Made in China

[jpdm]

Business

Made in China
BIZLINKS By Rey Gamboa
Friday, August 17, 2007 As America digs deeper into the controversy questioning the quality of products made in China, our local officials seem to be taking their sweet time investigating just how safe or durable imported consumer goods manufactured by the world’s fastest growing economy are – and in instituting appropriate action on those that fall below standards.
For years, just like the US, the Philippines has been accepting at face value just about anything that comes from China. After all, most of these “Made in China” items are so cheap that people opt to forget and forgive “lapses” in quality.
Remember those defective Christmas lights that were the object of a yearly warning by the Department of Trade and Industry? For less than P100, it seemed that people would choose to buy this seasonal decorative item despite the apparent risk of fire – or electric shock.
Let’s not forget those electrical extension cords that come in so many neat shapes and colors. They are priced so low that many of our countrymen conveniently ignore the potential danger of sockets that melt with the prolonged flow of electricity.

Busy with other things

Our internal revenue and local government officials and personnel, sometimes in tandem with those from the immigration desk, may occasionally swoop down on the wholesale and retail centers of Divisoria, running after those Chinese who could barely speak and understand English and Filipino.
Depending on what agency is being represented, the apprehensions could be related to tax evasion or illegal entry and overstaying; or they could just be plain harassment and bribery. But rarely would there be a representative from the DTI’s standards bureau to question the quality of goods sold.
So the hapless consumer, who has heard how cheap goods sold in Divisoria could be, happily brings home a small fortune in purchased electrical gadgets, toys, footwear and bags, clothes, even foodstuff – all of them made in China.
When the electronic gadget conks out after a few uses, it is thrown away. When the mechanical toy falls apart in just a couple of days, it is dumped in the garbage bin. When the strap of a sandal comes loose after a dunking in Manila’s flooded streets, and the repair would cost more than its purchase price, the damaged footwear shares the same fate as all other defective items that have been bought.
The moral of the story here has become: you get what you pay for. Ironically, the culpability for poor quality products has shifted to the consumer; and the producer is allowed to go scot-free, to continue producing more of the same inferior products that would be bought by other gullible consumers.

Perforated intestines

It took three American children suffering from perforated intestines after swallowing magnets that had fallen out of their play things for Mattel to move for a recall of some 18 million of their Chinese-made products worldwide – and for the appropriate US regulatory agencies to respond more forcefully.
Now, media is suddenly bringing to fore toothpastes contaminated with toxic chemicals, necklaces and toys for children that have high levels of lead, potentially unsafe vehicle tires, puffer fish passed off as monk fish, glassware that could without notice break and cause cuts, even pet food containing contaminated vegetable proteins that could lead to sickness and death in cats and dogs.
How long before the world will once again trust goods made in China depends on how resolute and transparent its government will be in resolving the problem. For sure though, America can expect fewer goods from China priced at such bargain rates. We are now starting to realize why many Chinese products are so cheap. They not only pay low wages to their workers, they also employ extensive and indiscriminate production cuts, often those that bring their standards to below-acceptable levels.

Dumping ground

While America tightens on the quality of its imports from China, the rest of the world can expect a flood of rejected goods to wash their way. For countries like the Philippines which have poor regulatory enforcement standards, there will always be doors opened to accept these substandard goods.

[oldblue]

made in china products seem to getting a lot of pressure these days. laman ng business & time magz, intl. cable news network sila ah.

in other news some 93 Panamanians died from a made in china cough syrup. and of course, the recall of Barbie dolls which also led to the suicide of a Chinese toy factory owner.

America convinced or (was it) "lured" them to switch from communism to capitalism almost a decade ago. China still hesitant but tried the idea. tapos lumaki kagad ulo hahaha.

if these negative news continue, then I will say ang galing talaga ng CIA/think tank ng America. sa dami ng factories ngaun sa China without the assurance of buying customers, yari sila ipit ang economy nila.

The Chinese should have researched what happened to the American Factories in early 1900's and their reputation in those times.

kasi pina-history repeat itself ng mga Americans sa mga Chinese hahaha. I wonder how can they recover now. delikado yan

[mikey177]

There are also those Chinese-made penlight batteries (yung kamukha ng Energizer, pero iba yung tatak) that get completely drained after only a few minutes of operation.

The Chinese should have researched what happened to the American Factories in early 1900's and their reputation in those times.

oldblue,

Absent yata ako nung tinuro ito sa school. What was the reputation of US factories in the early 1900s?

[oldblue]

back in those times, American products were considered inferior by the whole world or at least the Europeans siguro kasi sila naman ang parang puwede i-consider na first world noon.

[jonski]

Umpisa na economy war ng China and US. lapit na olympics.

[boybi]

One of the reasons for this trade war between the US and China is the latter's refusal to allow its currency to be dictated by market demands. Like Malaysia and HK, the renmenbi is pegged or have a fixed exchange rate against the US dollar.

The accusations of the US against the Chinese made products may or may not be true. Remember that Mattel, et al are giant US companies. They should take the blame for this since they were the ones who approved the productions of the products, they were the ones who should have looked into the source of the raw materials used for their products. The Chinese manufacturers may have used a different raw material to cut cost during production without informing the US Co., but being a big multinational company, don't they do a random quality control on their finished products before shipping it to their resellers?

[badkuk]

There are also those Chinese-made penlight batteries (yung kamukha ng Energizer, pero iba yung tatak) that get completely drained after only a few minutes of operation.

some even begin to rust/leak right in the package. not something you'd want your kids to be near at, or put in their mouths

[ineedmorehp]

Last night, UK/European community found out that fabrics used for clothing contains excessive formalin.

