Crappy Chinese Workmanship Explained

[Ridge1]

I agree a few buck more to get to 60 percent quality of oem I would keep buying
I just notice today that the 038 I put together has gas leaking from the seam of bottom of tank

 

[hseII]

I was the Project Manager on a large greenfield project in Banting, Malaysia where I built a $550 million dollar plant. In the middle of a damn jungle. For 2.5 years. All the while eating fishheads and rice. We had sales offices and distribution networks in the Asian realm so I am well versed in the locale.

Until you work in that part of the world and are forced to deal with the ineptness of entire populations, you have no clue as to what real frustration is. As the company I was working for was German owned, I have firsthand experience working on similar projects in Europe and S. America as well as the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The engineers that initially started working for me on the project were locals from Malaysia, Pakistan, India, China, etc. These cats wouldn't hold a candle to an engineer from US, Canada, or Europe. Inept to the core. No concept of forethought and sequential planning, advanced mechanical and electrical engineering concepts, I could go on and on.

The local welders, electricians, pipefitters, concrete workers, iron workers, etc were the most useless bunch of skilled trades personnel I've worked around.

Before I made it across the finish line, I had to bring in engineers from some of our European sites, millwrights/welders/electricians from US and EU, and hire global expats to manage the day-to-day manufacturing operation of the plant. The locals couldn't hack it. And every single company that has manufacturing in that part of the world has done the exact same thing. Expats from US, EU, and AUS are running and managing the production plants.

After the plant was built and a local management team was hired to run the operation, I was sent back a few more time to solve problems that were self inflicted. They have no concept of "fix it right", using the correct parts, insuring quality of rebuilds and repairs, or spare parts procurement and planning. I never say never, but it will be a cold day in hell before I end up on that side of the globe again.

You know that part in the movie Lone Survivor where Marcus ends up in the village? He is in that hut an asks the little boy to bring him a knife and the boy brings him a duck. Marcus says "that's not a knife, that's a f'ing duck, I need a knife".

That is Malaysia, Chine, Singapore, Indonesia all rolled up in one. It's not that they're stupid, far from it actually. They just don't have the industrialized background that we do. They are not grounded in quality equipment and having parts houses on every corner. They don't have cars, zero turn mowers, or complex machinery. They have a motorbike and live in a structure that our transients would turn their nose up at. So when their stuff breaks, they make it work, any way they know how. And they carry that mindset right into industry.

I once watched a fellow flip what we call a light switch off, remove the suction piping from a pump, pull a what looked like a 2” x 4” out of the suction of said pump, & lace coupling back together, (that had 2 of the 6 holes broken out), with a random piece of what looked like Vee Belt. The belt was on a roll.

He then put the piping back together & flipped the switch back on, radioing to someone to turn it back on.

They did & they were back in business.

1000km due north of your Northern Malaysian boarder.




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[hseII]

Here’s something I just don’t understand.
You’d think they’d make ‘the product’ whatever the product might be, with at least good enough components and quality control, so that it would at least be functional when new out of the box.

For example: the carburetor I spoke of in my first post.
After seeing that the second one was also a piece of crap just like the first one, I did remove the bowl, just to try and see why it was so screwed up and flooding so badly.

Not only was the float plastic, which itself might be okay, but the entire float assembly was plastic, including the ‘tang’ that is normally metal and ‘bendable’ in most carbs in order to properly adjust the float shut off needle.

Now, due to that reason, I will never purchase another one of those Chinese carburetors.
2 pieces of garbage in a row did it for me. I’m done right.

But if they would’ve simply added another 10 bucks to the production cost, easily fixing that sub par float assembly, and even if they’d then added an additional 5 bucks to the final price on top of that, no big deal.

With that fix .... instead of the carb costing 29 bucks for a piece of trash, that most customers would never purchase again and would never reccomend to a friend etc.,
We’re now up to 44 bucks for a properly functioning carb, which is still probably 75 bucks cheaper than the oem carb, so most customers ARE still gonna buy it in a heart beat.

