mean its dollar store quality.

You're also paying for the R&D.

[bobtodrick]

Although I try to avoid Chinese for political reasons sometimes the cost benefit is just to great...plus the fact that if you avoided everything Chinese you'd be sitting at home doing...nothing. Couldn't even log on here to complain because the computer I'm using has Chinese components.
But case in point. A few years ago my son wanted a Fender Stratocaster. Being 15 at the time he didn't have mounds of disposable income. Went to Long & McQuade and they showed us some nice guitars starting at about $1000.
A little out of his price range.
The salesperson then showed us the Squire line. Chinese made Fenders, owned by Fender, with onsite Fender quality control. He explained that the pickups weren't quite as good...the fit an finish was a little less (if you were picky) but essentially the same guitar for $300.
After a couple of years he upgraded the pickups but it sees lots of use and has worked fine for five years...and he kept at least $700 in his pocket...(well not really as he didn't have it to begin with )

[EZM]

The economics of it, for virtually EVERY SINGLE company that has to manufacture parts or products and has an option to go to China is clear.

The landed costs, even with countervailing duties and tariffs, still ends up cheaper, so it translates to more profits.

Even if the warranty costs are higher, it's still makes sense. Every company I have ever worked for had China integrated into it's supply chain.

It is what it is.

[Tungsten,]

More and more you see manufacturing company’s here in Calgary that are 95% Asian. Same rules low wage ,work 60 hr weeks etc. So it’s made in Canada by China.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by bobtodrick

Chinese made Fenders, owned by Fender, with onsite Fender quality control. He explained that the pickups weren't quite as good...the fit an finish was a little less (if you were picky) but essentially the same guitar for $300.

Picked up one of their Bullet Squiers for just under $200 new - made in Indonesia. The shop owner and I were pleasantly surprised at the playability and tone. Was perfect for the kids, and I like to play it too from time to time.

Regarding QC - that's the important part. I recall getting PCBs printed and populated by an outfit in Saskatchewan - then one of the managers and owner of our company decided to make the board runs in China instead. Even though it would cost 1/5th of what the original runs cost, I argued against it. Our volumes were too low, not to mention the overhead, and the fact that we didn't have boots on the factory floor there to ensure quality was going to be a liability.

So, it took months of work to get all of the documentation in place, and we finally got our first run of boards back. They had a noticable bend in them, which is definitely not okay!

When we brought it up to the manufacturer, they stated, "Well, you didn't tell us that you expected the boards to be flat... That wasn't in your documentation!" Good grief.

Management said, "Well, we ARE getting these at a fraction of the price, so a higher failure rate is something that we could absorb..."

I had to explain to them that having breakdowns in the field would mean that we would have to send someone out there to repair the item. That gets expensive fast - not just our costs to have to cover the travel and time, but also the customer's downtime. Not to mention the impression of poor quality it gave the customer...

Interestingly, one of the managers involved had attempted to import those Chinese quads - I had to shake my head when I saw the failures that those things had... But that's a story for another post, though.

[HeavyD111]

In car circles you can buy a nice set of Dart Pro 1 cylinder heads for about 2k CAD...or an exact copy, reverse engineered actually great quality DNA performance set...for 400 CAD. Like it or not the Chinese have won and own our azzes.

[Trochu]

Originally Posted by HeavyD111

Like it or not the Chinese have won and own our azzes.

Till there is nothing left to copy, then everybody loses. Typically, the majority of the cost associated with an item isn't the price of the materials, it's the R&D. So if they are just copying, there is no R&D, so of course they can make it cheaper.

[Grizzly Adams]

HUGE work force that will work for pennies,


Or Die for their country.

Grizz

[SuperCub]

They can't sell it if we don't buy it. We only have ourselves to blame.

Wondering how many more jobs we would have in Canada if we made all our own stuff. It wouldn't be cheap, the country as a whole would benefit.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by SuperCub

They can't sell it if we don't buy it. We only have ourselves to blame.

Wondering how many more jobs we would have in Canada if we made all our own stuff. It wouldn't be cheap, the country as a whole would benefit.

Our whole standard of living is based on the concept of cheap labor, without it, life for us would be a lot different.

Grizz

[MyAlberta]

Originally Posted by Stinky Buffalo

Picked up one of their Bullet Squiers for just under $200 new - made in Indonesia. The shop owner and I were pleasantly surprised at the playability and tone. Was perfect for the kids, and I like to play it too from time to time.

