Made in Taiwan

Just looking over the 40 or so posts in this thread its amazing how many people don’t seem to know the difference between Taiwan and China.
 
Another good point to consider is that in the near future it will be pretty hard to buy most industrialized products only if they're locally made. In the globalized/globalizing world that we live in it will be sort of impossible to find something that is 100% made in just one place. The least that will happen is that parts can be made locally but the assembly will probably be carried out the far East, Africa, Asia or at least somewhere else that not in the Americas or Europe.

And yes, QC on manufacturing is going up everywhere, like many here attested about the knives made in Taiwan (China may be behind right now but they WILL improve). So people like me will basically have to go with the tide or not buy the product at all. I guess it's just natural evolution.

If anyone here is into watches, mechanical watches is a very good example. Swiss watches were so "good" that basically there wasn't any kind of industry outside of Europe. Then came the Quartz Revolution of the 70's, and in the span of less then a decade the Swiss were almost wiped out and the Japanese industry (= Seiko + Orient) took a HUGE piece of the pie that was exclusively Swiss property. In the 80's the Swiss got back on their feet and started regaining some of the lost ground with the so called "Mechanical Resurrection", and were doing quite good. But in the 00's came the Chinese and now both Japanese and Swiss industries are clearly in a pickle (again for the Swiss), because they just can't compete with the prices from China.

If both industries, specially the Swiss with their "Swiss Made" standards does not concede some form of manufacturing to the Far East, it will be the 70's all over again for them (of course I'm not talking about the mega-brands here, the truly hand made and absurdly expensive stuff).

I think it will be the same for our knives: commercial brands will have to go East to be economically competitive. Go East or die :eek:.
 
I would prefer a quality knife made in the US, but that seems hard to find; at least ones that interest me.

I'll buy a knife from just about any country of origin if the price to quality ratio is right.
 
I try to buy stuff "Made in the USA" , because I want to support the workers in this country first. If I can't find US made products then I look at products from Mexico and Canada. I also try and get info about how a company does business; do they treat their workers well, are they unfairly subsidized by a government, and do they treat the envioronment well?

Bottom line for me is, I try to be aware of what and who I am buying products and services from but there are times when I knowingly buy stuff from companies that are not that great, but I do try to be aware.

This message sent from my "Made in the highly polluted Apple City in China" Mac Book Computer.
 
J.Mattson said:
Just looking over the 40 or so posts in this thread its amazing how many people don’t seem to know the difference between Taiwan and China.
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Its the same old babel from people who do not know whats going on in their own neighborhood and much less about world economics.

They should first take a close look at themselves and evaluate their knowledge of the subject "before" making false statements or idiotic unfounded "propaganda" statements and opinions.

Please people do some research of the subject first!
 
powernoodle said:
Taiwan is a cosmopolitan, westernized, pro-America democracy. As I have noted elsewhere, I have some knowledge of Taiwan arising from my father-in-law's many business trips to Taipei. Taiwan is ok with me.

I am happy to buy from Taiwan, Japan, etc.

I try to avoid China where possible, as they have nukes pointed at us.
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I donot think china's nuke pointed at US, quite of a few of reports now focus on the economic....now the north korea really makes chinese headache also...
 
spyderco,b.m. & some other top cos. went to china over a yr. ago. they carefully screened for manuf. that would have strict quality control before enlisting these makers to produce the products they wanted to sell under their trademark.we went thru this tedious discussion last summer. i quote from esav benjamin " it's ridiculos to ascribe quality only based on orgin of manufacture". not exact words & better spelling [himself] but made sense to me. i have 2 b.m. folders bought last spring made in china. these are not lower cost knives but more than 60$ apiece. the alloy contains colbalt & cuts very favoriably with vg10. the tolerances are so close you can hardly discern where blade joins the backspring. my nephew whom has about 20 randalls & 25 busses studied the knife & immediately went to computer & ordered the same piece. given enough profit & good quality control the chinese will eclispe the u.s. cut. market just like the japanese eclisped american auto makers in 70s & 80s. it's not a question of country loyality, simply economics.i happen to have few liabilities so i do'nt hesitate to buy queen & gec. the american quality on these companies is stellar, but prices are steller also. i just happen to be fortutunate enough to buy what i like. i also buy sog which has had many models made outside of u.s. the quality is high & so are the prices. this situation of buying foriegn instead of u.s. is simply economics, given equal quality for less money mr. & mrs. america will be buying outcountry. most of us have limited incomes & will do whatever is needed to pay our mortagages, buy food, put shoes on the kids, ETC. REMEMBER IT'S AMERICAN COMPANY OWNers that are going out country to get these products to sell here at home.please excuse my spelling but if i went to dictinary i would'nt ever have time for my lecture.
 
