Date:         Sat, 24 Aug 2013 10:08:42 -0400
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Subject: German quality?
Comments: cc: Bill Monk <billmonk@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:  <B46054DF-6F4A-401D-9856-1E7A5D1A814D@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> To expand on this a bit and please don't take this as a negative comment
against
> busdepot as we have a long history. A customer of mine purchased some
Meyle
> components. On the box states made in Germany  and on the part stamped
made
> in china. Not implying the part is sub par but I will no longer install
Meyle or PEX
> parts unless the owner signs a release assuming all responsibility for
failures.


That is not limited to Meyle and PEX. I have seen it with Febi and numerous
other German brands as well.  Expect to see it more and more.  It is no
longer possible to avoid Chinese made parts, as increasingly they are the
only source for particular parts regardless of the name on the box.  That
being said, China's manufacturing industry is slowly improving as a whole
just as the Japanese one did fifty years prior. There are still large
variations in quality, and in quality control, from one to another, but it
is no longer fair or accurate to assume that all Chinese parts are junk. It
really does run the gamut. Also, as we note in
http://www.busdepot.com/details/quality/ , it can sometimes be safer to buy
a Chinese made part from a reputable brand than an off-brand Chinese made
part. The name brands have spent decades and millions of dollars building
their reputation in the marketplace, and are generally uninclined to risk
that brand equity just to save a few extra pennies on a part. So as a
general rule (not always) they tend to be more picky about who they
outsource to and/or may institute additional QC processes. 

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  www.busdepot.com
  (215)  234-VWVW

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