A lot of people make the argument that you can’t go wrong buying a tool made in USA, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, etc. They swear that any Chinese tool will be garbage and it’s not worth purchasing them. Now, any discerning mind will say, “Wait a minute, why? China has a huge economy, experienced people, and the ability to use all the scary chemicals that make the best steel. Why would their tools be any better or worse than ours?” It’s a very valid argument. There are lots of Chinese tools that are the best in the world. Most of what we see in our stores are not. So what is the difference. Why does a country who can make the best tools not make the best tools? Surely it isn’t purely cost cutting. Is it cultural? The opinion I wish to put forth is that it’s a matter of design intent communication.
I’ve worked as an engineer in industry. The one common thread between a quality product and a bad product has always been this, ”Is the person who designed the product involved in making the product?” If the person or peoples who imbued the design intent into the original product are actively involved in and working towards the execution of that product, that product has a vastly greater chance of being good. Or in other words: outsourcing doesn’t produce a bad product because the new people making the product don’t care. It makes a bad product because the people who understand the intent behind the product are separated from its execution.
Let’s take the Crescent wrench as an example. Crescent wrenches used to be made in USA. In the past few years they have begun to make them in China. We can spot many visual differences right away. The new Crescent wrench has a different shape, the logo has changed and the stamping for the logo is dodgy, and worse, the tool just doesn’t operate as well as it used to. The jaws aren’t as hard and they wiggle more. What happened? How could Crescent mess up their flagship so badly. Surely they intended just to cut costs, not to reduce quality. This isn’t shameful in itself
What happened to the Crescent wrench is easily explained by anyone who has seen a product from design to execution before. A factory in the USA set out to make a good adjustable wrench. Hundreds of engineers and employees worked in a building to make a good wrench. When their machines didn’t work, they came up with solutions. When their quality was lacking, they implemented better processes. They had a list of trusted suppliers. They could guarantee that the materials that came in would be imbued with their vision and intent when the product came out. The intent and will of all those people built up in one place over time.
When Crescent changed manufacturers we can easily predict the mistakes made. “Hey, since we’re switching suppliers lets change up the design a bit, it’s stale.” So they hired a designer. “Hey, the logo is old, let’s put in a new one.” So they made another small change. “Oh, the supplier got back to us and said new forge tooling would be a couple million dollars, but if we modified one of the shapes they have in stock we can save half that!” Good job Jenkins, you did the company well. Small changes and negotiations like this lose sight of the design intent that the wrench started with. These mistakes are usually not evil, they’re just lacking in a philosophical understanding of the product and what went into it all these years. They lose all that combined will and intent by mistake and innocent neglect.
I would like to point out that the same thing could happen to a product that is simply around too long. Many of Starret’s top-of-the-line dial calipers now use a plastic dial ring instead of a metal one. It’s weaker and worse, and while it has no real impact on the instrument’s ability to measure, it feels worse in the hand. This is an example of a company not communicating its intent to itself over time. Shifting the goals for a product because they weren’t explained properly. I doubt anyone over there set out to make a worse product, they just saw a good way to save money. Losing the value for the things that made the product great.
It’s sort of like that one broken window. An abandoned neighborhood and factory will stay unmolested for years until the first window is broken. The rest soon follow and the place falls into disarray.
So, using this knowledge can you learn anything about a product’s quality just by reading it’s description? Well, mostly yes. I’m sorry that I can’t make this more scientific for you, but some of it revolves around developing a good intuition. Seeing how much of a product’s design intent made it into the product description is a good way. Apple is great at this. Apple talks about the materials, the circuitry, the processes, and the design intent of every product they make. It shows in the final product. No one can argue that apple’s products aren’t beautiful. That they aren’t wonderfully made. Whether or not the OS is good or whether it’s “the best.” — maybe. Now if you look at a competitor’s product, say a cheap HiQ from Shenzhen. You read about what the product can do, what it’s price is, but not its intent.
You can do this with screwdrivers too. Let’s compare Harbor Freight and Snap-On. Two tool makers in wildly different classes of quality.
