China Bashing
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Recently the news has been full of scary articles about recalls of products made in China. From toys for toddlers to dog food, the message is that China is so backward or corrupt that everything made there is suspect.
People who understand the world of cross-border manufacturing know that this news angle is rubbish. Matel, Fisher-Price and the other multinationals are responsible for providing detailed specs to manufacturing plants. The plants don't know the safety rules in the country the goods are shipped to; they might not even know where the goods are destined. The company that hires them is responsible for telling them exactly which paint to use - they can't just leave it up to the Chinese plant manager and hope he doesn't decide to use leaded paint. They can't just accept goods without testing. If they do, then it's their fault.
Maybe this is just another case of the media getting a story wrong. Coincidentally though, the US government seems obsessed with China as the only threat to American world supremacy. China is too strong, too robust economically, and too damn big. Whenever I hear a story that bashes China, I take a long breath and wonder who initiated it.
CHINA BASHING or BLESSING IN DISGUISE
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China's mindset =
Profits > Moral obligation and Social conscience
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I have to agree with you to cetain extent.
In many industry, different country use different standards, a product passing standard of country A, the same product can be rejected in another country. So being Safe or Dangerous, only depends on who set the standard.
And in the process of manufacturing the product, some of material used are appointed by the buyer side(They force you to get a particular material from a particular supplier appointed by them), they are actually indirectly involved in the production process too. Unless the manufacturere ignore instructions from buyers, then it's totally manufacturere's fault. If they follow buyer's instruction closely and things go wrong, it should be the buyer's fault.
And yes, QC or inspection ppl are to be blamed also. If these items are so bad, why they can bypass the checks and go to the retail market? Many buyers put in-house QC at manufacturer side, why they didn't reject it before exporting out of China??
Imagine somehow many ppl can smuggle drugs into Singapore, teens and many singaporean addicted to drugs, you may blame the country where the drugs are from. But you will also wonder what the hell the custom officer are doing, right??
Or let's say i manufacture one super bad quality, harmful to human, cause cancer medicine, and i manage to bring it to Singapore retail market, sell it legally in supermarket and pharmacies, who to blame?? Of cos i am the super evil bad guy who make this bad medicine in the first place. But your govt is not doing a good job if i manage to sell harmful things legally in the retail market. -
X2Originally posted by mochou:Imagine somehow many ppl can smuggle drugs into Singapore, teens and many singaporean addicted to drugs, you may blame the country where the drugs are from. But you will also wonder what the hell the custom officer are doing, right?? -
Why they know they are using illegal products to manufacture yet they keep quiet? This is breach of trust. How should foreign inspectors/governments be the one certifying their products in the first place? You might as well reject all the goods 'cos you have no guarantee over its manufacturing process or how it came by.
There might be different standards, but has anyone ever approved a cancer-causing product for consumer use? Is this the kind of standard, producing things that will kill people, that China follows? -
As i said, responsible importers will evalutate the factories before placing orders, put in house QC in factory side, will control their means of sourcing for materials by appointing fixed supplier and other ways to control the production process to protect their consumer.Originally posted by ^tamago^:Why they know they are using illegal products to manufacture yet they keep quiet? This is breach of trust. How should foreign inspectors/governments be the one certifying their products in the first place? You might as well reject all the goods 'cos you have no guarantee over its manufacturing process or how it came by.
There might be different standards, but has anyone ever approved a cancer-causing product for consumer use? Is this the kind of standard, producing things that will kill people, that China follows?
I didn't mean China manufacturer side no fault at all, they must be blamed for manufacturing harmful products. But in those case that the prodcuts has already been exported, or even being sold in retail market, the company who imported these products must be blamed too. Becuase they failed to(or they didn't even try to) protect their consumer. What TS said is, the media always put 100% fault to China manufacturer, and don't blame the importer at all. -
Doesn't that sound like shifting the blame?
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not really, but both the irresponsible manufacturer and the irresponsible importer must be blamed.Originally posted by ^tamago^:Doesn't that sound like shifting the blame?
They shouldn't put all blame to manufacturer side, and let the irresponsible importer get away with their fault.
edit: should change "shifting" to "sharing". ya, they should share the blame together as both are at fault. -
With so much of Bashing from International Medias, you can say China is experiencing Bashing Growth! -
It sounds exactly as this is a damage-control exercise to shift some blame away and bury things under the carpet.Originally posted by mochou:not really, but both the irresponsible manufacturer and the irresponsible importer must be blamed.
