Bilstein B6 = Made in Mexico

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Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by DGXR
First, the shock in the picture says "assembled in Mexico" which means that the components were produced and inspected elsewhere, then shipped to Mexico for final assembly. Also, any recently-built factory (regardless of location) will have most of the latest and greatest technologies and processes included. Who would invest in a new facility and then cheap out on the actual production bread-and-butter purpose for that facility to exist? For all we know, Bilstein's Mexico plant may be super modern. It's the older factories with poorly maintained tooling that produce most of the bad parts, also some QC issues in modern plants can produce bad parts. Production and commerce are now global functions. Don't worry about the country of origin.


Even with new tooling you still have people involved in that production process and poorly trained or poorly paid workers can cause QC issues, fact is that Mexico has less well trained and educated workers and overall they are paid far less than first world nations and usually in poorer nations they work very long hours....

Anyone should be concerned if they are getting parts out of a third world or developing country, even if the plant is fairly new with good equipment.

Yes, companies open lines in Mexico etc. because they want to sell low quality products. What they ging to do once product is known for lack of quality? Put a gun to customers head and make them buy it?
As for education of workforce, American southeast is not far ahead, if at all.
 
Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by DGXR
First, the shock in the picture says "assembled in Mexico" which means that the components were produced and inspected elsewhere, then shipped to Mexico for final assembly. Also, any recently-built factory (regardless of location) will have most of the latest and greatest technologies and processes included. Who would invest in a new facility and then cheap out on the actual production bread-and-butter purpose for that facility to exist? For all we know, Bilstein's Mexico plant may be super modern. It's the older factories with poorly maintained tooling that produce most of the bad parts, also some QC issues in modern plants can produce bad parts. Production and commerce are now global functions. Don't worry about the country of origin.


Even with new tooling you still have people involved in that production process and poorly trained or poorly paid workers can cause QC issues, fact is that Mexico has less well trained and educated workers and overall they are paid far less than first world nations and usually in poorer nations they work very long hours....

Anyone should be concerned if they are getting parts out of a third world or developing country, even if the plant is fairly new with good equipment.




A lot of American plants have their parts sourced from all over the world.
 
Originally Posted by dlundblad
The Chinese are more than capable of creating (or replicating) quality goods.

The politics behind whether one agrees or not is a completely different discussion.
Of course they are, but they have earned a reputation for trash. Why? Because their culture values other things more. All they can do is replicate western products and culture, the market is limited for Chinese culture even inside of China.
 
Originally Posted by edyvw

Yes, companies open lines in Mexico etc. because they want to sell low quality products. What they ging to do once product is known for lack of quality? Put a gun to customers head and make them buy it?
As for education of workforce, American southeast is not far ahead, if at all.



A lot of companies today will ride on the coat tails of prior reputations it happens all the time today, many times they get away with it for quite some time, until that CEO leaves...
 
"Yes, companies open lines in Mexico etc. because they want to sell low quality products. What they ging to do once product is known for lack of quality? Put a gun to customers head and make them buy it?
As for education of workforce, American southeast is not far ahead, if at al
l."




If you are going to insult people on their education level you should check your own spelling first.
 
Originally Posted by edyvw

Yes, companies open lines in Mexico etc. because they want to sell low quality products. What they ging to do once product is known for lack of quality? Put a gun to customers head and make them buy it?
As for education of workforce, American southeast is not far ahead, if at all.
You would probably laugh if you saw the average or mean IQ of any large North American city, even the ones up north. The richer the city, the more it relies on an underclass to increase the cost of living to keep the filthy middle classes out.
 
Originally Posted by maxdustington

As for education of workforce, American southeast is not far ahead, if at all.
You would probably laugh if you saw the average or mean IQ of any large North American city, even the ones up north. The richer the city, the more it relies on an underclass to increase the cost of living to keep the filthy middle classes out.[/quote]

Astute observation for sure, not many folks understand this!
thumbsup2.gif
 
Originally Posted by PimTac
"Yes, companies open lines in Mexico etc. because they want to sell low quality products. What they ging to do once product is known for lack of quality? Put a gun to customers head and make them buy it?
As for education of workforce, American southeast is not far ahead, if at al
l."




If you are going to insult people on their education level you should check your own spelling first.


You seem to spend a lot of time knocking people on their post. Its also obvious that you have a lot of free time considering the number of post you have made compared to others in such a short period of time, just saying. Bye the way check your own spelling and grammar!
 
Originally Posted by PimTac
"Yes, companies open lines in Mexico etc. because they want to sell low quality products. What they ging to do once product is known for lack of quality? Put a gun to customers head and make them buy it?
As for education of workforce, American southeast is not far ahead, if at al
l."




If you are going to insult people on their education level you should check your own spelling first.

Ah, the good ole grammar "argument." I am replying to statement about education. As for education, maybe you should buy map, learn how to use it, and might be able to find that phantom engine plant.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by edyvw

Yes, companies open lines in Mexico etc. because they want to sell low quality products. What they ging to do once product is known for lack of quality? Put a gun to customers head and make them buy it?
As for education of workforce, American southeast is not far ahead, if at all.



A lot of companies today will ride on the coat tails of prior reputations it happens all the time today, many times they get away with it for quite some time, until that CEO leaves...

