Originally Posted by loimpact

This one I know a little about, though I still can't say I have full knowledge on a first-hand, eyes-on basis. But you being in Taiwan (and possibly close enough to the scene to know?) might be able to get answers first-hand yourself. The idea goes like this:

There is asian manufacturing that is left to the asians entirely. Quality control lacks in every facet. Materials, workmanship, tooling, engineering, etc.

Then there is a newer concept of asian manufacturing that entails highly overseen processes by the claimed manufacturer namesake.

Someone who does this very well, for example, is the L.S. Starrett company. They have a series of measuring instruments (any machinist should be familiar) that is made here in the U.S. and whose quality is 2nd to none. Then, they have a series of tooling that is made in China who (by asian-import standards) is also 2nd to none.

What's the difference? Good question. I don't know all of it, but exploited labor costs (i.e. penny labor) and the associated perils of such......as well as some localized material & tooling compromises keep them from duplicating a true American-made environment but at a substantially lower cost. Nonetheless, it's about as good as you could make out of China without taking over the country & starting from scratch, importing material, tooling, workmanship from elsewhere.

Does the bike industry follow that 2nd ideal to the letter to accomplish the same thing? I don't know.