Regarding QC - that's the important part. I recall getting PCBs printed and populated by an outfit in Saskatchewan - then one of the managers and owner of our company decided to make the board runs in China instead. Even though it would cost 1/5th of what the original runs cost, I argued against it. Our volumes were too low, not to mention the overhead, and the fact that we didn't have boots on the factory floor there to ensure quality was going to be a liability.

So, it took months of work to get all of the documentation in place, and we finally got our first run of boards back. They had a noticable bend in them, which is definitely not okay!

When we brought it up to the manufacturer, they stated, "Well, you didn't tell us that you expected the boards to be flat... That wasn't in your documentation!" Good grief.

Management said, "Well, we ARE getting these at a fraction of the price, so a higher failure rate is something that we could absorb..."

I had to explain to them that having breakdowns in the field would mean that we would have to send someone out there to repair the item. That gets expensive fast - not just our costs to have to cover the travel and time, but also the customer's downtime. Not to mention the impression of poor quality it gave the customer...

Interestingly, one of the managers involved had attempted to import those Chinese quads - I had to shake my head when I saw the failures that those things had... But that's a story for another post, though.

And my Mexi strat hasn’t deterred my progression at all. Highly doubt I’ll own a high quality instrument, unless I stumble across a great deal.

I buy electronics from China, and I can tell you that on a cost per quality bases, your being ripped off from US suppliers.

This whole concept of China stealing our jobs is rubbish. They created an economy that capitalized on our capital/consumer model, which in itself, separates consumers from producers.

[lmtada]

Nailed it. North American Unions have pushed Capitol to where money 💰 is appreciated (China). Union labour want bigger chunk of the pie, with wages, benefits, pensions, etc, yet not asking on any increased risk. Unions fail to realize is that “Capitol Flows”, to where it’s appreciated (hence the word appreciation). China cares less about the environment, unions and more about the productivity of their people (producing stuff). China will surpass America next decade as the number one SuperPower. The Chinese Yuan > USD. Canada currrency will devalue as currency power is determined by the productivity of its people. As more Canadians become unemployed, collect universal basic income. Canada will meet its demise. Suggest for next generations learn Mandarin.

Originally Posted by fordtruckin

Not all Chinese made products are crap. How many TV's computers, cell phones and other electronics are made there? I think of Iphone off the top of my head and how many consider it the best cell phone. I think a lot of it comes down to 1. very few regulations as far as workers rights and environment. 2. HUGE work force that will work for pennies, 3. no issues with counterfeit products, 4. cheap materials. Capitalism at it's finest. Why pay a north American worker union wages and 5x as much for materials when they can make it overseas for a fraction of the price and have the same profit margins. You make it in North America then we complain about how much it costs because we want affordable yet demand quality.

[SuperCub]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams

Our whole standard of living is based on the concept of Chinese cheap labor, without it, life for us would be a lot different.

Grizz

Fixed it ..... And I agree.

[mxz1997]

Check out “Project Farm” on you tube. He does awesome, unbiased reviews on all kinds of tools. Although the cordless tools are all made in China, the brand names like Dewalt and Milwaukee far exceed the Chinese brands in every aspect. Performance, Durability and Reliability. To me, it seems like Dewalt almost always wins in regards to the most value for your money.

[glen moa]

Easy to make a cheaper product when you don’t follow any of the rules from the rest of the world.

How about we start with a class action for the virus.

[bobtodrick]

Originally Posted by SuperCub

They can't sell it if we don't buy it. We only have ourselves to blame.

Wondering how many more jobs we would have in Canada if we made all our own stuff. It wouldn't be cheap, the country as a whole would benefit.

Thing is, now it’s not just the economics of it.
The computer (or phone) you’re typing this on. To build the plants and ramp up the needed production would be a five year (conservatively) endeavour.
We’re hooped.

[thumper]

We ship raw logs off-shore, unprocessed wheat, iron ore, crude oil. We'll forever be the 'hewers of hewers of wood and drawers of water- - Those who are used solely for manual labor or menial tasks at the behest of others.
- with very few exceptions.

[Jayhad]

Don't fret all, with the way China's wealth is growing and the west's civilization is slipping, soon the west will be the cheap labour.