Doug Freyburger wrote:
>
> Dan Abel wrote:
> > Janet Wilder > wrote:
> >
> > I have to wonder, though. After WWII, the Japanese were desperate to
> > sell stuff. Anything. They had no time for development or quality
> > control. "Made in Japan" was synonymous with "crap". Things are
> > different now. My son bought a kitchen knife recently. US$200. Made
> > in Japan.
>
> Total quality management is a slow process, but it's as certain as can
> be.

And now, it's formalized. There are books on how to write
procedures and train workers to follow quality manufacturing
standards like ISO 9002, and you can hire consultants to write
the procedures and train the workers if you can't do it yourself.
And the ISO people send auditors to make sure you are implementing
adequate quality controls. The hard part is finding workers who
have been trained in this stuff. China has a long way to go in
this regard. It's easier to staff up a semiconductor plant in the
Philippines than in mainland China. But events could change quickly.
If they reunified with Taiwan, they would have a technical workforce
about equal to the U.S.

> > The Chinese have come a *long* way in a *short* time. What will Chinese
> > products be like in ten years? Fifty?
>
> On the one hand they have the resources to out-Japanese the Japanese,
> and labor price competition from India. On the other hand they have a
> one child policy and are going to be facing a huge labor shortage very
> soon.

They have much worse problems than that. They have an environmental
crisis, an energy crisis, and above all a water crisis. China looks
robust and abundant today, before the crises hit. 5 or 10 years
from now, we could be looking at country similar to Russia after
the fall of the Soviet Union.