Whoever tries to transfer
production to the Far East without professional
engineering involvement really has one of two choices, both of
which can potentially increase cost and damage reputation.
1. Build-to-print
If you have a full set of
drawings, you can insist on a rigid ‘build to print’, but this
severely limits the scope for cost reduction as it often
necessitates shipping raw materials to the Far East as they are
unavailable locally. It can also introduce quality problems
where simpler machinery or manual methods are forced to imitate
automated assembly.
2. Rely on supplier
More than a few clients have
had their fingers burned (in one case literally by an
overheating transformer!) by asking manufacturers in China to
supply an equivalent (either from drawings or a working sample),
making substitutions of the supplier’s own choice. From initial
cost indications this may appear attractive, but this approach
is usually disastrous as it is very unlikely that the product
will meet its original specification under all the conditions
for which it was originally designed. We are all aware through
first-hand experience or anecdotally of the catastrophic
failures, re-calls and losses arising from this approach.
Examples of pitfalls
To take two genuine real-life
examples of the above, consider something as ‘simple’ as
enamelled copper wire. Under the first scenario (build-to-print)
a product designed using IEC-standard wire would be required to
use the same wire when assembled in China. But IEC standard wire
is uncommon in China (where wires are normally produced to
Japanese standards), so either the wire must be imported
specially, or produced locally as a ‘special’ at high cost.
Either way, this increases material costs and also makes it far
less attractive for a manufacturer.
Under the second scenario
(relying on supplier) there is a real likelihood of a dangerous
substitution. The IEC enamelled wire with highest breakdown
strength is known as ‘Grade 3’. An equivalent enamelled wire in
China produced to Japanese standards would be ‘Class 1’. A
‘Class 3’ wire, on the other hand, has the thinnest coating of
enamel with the lowest breakdown strength. It is certainly
possible for this subtlety to be ‘lost in translation’. If a
‘Class 3’ wire were substituted for a ‘Grade 3’ wire then there
would be, at the very least, the danger of premature breakdown
failure.