Seems they’d gain a much better reputation and actually make more money in the long run if they’d just spend a few bucks more to at least make a product of medium quality, that actually works .... rather than the extremely cheap product, that’s total garbage.

There are some products they do make in that ‘medium quality’ category ...... products I often refer to as being ‘a Higher Grade of Chinese junk’.
Not top notch by any means, but still very decent quality and functional.

I had zero luck on finding that ‘medium quality’ in a carb.

You are thinking like a Westerner.



That Carb probably cost them $1 to make & ship over here: think how many 1000 would fit in a tote.

If you complain & send it back, they send you another.

Think of the other 3,900 people that bought a carb from that same tote that don’t don’t complain.


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[hseII]

I agree a few buck more to get to 60 percent quality of oem I would keep buying
I just notice today that the 038 I put together has gas leaking from the seam of bottom of tank

See above


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[Philbert]

. . .They did & they were back in business. . . .

In other situations, we celebrate those people who 'get sh*t done', and who are not overly constrained by 'unnecessary details'.
Some primary customers (the importers, not necessarily the end users) also celebrate how cheaply some vendors can make stuff, which gets sold on eBay, at places like Harbor Freight, etc. Price first.
Companies like STIHL, Husqvarna, Oregon, etc., all manufacture stuff in China, and other low wage counties, but we trust them to maintain the quality control better than some 'no brand' seller, and to stand behind their stuff better.

I reject that the crappy quality of some stuff that comes from there is due to ethnicity, geography, or even culture; it is fulfilling a demand.

Philbert

 

[hseII]

In other situations, we celebrate those people who 'get sh*t done', and who are not overly constrained by 'unnecessary details'.

Some primary customers (the importers, not necessarily the end users) also celebrate how cheaply some vendors can make stuff, which gets sold on eBay, at places like Harbor Freight, etc. Price first.
Companies like STIHL, Husqvarna, Oregon, etc., all manufacture stuff in China, and other low wage counties, but we trust them to maintain the quality control better than some 'no brand' seller, and to stand behind their stuff better.

I reject that the crappy quality of some stuff that comes from there is due to ethnicity, geography, or even culture; it is fulfilling a demand.

Philbert

All Very True.

If we stopped buying it, they would address the issues.



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[Philbert]

If we stopped buying it, they would address the issues.

Big world; somebody might still buy it, but it would not be our problem.

Philbert

 

[Bedford T]

If you complain & send it back, they send you another.
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No, often they say it will work, use it



http://thechainsawkitguy.com
https://www.youtube.com/the1chainsawguy

 

[2dogs]

You guys have never worked with rednecks doing ranch work like fencing. Especially after a few wakeup beers. There is no worse quality than redneck quality.

 

[LoveStihlQuality]

I have to admit the more I mess with these saws the more I find myself trying to buy OEM. The Chinese stuff works when the budget is tight but I feel a little slimy every time I log into my Huztl account.

You should feel even more slimy that you even have a Hutzl account.

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[a. palmer jr.]

Apparently not everyone agrees about the Chinese stuff. Huztl seems to be selling lots of parts and saw kits..

 

[Jasonrkba]

"You should feel even more slimy that you even have a Hutzl account."

Sometimes I buy what I can afford as opposed to what I would like.

 

[Remle]

Sometimes I enjoy gambling on a bargain. Chinese quality is hit or miss. Sometimes they produce reasonable products at a bargain price and sometimes they make pure junk and oftentimes you can rebuild a sketchy Chinese product into a pretty decent one.

 

[cuinrearview]

Fascinating...

