Jacobs 14N

About 4 months ago we got a new one at work and so far so good. What I can't figure is, since the production went to China, why this is still over $200.

One of the guys I work with bought a 3/8 capacity Accupro. After about 3 years he had to replace the thrust bearings last month.

So there is a difference but they are not competing on price just boosting the profit margin.

Dave

What would be a possible reason for them to move production to China and decrease the price accordingly?

Thought maybe they moved to China to compete with the $100 chucks. That has been the mantra for quite a few years now,costs are too high here, so move.

Remarks on this site didn't give good reviews to the new chucks so I've been waiting. Since the one at work is good I'll buy one for home now.

Dave

I really think the quality is the responsibility of Jacobs, if they test quality regularly, or better yet build a factory in China and run it with total control, there is no reason for the chucks being any worse than if made here. Recently there was a thread about ball bearings made in third world countries, well I read that SKF buys or leases property anywhere in the world, builds the factory from the dirt up and places their own people in management and QC.
Supposedly the quality is the same no matter where it is made. Given those conditions they should be.

I agree that the responsibility for quality lies with Jacob. China can make quality products if so directed. They do have a robust space program. I think a lot of the crap you get from China is because someone says " please make these widgets as cheap as you can." I remember when "made in Japan" was code for a bag of crap. In the last couple of decades I have seen some very fine products come out of Japan. It's not that China can't make good products, it's that we pay them not to.

crossthread said:

I agree that the responsibility for quality lies with Jacob. China can make quality products if so directed. They do have a robust space program. I think a lot of the crap you get from China is because someone says " please make these widgets as cheap as you can." I remember when "made in Japan" was code for a bag of crap. In the last couple of decades I have seen some very fine products come out of Japan. It's not that China can't make good products, it's that we pay them not to.

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I agree, but a lot of it is crap because they don't care about patent infringement, so you can end up with counterfeit everything.

The whole point of moving to China, India, etc. is to make a better profit. I see little reason of pay them through the nose trying to overcome the general lack of a good manufacturing culture. In this case, one can very well stay here and harvest the achievement of our industrial revolution without having constant QA and logistics nightmare. In some areas the shrunk profit difference between equally good products can yet be justified, but not in many, I suppose.

That's unless our mission is to educate others and help them develop their industries.

P.S. The problem is not in the proverbial "greedy CEOs". We, the consumers, are the problem. We eagerly pay for and widely accept the shit sold everywhere. We brought the situation when in many cases we're not able to find a quality product even if we're ready to pay extra. And we deserve to suffer until we change our approaches.

Mtndew..I bet over half of their space industry is counterfeit. Probably most everything they have is counterfeit in one way or another. The Asians have a profound knack for being able to copy things. They could copy them with a quality product if we so choose to pay for it. I have heard many times that what the Asians lack is imagination not skill. They do not have the innovative spirit that is ingrained in our society. This is a generalization on my part of course but I have heard this from a lot of engineers who work both here and in Asia.