These were really good points. My company makes products here and we make them there. We have quality issues here and there, like any company would. But it’s OUR design and OUR processes that they employ. And even the wages are comparable, but not to union wages. The high cost/low quality goods that come from so many union shops are one of the main reasons U.S. companies lose, not just cheap labor.
Yes! More people need to understand that. China doesn't built crap just to build crap; they build crap when they're told to build crap. It's amazing how capitalistic this society is, and how communistic the US society has become...
In China, there's tremendous competition up-and-down the supplier chain. You get bad quality from one source? You go to the next. That hurts the first, rewards the second. You will get the quality you want, if it can be done for the price you want to pay...
Negotiations usually revolve around costs of QC and shipping and storage, rarely labor or raw materials. Higher QC costs more - more people, more equipment, more rejects. And it's often where companies cut corners.
I tell my clients I will design and source and QC exactly what you want; you want cheap junk? You'll get cheap junk. You want the best possible bar none? Then you get the best possible bar none. And anywhere in between. The client is always right, they get what they want.
And I tell all my clients there are three parts to any product: design, manufacturing, and QC. You have to "own" at least two to get the product you want. If you do not own two, then you will not get what you want - guaranteed.
Given the current economic and Governmental position in the US, it does not make fiscal sense to often do the manufacturing in the US. So own the engineering and the QC. If you do that, then you will get the product you want.
If you outsource QC or engineering, you're up the proverbial creek without a paddle...