Quality problems are common with new manufacturing capabilties.
In the 1970's, the US TV makers had terrible quality.
Motorola in its production line near Chicago had to rework every TV coming down the line, testing until they seemed OK. They sold out to Japanese, and in SAME plant with SAME workers, new owners eliminated the rework and after a few years, TV's made by Japanese companies were not even turned on until the final customer got them. Any bad ones (very few) they replaced. That new quality level was Six Sigma and is now days Seven Sigma.
That compares with 2 sigma level at old Motorola plant. That was one of the reasons that Motorola Mgmt kicked off the reach reach-out quality goal of 6 sigma capability, a huge success. But even that ran out of steam without parallel efforts in cycle time reduction, and eventual globalization of supply chain.
China, like Korea before them, and Japan before them, will improve quality. They just have to focus on building in the quality instead of only testing it in. The trick is to pass on some benefits to the workers, so you have customers! But also innovate new products with new knowledge of "design for manufacturability, reliabilty and performance" as they move along the learning curve. It will happen.
@MClayton200, I totally agree with you opinion. Democracy is never a problem. For that matter even USA is democratic country. Its the attitude and willingness of the people that matters. Things are changing in India slowly but steadily. People are forcing the government to implement tougher anti-corruption laws. Supreme court is sending senior ministers to Jail. I am sure system cleaning up will take some time. Lets hope by next decade we will see new resurgent India.
To prabhakar_deosthali: Re: The "India lagging" comment, my personal feeling is that this is due to the agricultural and service base in India, with almost no manufacturing compared to China. All great countries used their manufacturing strength to teach discipline in productivity growth, and train several generations of hard working people while creating a middle class (see Economist debate this week online over these issues). I also see that India has finally decided it needs some manufacturing. Russia found out that it could not really support manufacturing without capitalist-style competition, learning cycles, and now they are on a roll. So the combination of capitalist competitiveness and hardware as well as service products could drive India to eliminate corruption and stabilize the infrastructure needed for manufacturing AND high tech services. Similarly, all great countries used protective tariffs to get rich, protecting their manufacturing base as long as they could. But now they do not allow emergy nations to do at they did long ago, and ban protectionism. Sorry, but that is part of the process. And China knows this, just as Japan knew it. India has wasted too many years on islands of services as only source of GDP...in my opinion. And China, like Russia, is learning that competition works. And a free global press will help them migrate to more democratic processes, while it suggests to India how to get more competitive in manufacturing.
Democracy is not the problem in India. It is corruption and too many Western advisors tell them that they can build a nation on services alone, just as their earlier Russian advisors mis-quided them, and like the British divided them and kept them "in their place." They must get beyond all that bad advice, and modernize the infrastructure, stop agonizing over Pakistan and China, and move on. Just my opinion.
Even though we are talking about how China is growing... the other important matter is how Japan is recovering. I think right now is a time when Japan and China can really shake hands.
A huge portion of Japan's politcians and population who stayed back from shaking hands with China can now come forward. They are still recovering from the major natural disaster they had three months ago and collaboration with China will be a great help. On the other side this will also help China build a good image in front of its own people and rest of the world.
Back in the late 19080s, I took a class taught by aneconomics professor who was convinced Japan would take over the US. There was no way to foresee the events that made that prevented his prediction from being realized. There are so many factors involved ina global economy that it is impossible to make such prediction with any real certainty.
China has become the economical super power of Asia today. With a very stable political system ( communism it may be) it is able to focus on long term growth and economical prosperity. With its huge labor force which is willing to put in hard work day in and day out is the real power of China . In the last decade this long term stability and vision has also made China a leading nation even in Sports - Olympics and Tennis where earlier you could hardly see china's participation.
Compare this with the politically not very stable democratic system of India, which is lagging much behind China and other Asian nations like Korea and Taiwan. Democracy is giving the freddom of expression to every one alright. But many times it has been counterproductive when working on long term goals for a nation.
China's growth and moving up the rankings was bound to happen sometime. Like we've said in previous articles, it's just a matter of time before China overtakes the U.S. Hopefully the M&A's of the companies will help create a better more affordable product.
I am hoping Japanese quality and Chinese price come together. I have seen that Lenovo has already released low priced laptops in the market compared to their older $1000 laptops. Is this a result of Chin-Japan tie up! Let us wait for reasonably priced quality products in the market.
I believe it is inevitable that China will grow in economic strength by first forging links with external companies and then going it alone to dominate key markets. One interesting question relates to what will happen when the Chinese labor force awakens to the realization that they should expect the same standard of living and work environment as the more developed nations. How then will this affect Chinese productivity and global competitiveness? I do believe the Chinese people are very entrepreneureal and eager to succeed so this will serve them well in future.
EBN Dialogue enables and encourages you to participate in live chats with notable leaders and luminaries. Not only editors and journalists, but the entire EBN community is able to comment and ask questions. Listed below are upcoming and archived chats.
Archived Dialogues
Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Euro-Crisis: What It Means for High-Tech Firms Join EBN Editor in Chief Bolaji Ojo and Contributing Editor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday, July 12, at 10:00 a.m. EDT for a Live Chat on high-tech and Europe's economic difficulties.
Microsoft Surface: Potential Winners & Losers What are the implications for the electronics industry supply chain of Microsoft Corp.'s decision to launch its own tablet PC? Join industry veteran and EE Times' systems and OEM expert Rick Merritt on Tuesday, July 3, at 12:00 pm EDT for a Live Chat on this subject.
Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.
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