Any Truth?

[alreadygone]

Been hearing for years that as American manufacturers modernize to computer controlled automated (less labor)tire manufacturing equipment, the old hand lay equipment is being shipped and set up over seas (cheap labor). Reason there seem to be new brand names coming from everywhere. From Korea,Siri Lanka(sp),Honduras,India,Pakistan, and the list goes on and on.

Does seem that modern U.S. tires require much less balance weight and roll rounder than ever in the past. While many of the new economy foreigners hold up well but often require additional weight.

NOT speaking of the old foreign standbys such as Yokohama,Michelin,Toyo,etc. just newbees.

Bob

 

[Tosh]

They call it 'Progress.'

 

[Quest]

Does seem that modern U.S. tires require much less balance weight and roll rounder than ever in the past. While many of the new economy foreigners hold up well but often require additional weight.

IMHO nope. I've had my fair share of frustrations with Firestone made Bridgestones (yes, made in the states using Firestones plant and machinery), Uniroyal and tonnes of Goodyyears that are out of balance straight off the dealer's lot.

It does, however, seems to me that high end tire brands such as Conti, Dunlop, Michelins (Japanese castings), Yoko, Toyo, Japanese made Bridgestones, Falken/Ohtsu, etc. fairs much better in terms of overall quality.

Koreans are using Japanese machinerys in terms of tire castings and so on so their tires are catching up to that of their Japanese counterparts (Woosung, Kumho, Nexon(sp?), etc.)

China is where most of the old manufacturing machineries from Industrialised world would have dump to: e.g. inroble rotors and brake drums are casted in their mainland chinese foundry but their machinery for cutting them are inferior, causing all sorts of runouts. Inroble rotors are cheap though.

 

[y_p_w]

Quote:

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China is where most of the old manufacturing machineries from Industrialised world would have dump to: e.g. inroble rotors and brake drums are casted in their mainland chinese foundry but their machinery for cutting them are inferior, causing all sorts of runouts. Inroble rotors are cheap though.

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While this might be true in some industries, a lot of Chinese manufacturers have been on a binge buying some of the most advanced manufacturing equipment from North America, Europe, and Japan. I remember some CEO of a small US plastics manufacturing company talking about a trip he took to China. Apparently they had far more advanced equipment than he had. He couldn't afford to upgrade because business wasn't so great. For the most part, his business because rush orders where the purchaser couldn't wait for an order to be filled from Asia. I guess it depends on the industry, because of a lot of stuff made in China is still #@$%!. They also have a problem where productivity sucks. Management seems to be fearful that their employees will learn too much and start their own businesses. So they train them to operate maybe one piece of machinery when there are six in the factory. In the US, people will be trained to operate multiple machines and fill in when needed. In some cases, workers were seen just hanging around doing nothing while being paid. They can actually afford that because the cost of labor is extremely low, that 1 person working and 6 standing around drinking tea costs less than paying one American worker.

 

[Laminar Lou]

The US is not the only one feeling the pain of cheap labor in China. Japan has the same problem. A lot of companies in Japan are setting up shop in China to compete. Quality control is still an issue though.

 

[RogerKlugerAus05]

I have a set of Hankooks fitted to my Toyota Kluger/Highlander and they are made in Korea. First class performance so far after 10k miles, no sign of wear, balance spot on, grip good and quiet. Light years ahead in every respect of the Toyos that were fitted as original equipment.
Roger

 

[Kestas]

If it's any comfort, the manufacturing industry has recently been finding that moving production overseas can present new problems, and isn't always worthwhile to chase the cheap labor. Mainly, they lose communication of problems and response time from the overseas manufacturers.

If a manufacturer ships defective parts, or parts that aren't "quite right", these problems are usually quickly resolved here on the mainland. It takes longer when dealing with overseas... communication isn't as robust, and shipments take longer. Industry is finding that these problems are costing them more than they save on labor in the long run. Our company is also experiencing these pains.

At this point in the game, a lot of manufacturers are chasing cheap labor simply becuase it's a trend (or fad) in the industry, and the CEOs are directing their subordinates to follow suit... thinking that they too will reap the rewards. They do this even though it may not make the best business sense for their product, or they are blind to the potential problems.

Some products - such as standard nails, screws, hammers, etc. - make sense to produce overseas. Other items - such as abs units, ecu's, transmissions - are more complicated, have shorter production lives, and are prone to design changes. These products would be a nightmare to manage production overseas.

 

[alreadygone]

Actually China tires are only marginally in the products I was refering to. Main point is that I'm seeing tires that are manufactured in countries I barely knew existed, much less had any industrialization.

Know that most U. S. manufacturers are fully automated, and pretty sure old equipment wasn't just thrown away.

Bob

 

[gedcruise]

Are these developing countires also using old first-world tire designs? The reason I ask is that their are some very good old Michelin designs, like the XZX, the XW4 and the MXL that would still prove very satisfactory for almost any driver today. I would buy any of these tires today, and would be just as happy with a quality knockoff.

 

[PandaBear]

Not just tire industry, but pretty much any industrial equipment that are deemed obsolete are sold to developing countries at the end of life.

Usually those are low cost and low margin equipments. Since high cost equipments can be sold as refurbish locally as replacement or just partially upgraded. Sometimes they are just scrapped instead of sold to 3rd world because the new equipment is so much better that render the old equipment obsolete or worthless. Training and skills of operators are also problems when it is resold or exported. So even with the same equipment, the result is not guaranteed.

In some industry, like semiconductor, the latest technologies cannot be exported, or changes too fast that makes communication and design/support/teamwork the biggest cost rather than the operators wage.