They shouldn't put all blame to manufacturer side, and let the irresponsible importer get away with their fault.
edit: should change "shifting" to "sharing". ya, they should share the blame together as both are at fault.
Irresponsible importer? What's next? Gullible consumers who don't check before they eat or wear? -
As i already said, it's not "shift". And i never said i want to bury the fault of manufacturer under the carpet. I dont know why i got this idea i am defending on manufacturer side. I said many time they have their fault, they have the biggest fault, but not 100%. Same as TS, i think it's not fair when the other parties involved can get away with their fault.Originally posted by ^tamago^:It sounds exactly as this is a damage-control exercise to shift some blame away and bury things under the carpet.
Irresponsible importer? What's next? Gullible consumers who don't check before they eat or wear?
What TS said is that the buyers/importer/organization responsible for checking safety issue, their fault are "buried under the carpet". Which is not fair. They have their fault too but media do not mention about them. They mention only the manufacturer, putting 100% fault to Chinese.
Yes, i stand my ground that they are irresponsible.
Remember Slim10 Case anyone?? Was the China manufacturer the only one blamed?? importer and SG distributor was blamed too. And they should be blamed becuase the whole supply chain from manufacturer to retailer, everyone are responsible for the product.
Being the importer of certain product, or you hold a brand of certain product, you should do your part in controling & assuring the quality & safety factor of the products too. If you don't do your part, you are irresponisble.
Imagine if Sony(just example, i dont hate Sony) don't do their part in controling safety issues for their home electronics, and someone got shocked to death. Who to blame? you blame the Malaysian factory who make the product? Or you blame Sony for not controlling the safety factors of their products? I believe both must be blamed, Not putting ALL blame to the Malaysian factory. -
Originally posted by ^tamago^:
When you buy a Toyota car or a Sony walkman, you are buying a Toyota/Sony product that should meet Toyota/Sony quality, even if they are made in China, understand?
Why they know they are using illegal products to manufacture yet they keep quiet? This is breach of trust. How should foreign inspectors/governments be the one certifying their products in the first place? You might as well reject all the goods 'cos you have no guarantee over its manufacturing process or how it came by.
Most Chinese manufacturers are merely OEMs for west corporations, the corporations who own the products are ultimately responsible for the product
's quality, and they should have their own QA process to root out defected products and unqualified manufacturers.
Even if China is to get her own standards and certify the products for Sony etc, Sony would NOT accept it, because they still have to make sure the product meets company standard.
If a company owns the brand name, then it's not a mere importer.
that's just common sense. -
let's just put it this way...
whatever we bash PRC with, it cannot do any more damage than PRC did to itself -
That should only mean no more China ticking time bombs for me. Why such problems does not exist when China didn't do the manufacturing, and why the locals still went ahead with the production when they know what is actually happening. Ignorance. The straw that broke the camel's back probably came when cost cutting had become more important than human lives. Are lives that cheap in China?
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While everybody has a part to play, manufacturers play an even bigger part. That's because they made the products.
Imagine themselves being exposed cancerous chemicals everyday and they still dare to produce it.
I don't know if that's logical or that is crazy. You, as part of the manufacturing team exposed yourself to health risks is your own problem, but the rest will not want to. -
i see it as a positive sign and a WIN from the global consumer. Look at it this way PRC probably produce an easy 60% of what we use on a daily basis. It range from food processing to day 2 day product that we used.
It is necessary to made awareness of the responsibilities of product safety. Essentially these rejected goods will flow to country which have less regulatory. Personnally i would say lets impose standard of product safety now than regret later.
At least nobody die from it, -
All the recent news about China's quality... is it...
CHINA BASHING or BLESSING IN DISGUISE -
They made things that are harmful
Things like lead paint
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How can it be BASHING when it is true? China never came out to say that it is false did it? That China supplier to Mattel killed himself and blamed his "good friend" but he certainly did not say that the allegations were false.