 

[Little Al]

I had a conversation with an engineer for a company that manufactures both in the US and China. We discussed how very high quality (think Apple, Samsung, etc.) products can be produced in China. He stated that in a factory which they control, they can maintain high levels of quality, while taking advantage of the cheaper labor rates and lower production costs. However, if they contract the work to a low bidder, or ask someone to make it 'as cheaply as possible', that't what they get: someone cutting corners at every opportunity, and a low quality product.

Philbert

With Quality control &end product price comparable to first world products not many folk would be able to tell the difference If you want 12 items for a € & the "Normal price is 4 € each then you will get an inferior product I think one of the differences is possibly the pride in workmanship/quality were the div one countries tend to have pride in what they produce the Chinese tend to more of the So long as I get my money it's not my problem if you want cheap /junk

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Sometimes I enjoy gambling on a bargain. Chinese quality is hit or miss. Sometimes they produce reasonable products at a bargain price and sometimes they make pure junk and oftentimes you can rebuild a sketchy Chinese product into a pretty decent one.

If you know what you're doing you can almost always turn a used OEM saw into a decent one...

 

[grizz55chev]

Fascinating...

 

[Marco]

Italian engineering leaves a little to be desired at times. Spend 3 hours at the New Holland dealer going through variante codes to get the parts looked up to get a TL100 tractor back together because of a sheared roll pin on the forward/reverse fork.

 

[BangBang77]

I once watched a fellow flip what we call a light switch off, remove the suction piping from a pump, pull a what looked like a 2” x 4” out of the suction of said pump, & lace coupling back together, (that had 2 of the 6 holes broken out), with a random piece of what looked like Vee Belt. The belt was on a roll.

He then put the piping back together & flipped the switch back on, radioing to someone to turn it back on.

They did & they were back in business.

1000km due north of your Northern Malaysian boarder.




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Yep, seen similar stuff as well.

In the jungle...

We had a 500t overhead crane with an onboard media handling system, which required quite a bit more electrical circuitry and controls due to various functions. The product made at this facility is conductive, which created a high failure rate of electrical components. Did I mention in my previous post about the electricians in this part of the world?

So, when they had a components fail, they would jump around the failure. Limit switch, prox switch, thermocouple, transducer, didn't matter to them. Jump the ***** out.

Had some electricl tracking that took out some power supplys out. Their solution? Drop S.O. cord from the crane bridge and plug them into receptacles along the crane bay walls. When I asked the electrical foreman why, his answer - "if we repair the power supplys, they will just fail again. No need. Crane can run with cords."

**** you not gents.

On another note, I was wrapping Christmas presents last night with my wife. I was tasked with the Hot Wheels for the grandsons. Happened to be reading the base of one of the cars. Made in Malaysia. Hmmmm. I am surprised they are competent enough to handle even a Hot Wheels car.

Regarding China? Yes, they have the ability to make solid products if so desired, but they are selling to a particular price point and know they can screw the westerner by selling at said price point. It's not so much their business mindset that drives this, but rather their geo-political long term strategy of global dominance. Yes, their economy is almost bankrupt as a result of their business model, but they are playing chess, while us westerners are playing checkers. In less than 10 years they went from the largest importer of steel to the largest exporter, surpassing all western nations combined. They ain't dumb. They understand western greed and know most folks in our neck of the woods don't buy for quality but rather for quantity.

 

[Remle]

If you know what you're doing you can almost always turn a used OEM saw into a decent one...

My 066 cost me $350 and came with a worn, but not totally shot 32” bar and about a dozen chains in various states of wear. I probably spent about another $60 on it replacing parts. This was a well worn saw, but it has around 160 cylinder pressure if I remember right. Also, it was a darn good deal and I had to spend a few months checking craigslist regularly to find it.

The G660 was $246 shipped to my door, powerhead only, on their Black Friday sale. I’m inclined to think I got a good deal on it too, but time will tell on that one.

A new MS661 would cost 4 times that before taxes, and taxes are another 10%. If I were a logger or arborist then that would make sense, but I’m just a guy that heats with wood and likes saws.