You can see the company’s pride in their product. Pittsburgh says “It’s a screw driver made of the regular stuff that’s cheap.” That’s their design intent. Nothing wrong with that, but the intent was price not screw turning. Snap-On, however, says “This is why we did the things we did, this is what makes ours the best” Their intent was a device that turns screws. You can get a sense for the intent everyone shares for making a good screw driver, and it shows in their product.
I’d like to close by pointing out Chinese companies that do make some nice stuff. All those Harbor Freight, Princess Auto, etc milling machines for sale are actually knock-offs of a Chinese company called Rong Fu. Their mills are pretty dang good because the company’s design intent is close to its production. Likewise they have the higher price to match. Although I’ve heard, somewhat ironically, that Rong Fu outsourced their castings from the original Taiwan shop and moved to mainland China, seeing a quality drop along the way. I should also mention the venerable Rigol, whose oscilloscopes we all know and love. They have their own slew of knock-offs made in their own country, but no one can argue that their scopes aren’t wonderful. Lastly I’d like to mention a US company that outsources successfully: SawStop. While their machines are made in Taiwan, they specifically set up shop there and went through the trouble of installing engineers, managers, etc. on site to make sure the design intent of the product comes though.
So next time you buy a tool. Check where it was made and ask yourself. Are the people who understand this tool’s intent involved in the making of the tool. It’s not about their facilities. Someone who never 3d prints can’t make a good printer. A company that makes measuring tapes, but has no one who uses measuring tapes employed isn’t going to make a good product. They are only going to be good at the process of making measuring tapes. The more steps a company can bring under the control of those with the intent the better a product will be. Is their pride mentioned in the packaging? Can I tell from the precision that it’s made with? Can I compare it to something lesser and something more? This is the best way to increase your chances of a good buy. Intent is what makes a good product, not a country, everything else is just melted rocks and dinosaurs that came along for the ride.
Blindly disparaging any brand or category of products in favor of a select few fetishized brand names (ESPECIALLY if it’s “export” stuff against “good ol’ home made”) is just about the fastest way you can get me to not take you seriously about anything. If you have (repeated) specific negative experience with a particular product, or large statistical failure rate in a category of products then sure, fair enough; that stuff is inferior, thanks for letting me know. But when you are uncomfortable installing an “export” industrial faucet sight-unseen, simply because it isn’t Made-In-YouKnowWhere, you kinda lose all credibility in my eyes – you’re just a prejudiced bigot. It’s a faucet, FFS!!! Did you install it? Did it open? Did it close and shut off the coolant? It did? Well then it’s as good as any faucet can ever hope to be, idiot…! Unless it starts dripping in a week or something it’s perfectly fine, but you’d never admit that now, would you…
Buying products made in USA — in and of itself — never qualified anyone as a “prejudiced bigot.” But then, most people these days really don’t understand what those words mean. Also, if your test of whether a faucet is of sufficient quality is whether it fails in the first week, well, there’s a much bigger problem than sourcing or the COO. But do carry on… in ignorance.
I see a lot of people blaming all sorts of factors here – outsourcing, cultural differences, management, companies being too greedy, the illuminati, etc. etc. but no-one is blaming themselves and we all should be.
The reason stuff isn’t better quality is that people WILL buy the cheap shit over the quality shit most of the time. Sure there’s some companies able to sell their reputation, quality, and service (a major factor for something like test gear used professionally) to those who really do care, either because of professional interest (Snap On, Tektronix etc.) or fashion and marketing (yes, I’m going to say Apple – their stuff is OK but not as great as their marketing wants you to believe).
So, why do we do it? Why do we buy this shit? Because we’re mostly too dumb to work out when something is good or shit and the marketing department have worked out that they can write meaningless bullshit like “Heavy Duty” or “Professional Quality” on a heap of shit tool and Joe public will still buy it – and that no-one has the time or resources to measure how shit their stuff is in any meaningful way that won’t end in a lawsuit.
And most of the time, for most Joes, the shit chinese screwdriver will be fine for assembling their one Ikea book case that one time.