After the mindblowing F&F of the Spyderco Sages I now have a very positive opinion of Tawain and their potential for high quality products. Not too mention they're our allies now I hear. Give me Tawain over Made in China anyday.
 
Country of origin is not a priority to me. Why do we prize American jobs in the manufacturing industry over others? Heck, as far as manufacturing's concerned - machines probably do most of the work anyway. I'm sure there's plenty of other domestic jobs involved with products made overseas. Dockworkers, Logistics Engineers, Import/Export firms...they've got families to feed too. :)
 
Aslong maker is reputable origin of knife is not important. Like Spyderco Sage's blade was made in USA but rest knife was made in Taiwan ( carbon fiber handles and such ) With quality brand like Spyderco they make sure their factories keep up certain quality control. Then origin of knife has little meaning.
 
The "Buy American" thing is a great sentiment , too bad it's just that , a sentiment.

If you saw this post you saw it on an LCD , laptop etc made in China.
If you responded to this post you used a keyboard and mouse , both made in China.
When you sit down to watch TV tonight , you will be sitting in front of a TV mostly made in China or with Chinese parts. Your DVD , your home entertainment system , your microwave , your wifes hair dryer , your "proudly made in America" GMC truck with a plethora of Chinese made parts , etc etc till I'm blue in the face.

'Buying American' has pretty much become a thing of the past for a multitude of reasons that nobody on this board has ever had any control over.

That said , I prefer to buy from Kershaw for my own reasons , one of which is I can support a local economy to an extent but I would buy a knife from anywhere , without hesitation if it is something I want.

Tostig
 
Good point, Tostig.

I'll tell you one thing though that I feel America supercedes
all other countries is customer service.
 
I think It's impossible for anyone to say they only buy American products.

I do try to by USA knives only, but do have one from Tawain and a few from Japan. A Spyderco SageII is the only from Tawain.
Its one of my favorite knives, so I would have bought it no matter where its from. If it had been made in USA I would have gladly paid $35 more than I did.
 
Different US government agencies have very different country-of-origin labelling standards and they all have holes big enough to run a supertanker through. If you think you're getting an all-American product when you buy, say, an F150, you are mistaken. All kinds of materials, components and even whole assemblies come from outside the US.

Edit to add: it amazes me that people will say they won't buy a Taiwan product because they don't want to support communists. Geographic ignorance like this is one reason the US labor force can't compete with overseas labor.
 
powernoodle said:
Taiwan is a cosmopolitan, westernized, pro-America democracy. [...]

I am happy to buy from Taiwan, Japan, etc.

I try to avoid China where possible, as they have nukes pointed at us.
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This is pretty much my criteria and reasoning as well. I would buy products from any democracy. However, Taiwan's recent election of a pro-Chinese president makes me wonder how long it will be before Taiwan is inevitably and perhaps voluntarily (re-)absorbed by red China. We're only prepared to defend the Formosa Straits from one side. ;)

As far as quality, I have been very pleased with my knives made in Seki, Switzerland, and Sweden. Come to think of it, I don't have any Taiwanese knives and only one Chinese knife that I got 20 years ago.

If there was a Taiwanese knife that I liked, I would probably buy it. There have been Chinese knives that I would like to check out (Byrd), but I will not buy Chinese products if I can avoid it.
 
now chinese people lived in a stage of high price level, low salary.

we cannot marry, because to be a man, we need purchase a house before marriage, around 200,000USD in Shanghai for a small house not luxury at all.

we cannot have a bady, another 20,000USD come out.

we cannot get sick, incredible medicine price and low medical insurance.

we cannot die, the crematorium would take another huge charge from the dead peron's families.

the most important is you cannot tell truth in the public, or you will be "HARMONYLIZED" (CHINESE INVENTED WORD MEANS ERASED SILENTLY)
 
I took a tour of the Case Co in Northern PA last year. I try to buy American made products whenever I can.
Nearly every scalpel made comes from Taiwan even most of the electronic scalpels.
 
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