Re: Totally disgusted with Leupold
I waited for a while to respond to SoCalPete's rebuttal to my post concerning Chinese manufacturing plants and their relationship to some of US and EU companies who are outsourcing (or attemting to outsource) their products from China, mostly because I was on vacation for a week but also because I wanted to see how things were shaking out on this thread.
First of all, let me elaborate about where my information is coming from. I do not have the chance to watch much TV, and have never even heard of the Discovery Channel program that SoCal Pete seems to think was the source of my information about B&W and their experiences with Chinese factories. Before retiring I was employed by a large importer/distributor of electronic gear (from the UK, Japan, Korea, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and the Czech Republic) with the emphasis on high-end audio equipment. The B&W story that I related came directly from Joe Atkins, Chairman of the Board of B&W, with his permission to repeat it, and not from some television program! The other information that I will relate in this post comes from other executives in the consumer electronics industry some of whom will be named, but only with their permission.
Joe Atkins (of B&W) mentions that aside from the quality control issues experienced when trying to utilize existing Chinese-owned factories security is also a major concern. "B&W did not want to disclose its proprietary manufacturing processes or its designs to an outside firm that very well may sell this information to a competitor, an unfortunately common practice when independant Chinese factories perform outsource work for foreign companies". Perhaps this could be the way that Chinese factories have been producing their cosmetically close Leupold knock-offs that eventually make their way to US consumers via marketplaces like E-Bay and gunshows? A rhetorical question, in case you didn't get it
The PrimaLuna brand of high-end tubed audio components, based in the Netherlands and founded by Herman van den Dungen paints a picture of its experiences with Chinese factories that is opposite of the rosy picture that comes from SoCalPete. From an article in a trade magazine - Van den Dungen says "A Western Company can't just turn over a schematic and a prototype to a Chinese factory and expect (satisfactory) results. Primaluna's high quality and soild reliability are achieved only by constant vigilance and a strict set of rules". Van den Dungen learned early that the factories he dealt with could try to substitue the specified parts and pocket the cost difference. Consequently, he developed processes that would assure his products quality. One technique that has been especially effective is the requirement that the factory shut down all other production, remove components for other products from the shop floor, and start fresh building only PrimaLuna products for the duration of the production run.In effect, the factory is temporarily turned into an exclusively PrimaLuna factory. Van den Dungen "inspects the factory as a production run is about to begin, as well as the components that will go into the products". He spends weeks at a time in China each time the factory makes a PrimaLuna run, and he "even owns a house near one of the factories". He "began a rigorous parts inspection, including X-raying parts" afier catching a factory trying to substitute counterfeit Solen capacitors, while another factory was caught sanding the labels off inferior semiconductor chips and silk-screning on the brand name and part number of the more expensive specified device. Finally, van den Dunger has "the entire operation set up so that (he) can easily move the production to another factory if (he's) not satisfied with the finished products". And that's not the only example -
One designer of sophisticated electronic power conditioners (who wishes to remain anonymous) says that his attempt to have his product made in China "was a disaster". He cites "poor workmanship, shoddy construction, high failure rates, parts substitution, and counterfeit components" as being prevalent in some Chinese factoriers. "The Chinese factories didn't (or didn't care to) understand the level of fit & finish and quality that US consumers demanded, or the need to strictly use only the specified parts".
Robert Harley, a reknown industry expert says "Many of the branded components commonly used in Chinese-made audio products are counterfeit. For example, it is estimated that there are more bogus Neutrik connectors than authentic ones in Chinese-made products. Tubes are frequently relabled by removing the original silk-screen and applying a new (more expensive, higher quality) brand name." Harley added "Western firms also face the possibility that the (Chinese) factory will secretly increase the sixe of the production run and sell the finished products - complete with the Western companies brand name on the faceplate - out the back door". Harley goes on to relate that "Even worse, a raw (speaker) cabinet manufacturer (in China) who was a supplier to a prestigious European loudspeaker brand produced additional cabinets on the sly, stuffed these extra cabinets with its own inferior drivers, then secretly sold throughout Asia under the European company's brand name". "Another threat is that the Chinese company will take the designs, many of which are the subject of US patents, and copy them in their own products." Sound familiar, US and EU optics manufacturers? Leupold, Aimpoint, and Trijicon come immediately to mind!
Why then do these US and EU companies put up with all of this? The answer is MONEY, of course! In this day and age, increasing the bottom line is the most important objective that some CEO's can accomplish, and damn the cost to the end consumer. In 2008, the average wage paid to the Chinese factory worker ran between 65-85 cants per hour. Combine this with the fact that many Chinese factories lack the worker and environmental safeguards we take for granted in the West and it becomes obvious why it's become very attractive to outsource labor to China.
So am I being a racist by repeating these well-known facts?
I don't give a fuck which race of people are the culprits. The facts have to come out in the end, no matter whose sensitive feelings may get hurt. None of us are perfect or superior to another but nobody gets a free ride either, just because they might percieve themselves as victims.