Those rare people who have serious shit to get done – mechanics, builders, engineers, etc. have enough knowledge and do enough stuff to know when it’s worth paying $100 for a Snap On screwdriver over a $1 no-brand one, or they’ll find out pretty quickly that it’s not worth fucking up a $10000 job for a $99 saving.
Of course, even the good ones aren’t immune to a bit of cost-cutting to try and make up for the loss of business incurred by 90% of the population buying the $1 screwdriver that was never an option before.
So what can us idiots do? Mostly – stop buying crap, return broken crap, send the message to the suppliers that you’d like something a bit better and are willing to pay an extra buck to get it. If you buy a badly made crescent wrench, take that fucker back to the supplier, tell them it’s shit, ask to buy a better made one or take your business to someone who’ll sell you a decent one. It’s a brave supplier who’ll tell you to piss off and refuse a refund. Word will soon get back up the chain that the customer does not appreciate this cost-reduced shit.
I’m hoping that the resurgence of hacking, kids making stuff, seeing how stuff’s made and how it can be made better, will create a more savvy generation who will not put up with this shit.
It isn’t just physical tool manufacturers that suffer from this malady. Software often sucks because the people who write it have little or no experience in doing the job for which it is intended, and then we all have to adapt to the tool, rather than the other way round.
You say good things are made in China but in both examples you cited, the items were made in Taiwan. Taiwan != China. I can’t remember buying anything bad from Taiwan. Likewise I can’t remember buying anything particularly great from China – usable, yes.
I do, however, think you’re right; unless the designer is standing over the production team, all the production team will care about is keep their costs down whilst keeping within the spec.
Oh, I just thought of something good and Chinese: Tiko 3D Printer. …but if you read their kickstarter page, you’ll see the problems they had getting the intended quality.
This article is completly biased. The author uses Apple as a good example but seems to forget how that company was shunned for the suicides provoked for a high demand of production in one of their outsourced factories in China, Foxconn. If you want to write an article that criticizes lame production then you should question the economic system, not your market competitors. You romanticize products simply to keep their market value high. Sure a screwdriver grip quality is relevant, but why the hell do your pride on your screwdriver grip is relevant? Maybe because you’re afraid to dehumanize your workers like much of the chinese work is dehumanized?
There’s no free lunch, you get what you pay for. One thing I see in this country is waste. I’ve gone to Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc. and have seen perfectly usable tools just sitting there. I’d rather have an old dependable tool, than something that will break the first time you use it. Gone are the days when kids went into the same trades their parents went into, and those parents went into the trade THEIR parents went into. Gone also is the self satisfaction of a job well done. There’s also the mindset of, so what?. So what if the two screws aren’t EXACTLY built to specs, we can maximize profit by selling two cheaply made screws than taking the time (and money) to make two quality screws. Americans and most of the world in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s lived in a throwaway society. Why fix something when you can just go out and buy another one? Greed is a very big problem here in the USA. An example: 5 years ago, I was paying $900 for an apartment, 2 bed, 2 bath. That same apartment is now going for twice what I was paying even though the apartment is the same, except everything is 5 years older. I tend to keep stuff that works. I’ve found plenty of good tools and garden supplies at Goodwill. Sure they may need a little TLC, but as I said, we live in a throw-away society. Kids today don’t know the lessons learned by their grandparents during the Great Depression. It all boils down to supply and demand. You can get a cheap ohm meter that’ll break the first time you drop it, or you can get something quality. Look at all the cheap crap at the dollar store. Brands you’ve never heard of. Flood the market with crap, and that’s what people will buy. Yes, it’s true, you can sometimes find something cheaply made that will last a long time, but it seems to me, stuff that’s supposed to “last a lifetime” usually ends up in a landfill within a decade. We’re conditioned to buy new stuff. Granted, there are some things you shouldn’t buy used because of safety recalls, but when faced with a choice, most people will buy new believing a used product to be somehow inferior. I watched a program called “How It’s Made”. The show was about how railroad tracks were made. All the steel tools in every goodwill in the usa could make enough railroad tracks to circle the earth at least once. Grandfather taught me, treat a quality tool with care, and you’ll probably never have to buy another in your lifetime. In essence, that’s true, but back in his day, quality tools were made, whereas, today tools are made with planned obsolescence built right in. Why? So you can buy more of the same.
