Rethinking "Made in China"

[Lew Hodgett]

A place to keep cold stuff like beer.

Lew

[Swingman]

Tell that to Cheech and Chong! :)

[Lew Hodgett]

Does your utility offer discount rates for an electric hot water heater that operates only during off peak hours?

When my dad built our house in 1947, he installed a 100 gallon tank for 3 people that only operated at night.

We always had hot water heated by low cost electricity.

Lew .

Lew

[Jules]

Yes, that's how ours is... water heater, clothes dryer and baseboard heat all load-controlled on off-peak. The 30yr old fridge is probably responsible for a good proportion of our monthly "non off-peak" bill (along with the TV and the electric stove).

Our water heater's got one of those stickers on it which claims it's quite high in terms of efficiency - but it's also quite old (albeit descaled earlier this year) so newer ones probably do better. I thought about insulating it more, but the outside surface gets barely warm anyway - plus like with the fridge anything it loses as heat is doing useful work for more than half the year. Maybe there is a case for putting it on a timer just during the summer months; we usually end up using all the hot in an evening, and there's probably no point having it maintaining water heat all night long...

cheers

Jules

[Nonny]

A person I know very well and whose comments I value, is a materials buyer for one of the largest, global, manufacturing companies in the world. He deals with many vendors in many nations to get the materials to build large computer-type devices sold globally. He deals with Pacific Rim vendors and manufacturers daily, including mainland China.

He explained his belief of why dealing with the Pacific Rim/Chinese vendors is so different than dealing with European vendors. In summary, it's the Judeo/Christian teachings vs. the Buddhist/Confucian/Hindu etc. teachings about lying. He told me that we're all taught that we should always tell the truth and trade honestly, where the Chinese-type vendors don't believe it's bad to lie or cheat on a transaction. To them, the shame (loss of face) comes from getting caught- not if they get away with it.

His personal technique is to order from a vendor and stage serious inspections both at the production site and upon receipt of the items. If there is even the slightest discrepancy, he has his people throw a fit. The product is returned, screaming phone calls are made, threats to never deal with them again are made, upstream and downstream vendors are notified and even government officials are brought into the fray. The goal is to send the message to the manufacturer or vendor that cheating will be caught and the maximum amount of embarrassment (loss of face) will be extracted. Once the fray has died down, the new vendor will usually supply what is negotiated and ordered for a while. Then, the cycle starts all over again.

BTW, the Japanese have a similar technique that seldom fails. For instance, let's use lumber as an example. When a US/Canadian vendor decides to sell hardwood in Japan, the buyer will ask the vendor for a graded sample of the materials. It's not at all uncommon in our own culture to select samples that showcase our product in its best light. This doesn't work with the Japanese, however. When the shipment reaches Japan, the hardwood is judged against the sample, the matching or better material is kept and anything substandard is returned. There is no compromise for a bell-shaped grading curve: it's the sample-or-better side of the curve, only. Many a new vendor has learned a hard lesson about that little cultural difference.

The last example is about a US built product that is sold by one company in the US and another in Japan. Both come off the same assembly line, but with different tags on them: USA or Japan names. The item shipped to Japan is literally invaded by inspectors for the buyer, and even things like fingerprints on the inside of the cabinet rate down marks. . . enough of which and the product is returned. There are different standards, beyond performance, that affect Japanese-bound items.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 12/17/2009 5:01 AM dadiOH spake thus:

Why do you say that?

I still say that the Crown Graphic (which I have) is the single best cost-effective way for people to break into large-format (4x5) photography, even at this late date. They're still available on eBay for very reasonable prices, along with fantastic lenses. They may not be all one would want in a view camera: limited movements, no rotating back, etc. But compared to the Lexuses and Mercedes of LF cameras, relatively speaking, they're a great deal. And they were extremely well-made.

The next step would be a Busch press camera, also American-made.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 12/17/2009 6:42 AM J. Clarke spake thus:

Also a railroading term.

[Leon]

Also a Dope term.....

[Leon]

Not yet! Before deregulation in TX I participated in a pilot program with our only source for electricity. In 1995 they installed the fancy programmable/hooked up to a modem central air thermostat. They also installed a switch on the WH that was controlled by the central air thermostat. During the Summer months I paid as little as 2.4 cents at night, 3.4 cents in the late mornings, 12 cents in the afternoon and 6.5 cents early evening. Summer weekends an all Winter long never over 6.5 cents. The thermostac would control "what worked when" and inside temperatures according to pricing tiers during the day and to what I decided should be done at those points. Daily the thermostat would read the digital electric meter and "phone home" the information concerning my usage. At any time I could see how many KWh I had used for the day, week, and month. I cold also see what the electricity had cost me for those time periods and a projected estimated bill for the month. I LOVED IT!

I have not seen any thing like it since. However over the next 10 years the Utility company is going to replace all the electric meters with digital ones, like I had 15 years ago. Perhaps then I can get back on a plan.

I basically had the same set up except I told the WH to come on at 8:pm and run for 3 hours and again at 5:00 am and run for 1 hour. That worked out fine also.

[Leon]

Well you have to also consider and I have had to factor this in before. If the unit is old you must admit it may be on borrowed time, may be not. But if you wait till it fails the food is going to be a costly factor added to the cost of replacement if you don't catch the problem quickly enough. You really never consider that angle till it happens.

[clare]

"fork tailed lawyer killer" is another one.

[clare]

The best available freezers 30 years ago were within percentages of the efficiency of the run-of-the-mill freezer available toda, and the difference from the poorest to the best today is something like 7%. Thirty years ago, foam insulation was already becoming standard on the premium units. The vast majority of today's PREMIUM units will be in the scrapyard in

20 years or less. Many don't last more than 10 years. The cheap stuff is even worse. They may still cool, but the shelves are falling out and the doorseals are leaking, and they piddle on the floor like a 6 week old puppy.

[Leon]

Crap Lew, I am bored so I am going to come back with an answer that you are going to "owe me one" for. I'll be prepairing to duck.

Why would I need an electric hot water heater? ;~)

Thank you George Carlin.

[clare]

Au Contraire - they make VERY reliable cars. You can rely on them to make trouble when they are most needed.

That said, one of the least troublesome cars I ever owned - and the price was definitely right on top of it all, was a 1972 Vauxhaul Viva HC - sold in Canada as the Pontiac Firenza. I bought it for $250 in

1979 when it was traded for a new Lada It took the typical British "fondling it's nuts" on a semi-regular basis, but the only breakdown I suffered with it was when the timing belt broke heading south out of Sydney Nova Scotia - fixed at the side of the road - and the regulator died the next day just North of Halifax.

[clare]

How about roughly the top 10%?????????

[clare]

I had a '75 Fiat 128 L Sport Coupe. Got it for nothing in 1978 after it sat at a dealership for 2 years to have the engine replaced under warranty, and the dealer went broke. The guy gave it to me for installing the brand new- never run engine in his X19.

I put an aircraft generator and 8 golfcart batteries in it and it was more reliable than any other 128 I ran across - and even it was no heck.

[J. Clarke]

And after Graflex went under, Sakai bought the tooling and continued to make them for another decade or so in Japan as the Toyo Super Graphic.

I used to think that such things were quaint anachronisms until I found out what they could do. Never got into large format myself but one of these days . . .

[clare]

The Canadian Aerospace industry evaporated overnight, and NASA and the US companies snatched up the best aerospace workers as part of the deal.

[The Daring Dufas]

Did it have Lucas electrics?

TDD

[Robatoy]

Lucas electrics (as in refrigerators) are the reason the British drink warm beer.