Agree. But, that does not mean that outsourcing production equals bad quality or that company is doomed for failure. What you just explained could happen to any company that has production strictly in the US or other first world country. Look at the issues with Boeing, look what happened with VW. Both examples are not related at all where they make products. Does that mean that cars coming from American southeast are worse than cars coming from Japan, South Korea or Germany? If you compare training and education in Alabama, Mississippi etc. and those three countries, it is hardly comparison.
Companies like Bilstein are too small to allow themself to play with quality. Mexico is trendy bcs. several years ago it actually became cheaper to make and transport stuff from Mexico to US than China to US. If Bilstein delivers bad product, then market will respond to that. KYB is get bigger share, SACHS, Gabriel, Monroe, etc. etc.
 
Originally Posted by 007
Originally Posted by PimTac
"Yes, companies open lines in Mexico etc. because they want to sell low quality products. What they ging to do once product is known for lack of quality? Put a gun to customers head and make them buy it?
As for education of workforce, American southeast is not far ahead, if at al
l."




If you are going to insult people on their education level you should check your own spelling first.


You seem to spend a lot of time knocking people on their post. Its also obvious that you have a lot of free time considering the number of post you have made compared to others in such a short period of time, just saying. Bye the way check your own spelling and grammar!




Check yours first.

As for post count, why does that bother you. I'm sure you have a high post count as well if you consider all the previous account names you have held.
 
Originally Posted by edyvw

Companies like Bilstein are too small to allow themself to play with quality. Mexico is trendy bcs. several years ago it actually became cheaper to make and transport stuff from Mexico to US than China to US. If Bilstein delivers bad product, then market will respond to that. KYB is get bigger share, SACHS, Gabriel, Monroe, etc. etc.



But surely you realize that at least in terms of commercial vendors today many mfrs will go with the lowest or near lowest bidder for production even with Tier 1 or 2 vendors, that's why increasingly while new cars are very reliable for the first few years as soon as the warranty expires reliability usually starts to tumble now. In the future cars companies are betting on disposable vehicles.
 
Originally Posted by nthach
Originally Posted by dlundblad
Either the fronts or rears for my Blazer were Mexican made and the other was US made.

.

AFAIK, didn't GM install French-made DeCarbon shocks on the ZR2/Z71-spec S/T and C/K(GMT400) platform SUVs? GM was mighty proud of their DeCarbon shocks in ads for the older trucks and Camaros.

Since Bilstein does count Toyota, GM and VW as customers and TRD-package Tundra/Tacomas as well as higher-spec GMTs come with Bilstein shocks, it would make sense for Krupp Bilstein to make shocks in the US and Mexico.


Those DeCarbon shocks were trash! GM might have well just used the standard Tenneco shocks! However....Some ZR2 & Z71 trucks had Bilstein 4600 shocks from the factory! I did thousands of pre-deliveries in my dealer tech days & the Bilstein Yellow always stuck out versus the DeCarbon Orange & Tenneco Black.
 
People said the same things about Japan after WWII about it's culture and manufacturing. Much like Japan China filled a niche until it had enough footing, knowledge, and capability to produce high quality goods.

Short sightedness is never a good strategy.
 
Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by nthach
Originally Posted by dlundblad
Either the fronts or rears for my Blazer were Mexican made and the other was US made.

.

AFAIK, didn't GM install French-made DeCarbon shocks on the ZR2/Z71-spec S/T and C/K(GMT400) platform SUVs? GM was mighty proud of their DeCarbon shocks in ads for the older trucks and Camaros.

Since Bilstein does count Toyota, GM and VW as customers and TRD-package Tundra/Tacomas as well as higher-spec GMTs come with Bilstein shocks, it would make sense for Krupp Bilstein to make shocks in the US and Mexico.


This is connected to the NAFTA zone agreements most major tier 1 auto parts vendors do the same thing, not that I'm happy about it. Mexico wages are too low and that gives them an unfair advantage to compete, this is why Trump wanted to get rid of NAFTA.


Right because who doesn't want to read another post from someone complaining about having to pay 2x the cost for "US Made" parts.
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted by Egg_Head
I like my "Hecho en Mexico" Corona

[Linked Image]



Landshark is better and many times cheaper!

*US made but INBEV brewed IIRC.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by edyvw

Companies like Bilstein are too small to allow themself to play with quality. Mexico is trendy bcs. several years ago it actually became cheaper to make and transport stuff from Mexico to US than China to US. If Bilstein delivers bad product, then market will respond to that. KYB is get bigger share, SACHS, Gabriel, Monroe, etc. etc.



But surely you realize that at least in terms of commercial vendors today many mfrs will go with the lowest or near lowest bidder for production even with Tier 1 or 2 vendors, that's why increasingly while new cars are very reliable for the first few years as soon as the warranty expires reliability usually starts to tumble now. In the future cars companies are betting on disposable vehicles.

What that has to do whether vehicles are made in Mexico or US?
 
Just a FYI, Bilstein is owned by Thyssen Krupp. They are not really a small business anymore. TK is a huge conglomerate out of Germany.
 
Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by edyvw

Companies like Bilstein are too small to allow themself to play with quality. Mexico is trendy bcs. several years ago it actually became cheaper to make and transport stuff from Mexico to US than China to US. If Bilstein delivers bad product, then market will respond to that. KYB is get bigger share, SACHS, Gabriel, Monroe, etc. etc.



But surely you realize that at least in terms of commercial vendors today many mfrs will go with the lowest or near lowest bidder for production even with Tier 1 or 2 vendors, that's why increasingly while new cars are very reliable for the first few years as soon as the warranty expires reliability usually starts to tumble now. In the future cars companies are betting on disposable vehicles.


It is design not assembly that is primarily responsible for durability. Assembly of course impacts QC for cosmetic issues.
 
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