Interesting article…Three of my oft-repeated maxims come to mind:
1. “Buy cheap, get cheap” – If price of a product, or manufacturing and marketing it, is your main consideration, you overlook the concepts of quality, and more importantly, VALUE. Bean counters: I’m talking to you! Facts, figures and spreadsheets only tell you numbers, not the feeling of quality that can be discerned when a mechanic simply holds and uses a great wrench, or a guitarist picks up and plays a great guitar.
2. “Just because you know the business doesn’t mean you know the work”. Managers: I’m talking to you! Until you have DONE the work you’re demanding of your underlings, and seen and DONE what it takes to get those results you demand of them, you don’t know enough to BE a manager.
3. “Just because you’re educated doesn’t mean you know anything.” Managers and Bean Counters: Talking to both of you! Your educations and degrees often won’t teach you as much as maxim #2.
More than one American executive has told me that the Chinese are capable of making good stuff, but “you have to watch them like a hawk” because they will substitute cheaper materials and processes if you don’t. As one put it, “they view a signed contract as an opening position in a negotiation.”
No doubt cultural factors are at work here.
Why has nobody mentioned returning shitty tools whenever they break or the job is over? A friend and I had two acres of trees to clear so we went to Wal-Mart and each bought mid-range Chinese chainsaws. Every day we’d completely wear out at least one of them. Seven or eight chainsaws, two Wal-Marts, and a week later the job was done and both were returned — again nearly destroyed. We didn’t even abuse them. We used good chain oil and a proper fuel mixture. The OEM chains were so terrible (soft steel) we bought our own and had to switch between chainsaws as other parts failed. They were just terrible quality with many brittle and poorly-cast parts.
It would’ve been nice to have a quality chainsaw and a spare chain for $200.
Every TV in my house is a Funai product that has been recovered from the garbage of the same power supply failure. Another example of purposely-made garbage that happens to be from China. At least those can be upgraded to last a while.
Do you seriously think the Chinese are so ignorant of crescent wrenches they can’t make one? A far better example would be software, where it’s glaringly obvious that the people who write it don’t actually use it, except maybe test it a bit. How else explain that after 25+ years, you can’t easily generate a text list of your files in Windows? M$’s suggestion, I kid you not, is take a screen shot of the directory and paste it into your document. Because you’d never want to sort it or edit it. (You can do it in Command Mode, using old fashioned DOS commands).
Do you seriously think the Chinese are so unfamiliar with wrenches they don’t know how to make a crescent wrench? A better example would be software, where it’s often blindingly obvious that the people who write it don’t have a clue what it’s used for. How else explain that after 25+ years, you STILL can’t get a text listing of files in Windows? M$’s suggestion, I kid you not, is take a screen shot and paste it into your document. Because you’d never want to edit or sort it. (You can do it in Command Mode using old fashioned DOS commands).
The problem with “You get what you pay for” is that so often you DON’T. Pay $50 for a pair of shoes that might last two years. Okay, so I buy a quality pair for $200. Will they absolutely last me eight years? Why pay twice as much for “quality” if you only get 50% more?
Ad let me deliver a slap in the face. My respect for engineers gets a bit more tarnished every time I see one support some 9/11 conspiracy theory or Apollo landing hoax claim.
The Japanese ethic was to make something better. The Chinese ethic is to make something cheaper.
RE: Metric System
I grew up when the Imperial System was taught in School up until High School, I started driving in Miles and a few years after graduation Canada went to the Official Metric System. Note that the Imperial System (used everywhere in the World except in the United States) is different from the US Measures … an “ounce” is not an “ounce” unless you know which country it’s from. For example, US ounces are bigger, so 32 ounces (US Quart) is much closer to 40 ounces (Imperial Quart) than you would expect.
Canadians who went to school prior to about 1975 are familiar with both Imperial (Canada standard) and US (American standard) measurements, and it’s probably worth noting that women as well as men are “fluent” in the two systems, as recipes had to be determined or converted. If you bought a measuring device (a kitchen measuring cup, or a garage fuel container) in Canada prior to about 1975 it was always marked in both Imperial and US measures; for about 20 years after ’75 it would be triple marked Imperial, US, and Metric.
