On 12/16/2009 01:39 PM, David Nebenzahl wrote:

I'm finding more and more that "Made in China" really doesn't mean
anything about the quality of an item. Clearly, Chinese workers, as
underpaid as they may be, are quite capable of making anything as well
as anyone else in any other part of the world.

True.

However, going by various comments written by people in the industry,
there also seems to be a cultural impetus to try and push the lower
boundaries of the quality standards. So if a Chinese factory contracts
for a given level of quality there is a tendency for that level to drop
over time unless the company that hired them keeps on top of things.

I suspect this holds true to a certain extent in many places, but he
impression that I have gotten (from various places) is that this is
worse when dealing with Chinese manufacturers.

Chris