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This is rich, you are saying that Government standards are lower precedence to company standards? This is akin to saying that companies are above the law. You do realise that this is a ludicrous idea to make? Companies are BOUND by the LAW. Company standards DO NOT MATTER if they do not meet a country's standards.Originally posted by YaoRockets:When you buy a Toyota car or a Sony walkman, you are buying a Toyota/Sony product that should meet Toyota/Sony quality, even if they are made in China, understand?
Most Chinese manufacturers are merely OEMs for west corporations, the corporations who own the products are ultimately responsible for the product
's quality, and they should have their own QA process to root out defected products and unqualified manufacturers.
Even if China is to get her own standards and certify the products for Sony etc, Sony would NOT accept it, because they still have to make sure the product meets company standard.
If a company owns the brand name, then it's not a mere importer.
that's just common sense. -
They should have higher standards than public standards.Originally posted by Fingolfin_Noldor:This is rich, you are saying that Government standards are lower precedence to company standards? This is akin to saying that companies are above the law. You do realise that this is a ludicrous idea to make? Companies are BOUND by the LAW. Company standards DO NOT MATTER if they do not meet a country's standards. -
You do realise that many of the products themselves ended up for sale in the home country? Perhaps you would like to recall the incident in China where hundreds of infants died because of defective milk? The Chinese authorities themselves admit that they have very poor oversight over their factories which was why they did set up an agency to monitor the quality of food products. The end result was that the head of the agency recently got charged for corruption and given a summary execution or committed suicide. I forgot which happened.Originally posted by mochou:As i already said, it's not "shift". And i never said i want to bury the fault of manufacturer under the carpet. I dont know why i got this idea i am defending on manufacturer side. I said many time they have their fault, they have the biggest fault, but not 100%. Same as TS, i think it's not fair when the other parties involved can get away with their fault.
What TS said is that the buyers/importer/organization responsible for checking safety issue, their fault are "buried under the carpet". Which is not fair. They have their fault too but media do not mention about them. They mention only the manufacturer, putting 100% fault to Chinese.
Yes, i stand my ground that they are irresponsible.
Remember Slim10 Case anyone?? Was the China manufacturer the only one blamed?? importer and SG distributor was blamed too. And they should be blamed becuase the whole supply chain from manufacturer to retailer, everyone are responsible for the product.
Being the importer of certain product, or you hold a brand of certain product, you should do your part in controling & assuring the quality & safety factor of the products too. If you don't do your part, you are irresponisble.
Imagine if Sony(just example, i dont hate Sony) don't do their part in controling safety issues for their home electronics, and someone got shocked to death. Who to blame? you blame the Malaysian factory who make the product? Or you blame Sony for not controlling the safety factors of their products? I believe both must be blamed, Not putting ALL blame to the Malaysian factory. -
Whereas that is true for the most part, many countries like the EU and even here set base standard for safety for say electronic devices which are imposed on all electrical goods. Some of these standards are fairly high. Hence companies have to modify products by region to meet these standards.Originally posted by LazerLordz:They should have higher standards than public standards.
The EU especially, has strict laws governing consumer protection. -
government product standard is the MINIMUM, by default all products need to meet it in order to be put on open market in THAT country, otherwise it's illegal. So company standard is stricter or higher than the government standard, which is, again, the minimum.Originally posted by Fingolfin_Noldor:This is rich, you are saying that Government standards are lower precedence to company standards? This is akin to saying that companies are above the law. You do realise that this is a ludicrous idea to make? Companies are BOUND by the LAW. Company standards DO NOT MATTER if they do not meet a country's standards.
Major corporations like Mattel and Sony etc, have their own product standard, and reputation, which is expected to be way ABOVE what the government standard mandated .... get it?
Now, here's another piece of news to you:
Chinese government only certifies products that are to be sold inside China, and by most accounts, western corporations only produce their products in china only to be sold back in their home countries. That's how they get tax break from Chinese government.
No, China government doesn't certify their products if they aren't to be sold inside China, get it???
Companies with world famous brand names have their own reputation to maintain, they have to own QA process, and they would not and should not depend on Chinese government agency or any other government agency for their own quality control process.
Companies hires and fires manufactures all the times, depending on the quality and cost the manufactures can provide. Of course, the OEM manufactures share some blame for defected or dangerous product, but only the clueless would think OEMs should share the major portion of the blame.
when you buy a Toyota, you expect Toyota quality, regardless where it's produced. do you understand?