The Canadian kids today, on the other hand, have no idea what a mile or an ounce or an inch or a degree F is. They have only been taught SI (System International, essentially what Americans call “The Metric System”.
Going back to my experience, Road Signs were labeled in both (but rounded off) for a year, then the miles came down. However Metric was relatively easy for people my age, because we worked with it in all our (High School) Science classes.
Because of that, I can move from Imperial to US to Metric, in my head, with ease.
I read many posts here that refer to difficulty in converting Metric to (mostly) US Measures. Let me help.
First of all, you need to simply grasp that you don’t need precision. The systems have complex conversions (F to C involves adding and subtracting 32 plus multiplication or division … the eyes of 80% of the population glaze over and at that point, it really *is* over for all practical purposes). But these are not needed at all.
F to C … just double or halve it, and add or subtract 30. Much easier, and for pretty much all the conversions people use it for … about 90% of the time, outdoor temperatures, for example, it’s more than close enough.
10C to F … Multiply by 1.8 and add 32 … may as well forget it. (But the answer is 50F).
10C to F … double it and add 30 = 50F. What? Yes, it’s that easy. When you get to 40C the easy method gives you 110F; the actual conversion is 104F. So you are out a bit going that direction, but not enough to matter when all you want to know is “do I need a sweater or not?”
Same with length. 2.54 cm is 25.4mm is one inch. Why play with 0.04cm? Just make it 25. Now when I ask what is 127mm you can divide by 125 by 25 and get 5, or 5 inches. What is the exact value? 127mm = 5.0000000000054 inches.
Think of a meter as 3 feet plus 4 inches, or 3meters is 10 feet. What is 67m? How about 67 by 3 is 22, or 220 feet? Exact value? 219.82 feet.
A Kilometre is 0.62 miles, just go 0.6 as in 100 kmH is 60 MPH (actual value 62 MPH). Going the other way it’s 1.8x, so 100 MPH is 180 KmH. Actual value? 160.9344 KmH.
A Quart and a Litre are very close; think of them as the same. So a US Gallon is 4 litres (Actual value is 3.785411784L). You can get a little more exact if you want; think of a Litre as 9/10ths (or 90%, or 900 ml) of a US Gallon. Then your “in head” math gives 3.6 litres, a little closer. But good enough.
*****
So 25mm is an inch. 3 meters is 10 feet. Degrees F is double DegreesC plus 30. A kilometre is a sixth of a mile. A litre is 900 ml. Now you are good to go 90% of the time when all you need is a good idea of the value. If you need it tighter, use a conversion calculator on your phone or computer. Life is good.
*****
except…
A US fluid ounce is 29.5ml, whilst an imperial is 28.4…so far, yeah, a US fluid ounce is bigger.
but there are 16 US fluid ounces is a US pint and 20 imperial ounces in an imperial pint.
more to the point there is only 16.6 imperial fluid ounces in a US pint and 19.2 us fluid ounces in an imperial pint, far from “almost the same” there is almost 25% difference!
(of course, the pints can be substituted for quarts, there are still 2 pints to a quart, still 8 to a gallon, just the imperial/British gallon is bigger than the US one!)
>A kilometre is a sixth of a mile
no, as you said earlier it’s 1.6km = 1mile, a kilometer is much closer to 2/3rds, not 1/6th
>So a US Gallon is 4 litres
no, they aren’t your own example states that there is around 3/4 US pint difference!
your “easy conversions” have a huge margin of error in them!
for most people I think that it’s not that they are unwilling to work in non-metric values. (for example in Britain we still weigh ourselves in stones and pounds. recipes are still on grams pounds and fluid ounces…) the annoyance is that seemingly arbitrarily the US uses a smaller value. (shortscale rather than longscale)
There is a problem with this article. It assumes that intent means something to consumers. 9 times out of 10, it doesn’t if the price is extremely different.
Let’s say you are just an average joe and need a wrench for a minor household repair. You can get the wrench for a dollar at the dollar tree, or for 40 dollars at Lowes or Home depot. You are most likely going to buy the wrench from the dollar tree. It will probably hold together enough to complete your minor repair and even if it doesn’t you are only out a dollar. Even if it breaks you can buy the same wrench 28 more times before spending more than you would at the big box store. With that low of a price you could simply buy a new wrench before any repair or keep a few spares at home just in case one breaks. Even if you eventually say enough is enough and buy a proper wrench, you still bought the cheap one first, thus keeping demand up. That is the problem right there… if you can make a knock-off of reasonable quality for pennies on the dollar, you run the quality product out of business because not everyone buys a product to last or to use regularly. Most people, in fact, buy specialty items for one use scenarios.
Excellent article, and helpful for laymen making decisions in the store. Your blog in general is great. But PLEASE ditch the white-on-black layout. It’s well known that white on black is hard on the eyes to the point of being unreadable. This is bad enough on paper, but on a screen it is just offputting. It’s the internet counterpart of a badly made wrench.
I remember waaay back, working for the US subsidiary of a German company when they moved one of their master techs to our site. I will never forget the rage on his face upon inspecting the tool shop and finding an assortment of adjustable wrenches.He shouted “This. Is. Shit!” as he flung a particularly large one across the room.
The comments are wonderful! What a great post too! Social science fans will love this read!
I must say, things like intent and employee morale always get underestimated in all forms of business. I also need to know anyone has considered how startups play into intent? It seems they are almost a kind of anti-intent, or hollow intent? They begin with a great idea, then how execute it, followed by “I hope we have sold this idea and are done with it 2 years from now”. Now compare Apple to a startup? Pretend Steve Jobs left and never came back after 2-3 years? Why did he leave in this scenario? Because Apple was sold to IBM, or Amiga for example. Imagine now, that Apple’s beginning already knew it may be sold, that it hoped it could be sold in 2 years. What is the intent then? Where is the “heart” that steers the company? The one that refines new ideas, building upon old ones?
These are the things that worry me about startups, no matter what the industry.
I often use the products from Asia, the price of Chinese products are quite cheap but the quality is pretty bad. Japan or the USA is probably a better choice, they always respect the customers with the high quality and durable products.
well true overseas tools are crap ( i agree there crap ) but do have good WARRANTIES ( must keep the receipt ) has snap-on do and Cornwell tools there the best i agree American tool steel is thicker 4x more than overseas tools but with their price set of tool’s like for example lowes $ 200 and homdepot $ 350 432 of tools now go with snap ons tools that be 10 thousand US dollars worth of tools yes good quality … but u or any one gotta pay the price for it P.S some snap ons tools some of them new one’s doesn’t say USA any more like Craftman tools made in China now ( so wondering snap-on”s tools made overseas because doesn’t say USA on the new tools ? )
Interesting article, but I think you overlooked something when you discussed the Crescent Wrench…
Many times when a US company “shifts” production overseas they really do not shift production machinery or re-engineer anything. They simply find a manufacturer in China with an existing product line (possibly even a clone on occasion) and then purchase whatever they make with the US Company name affixed. The “Crescent Wrench” made in China was probably in no way designed in the US….
Chinese Designers and Engineers seem to have a fixation with making everything look in some part like a Spaceship in a Sci-Fi movie.
I have used many tools from wrenches to socket sets in the last 40 plus years and I have to say USA made tools are still the best! China made tools are junk as far as my experiences with them. I have broke those China made wrenches, sockets and pipe wrenches so I will not waste any of my money buying them anymore. If you want good USA tools buy Snap-On, Rigid, Diamond, S-K, Channel-Lock, Allen, Wilde , Greenlee or older Craftsman. THEY WILL LAST A LIFETIME. Keep AMERICANS working and building our economy. Remember everything you purchase either helps us or hurts us. Buy American made products including appliances, cars, furniture, food, etc. Most good Americans buy GM, Ford or Chrysler cars and pickups. The others will buy Kias, Toyotas, Hondas, Nissans, Subarus and Hyundais. I have worked in the HVAC/R field for over 40 years using many different tools including power tools and most of those now are made in China.