They manufacture exactly what they're asked to manufacture by the buyer. If it's garbage that's what's been ordered.
Not so.
Some time back i was asked by my children what I wanted for Christmas. Mine being worn out, I asked for pair of good-quality pillows. The kids went to John Lewis and bought two pillows to spec: Goose & Duck, Down & Feather. They arrived, i unpacked them and put them on the bed.
The first one was excellent: soft, resilient, comfortable. The second was IMPOSSIBLE: no sooner did you put your head down than you felt something pricking into your ear, or your cheek. You'd move the pillow, turn it upside down, move your head - whatever. No good.
The two pillows looked identical; had identical EAN numbers. I finally got fed up and took them back to John Lewis, and sought out the Bedding Departmental Manager, to ask him what had happened.
His eyes rolled up into his forehead. "Oh no; it's the Chinese AGAIN ! We get this with them all the time. We put out a spec. for a new product. The Chinese bid is half anyone else's. We are suspicious; ask for a sample. It's excellent. We put in an initial 'trial order'; it's fine. We put in a full-size order; it's fine too."
"Some time around the third or fourth full order, EVERYTHING changes: it's rubbish. We throw it back at them, demand our money back, tell them we will never deal with them again. We have dozens of people permanently in China, checking up on factories, raw materials, manufacturing, packaging, despatch etc., to make sure that what gets down to the dock at Pudong IS what we ordered."
"In this case, I can guess what has happened: in place of 'Goose & Duck, Down & Feather', they have switched to 'Duck & Goose, Feather & Down'. So: less goose than duck; more spiny feathers, less soft down. That will have reduced their filling costs by more than half. And look at the covering: we specified "Lancashire Ticking" a world standard for a tightly-woven cotton that doesn't let anything poke through. They have substituted similar-LOOKING 'scrim' - with a more open weave that offers no protection."
"So when we put out our specification, the Chinese will have prepared two: one, to our exact spec.; the other, to a spec. that would allow them a profit margin at the low price they had bid. They "baited & switched" when they thought we were hooked on the product and the well-running logistics"
"We are increasingly moving our sourcing away from China and towards Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia or Bangla Desh".
I now buy a strict minimum of tools and supplies from China, and only on the basis that I can treat it like toilet-paper: Use once, then throw away.