Btw, do you buy these brands: meque, jbc, kingsonic, pensonic, soao, tamashi, changchong, fukuda, prince, artech, matsuda, mitsuboshi, marubishi, akira, tcl, sonia, sunny, etc. etc.?

[jpdm]

Last night, UK/European community found out that fabrics used for clothing contains excessive formalin.

Btw, do you buy these brands: meque, jbc, kingsonic, pensonic, soao, tamashi, changchong, fukuda, prince, artech, matsuda, mitsuboshi, marubishi, akira, tcl, sonia, sunny, etc. etc.?

Sir, yung fukuda, marubishi at mitsuboshi local. Ang TCL, akira, kingsonic, sonia mga made in china. In fairness, ok ang marubishi at mitsuboshi medyo matibay kumpara sa mga chinese made. nasubukan ko na. TCL gawa na sa Pinas, ang manufacturer dito ay yung dating manufacturer ng local AIWA at Sony..ang Solid Group.

[gearhead]

Am sure everyone noticed how almost everything has a made in China equivalent. Or in fact most everything now is actually "Made in China".

What comes to mind is the perception of low-quality? Or is that no longer so? Because some of the toys I bought as gifts broke as they were being wrapped. Now of course they were cheap. And we Know China has also the super counterfeits.

Do we remember the time when "Made in Japan" was synonymous to inferior quality yet look at them now. Will China get to that level of quality?

In your opinion, would it be worth paying the cheaper price for a Chinese made good? Or are their items you would not scrimp on? Like safety equipment for example.

[Jun aka Pekto]

I have a lot of "Made In China" computers/peripherals:

1. Mac Mini - designed by Apple, assembled in China
2. All my DIY pc motherboards (Taiwan)
3. Both my Linksys wired and Belkin Wireless G routers
4. General Electric mouse
5. 2 HP All In One Printers (different models)
6. The tiny Micro Innovations wireless mouse on this laptop
7. The Lasko upright electric fan
8. The MS keyboard/optical mouse used with the Mini are designed by MS and assembled in China
9. The cheap, almost 5-year old < $5 digital watch I'm wearing.

That's just a quick glance around me. I'd say they're good except for the printers. I have not seen any inkjet printer last very long.

I think it's also safe to say China's got us by the balls.

[Jun aka Pekto]

Do we remember the time when "Made in Japan" was synonymous to inferior quality yet look at them now. Will China get to that level of quality?

In your opinion, would it be worth paying the cheaper price for a Chinese made good? Or are their items you would not scrimp on? Like safety equipment for example.

I'm not old enough to remember "Made In Japan" as inferior. But then, I don't automatically assume anything made in Japan is of superior quality. During two visits there, I noticed Japan has its own share of lemons. Of course, they never find their way outside of Japan.

China has the capacity to make top-notch goods. Just look at their brethen in Taiwan. It's in the design of the goods where they may lack. But, that will improve with time.

[jeffrocks]

No offense meant to my tsinoys kababayan there...but as much as possible
i tried to avoid purchasing things that are made in china.I valued my blood,sweat & tears hard earned money

[yebo]

safety equipment no. meron kami dito sa rig, 4 made in china lifeboats, designed in norway. may warranty claim kami sa 2. yung release pin na suppose to be stainless steel e nabali, and it is not stainless steel but plated lang. then yung fiberglass merong crack sa loob. and all the stainless steel parts were rusting.

pero pag yung mga gamit na throw away, or you expect it to last a short time only because it;s cheap, then sulit na din. lalo na if the need for it is for a short time din lang naman.

chinese r&d is mostly buy and copy.

[chua_riwap]

Eh yung Telecom equipment nila na Huawei? Ang dami nang kumukuha nito. Pinapalitan na yung mga big time players sa Telecom like Ericsson, Nortel, Siemens, etc. Kasi mura raw.

Dito sa Saudi, ang daming Intsik ngayon, andito sila para mag-install ng Huawei equipments.

[userfriendly]

safety equipment no. meron kami dito sa rig, 4 made in china lifeboats, designed in norway. may warranty claim kami sa 2. yung release pin na suppose to be stainless steel e nabali, and it is not stainless steel but plated lang. then yung fiberglass merong crack sa loob. and all the stainless steel parts were rusting.

pero pag yung mga gamit na throw away, or you expect it to last a short time only because it;s cheap, then sulit na din. lalo na if the need for it is for a short time din lang naman.

chinese r&d is mostly buy and copy.

R&D = research and duplicate

[6shooter]

safety equipment no. meron kami dito sa rig, 4 made in china lifeboats, designed in norway. may warranty claim kami sa 2. yung release pin na suppose to be stainless steel e nabali, and it is not stainless steel but plated lang. then yung fiberglass merong crack sa loob. and all the stainless steel parts were rusting.

pero pag yung mga gamit na throw away, or you expect it to last a short time only because it;s cheap, then sulit na din. lalo na if the need for it is for a short time din lang naman.

chinese r&d is mostly buy and copy.

Tinipid po ng mga gumagawa na intsik ang mga gamit sa life boats? Eh kung ganun po yun din ang tingin nila sa halaga ng buhay ng mga kumuha ng lifeboats kaya? mumurahin lang?

[v6dreamer]

No offense meant to my tsinoys kababayan there...but as much as possible
i tried to avoid purchasing things that are made in china.I valued my blood,sweat & tears hard earned money

Welcome to the endangered list of not buying product that made in China. But, I bought food that made by Chinese. Hey I'd like chinese food!

[Syuryuken]

Hey I'd like chinese food!

food lang ba???

etong pinakagusto kong gawa ng mga tsino :naughty2: