[bob p]

When dealing with an Asian contract manufacturer, you should expect that the product will be shoddy unless you stand over them with a baseball bat. You have to force them to eat their mistakes to convince them that it will cost them more to build things cheaply than to build things right in the first place. Production will be shoddy unless they're convinced that you're such a big customer that they will be dependent on you for years to come. You'll only get what you want if you convince them that you won't tolerate inferior products and that you'll make them eat anything that isn't right. You have to play hard ball with them or they won't build a quality product for you.

There's a good reason that some companies that sell Chinese-made products charge more for them than other companies that sell seemingly equivalent Chinese-made products. Its about implementing western standards for quality control. You can still buy quality if you're willing to pay for it. I wouldn't assume that everything that comes out of China is going to be of the same quality, just because its all "Chinese."

 

[56Mark]

bob p,
I think you hit the nail on the head! I have a brother that owns an import business selling mostly trinkets and souvenirs (anybody want trifive key chains or something? I can probably get them made for almost nothing). Even with the inexpensive items he is having produced, he has constant battles over quality issues. He says they just don't get it.

So, who is selling the good parts? I do need one of the small floor pan patch pieces and maybe rockers.

 

[Sweden]

Hi Bob it sounds like you are a very sceptical person.

Not to start a long discussion but many of those countrys had a very high and very well developed society when we were dressed in hides. :confused0006:

 

[MISURACO]

BOBP made some good points however he only aimed quality control at the overseas manufacturers. The american manufacturers of trifive parts need a bat over their head to get them to quality standards. I wouldnt be buying quality and affordable parts from Taiwan had the USA made parts been stamped correctly.

 

[Rick_L]

One ironic point is that if you sell something to the Chinese, they are the most exacting customers on the planet! If you sell them something, every box, every piece, must be accounted for and checked out in some way including the paperwork. Everything must work to their satisfaction (not yours). They will write these things into the purchase contract, and they won't pay you a dime until everything is perfect.

If they know you will treat them the same way, they will respond. It's part of their culture. Where we run into problems is when the people actually making the goods don't know the difference between good stuff and bad stuff. They don't even know what it is or why it is supposed to be a certain way, and they may not have the tools or knowledge to do it any different anyway. If the customer accepts it, then it must be ok.

 

[MikeB]

GOLDEN STAR is the Taiwan company.:tu

Guys, which vendors sell Golden Star products? And do they identify the parts as made by Golden Star? I need a pair of 55-56 hood hinges and know there are some bad ones out there.

This is a very informative thread.:tu Bob P. -- great stuff and right on the money.

 

[MISURACO]

MIKEB

RESTO-WORLD,TAMRAZ are a couple distributors of GOLDEN STAR products. I buy off of ebay. The way to tell the difference between the USA made parts and the TAIWAN made parts from a picture is that the USA made parts are not coated where as the Taiwan made parts are black EDP coated (Electro Deposit Primer)