Sparkplug Factory in China- You gotta see this place...

[Uncle Ernie]

Just had to snitch this from the A-C page and repost it here in hopes that everyone will see this.
State Of the art in Mainland China

 

[Bob - MI]

This has been circulating for a while and it's always entertaining to see.

Ask anyone who works in US automotive manufacturing about what the endless paperwork is like today so you can prove that you will never make a bad part. Then talk to the folks in puchasing who justify sourcing overseas based on significantly lower pricing.

Our company often is approached by automotive folks asking if we will do short runs to bail out their production when the guys in China fail. We refuse to do it.
 

[Wile E]

A fella I used to work with had worked at a large autosupplier years ago that had set up some production in China, he was an engineer based here. Oh the stories he told that came out of China......Power was out for 4 hours yesterday at the steel factory, we couldnt make all of the parts for the day, phone line was down for sometime yesterday so we couldnt call you to tell you production will be short, Train carrying workers late yesterday all workers late to work and production will be short again.
That spark plug "factory" is a joke, no respecting auto supplier would put their neck on the line supplying a US based manufacturer with that place.
As much as we complain about the US electrical service be very thankful that the down time is about .2 percent per year. And thank God we have roads that will allow cars to travel from A to B.
 

[Ivan in Mich]

Where ZI retired from we made die cast machines. Our purchasing agent got some linkage for a 600 hundred ton machine from China and was told if they ordered all that was needed for the upcoming year they could get a real good buy on it. The linkage on these machines is where all the pressure is applyed to when closing on a die.

The shipment comes in and looked good until time to machine them. They were full of air pockets that had to be welded shut. So after machining these parts were put on a machine and when machine was finished it was ran for 20 hrs before painting. In run off the linkage failed big time it broke in half. They took a new part off the shelf sawed it in half and there were holes in the center of it that you could put your fist in. China more or less told them they bought as is.
They went back to the old supplier to get new ones and was told that the molds had all be sent to China and new ones had to be made because China would not ship the old ones back. And the old supplier raised the price on the new castings. In the end the company ended up with X amount of casting that were junk, cost increase of new castings, plus extra maching time and one less purchasing agent, and out a lot of money. I am sure that this spark plug factory was very clean when compared to one of their casting factories
 

[Lanse]

Meh, ya get what you pay for I guess.

Cute girls tho
 

[WGWKy2]

Dang unions, If only the U.S. could still run factorys like that. We could all be millionares.
 

[Puddles]

WGWKy2 I take it as you have never worked in the building trades unions? Not even close to the UAW! And a few others. In the building trades, you miss a 1/2-hour, you get docked a 1/2-hour. In most cases you miss one or two 1/2-hours, and someone else will be doing your job!

Big percentage of jobs went off shore because of greed, another big percentage because of the EPA! Not all of it is to be blamed on the worker bee!
 

[ss55]

In the late 1980's I worked for an enginering and machine tool company. One project was to build a continuous motion assembly machine to assemble somewhere around 180 spark plugs per minute for AC-Delco. The AC plant was somewhere near Dayton, Ohio.

The machine automatically assembled the plug, cut welded and bent the ground strap, set the gap, tested the product and seperated any rejects. One operator ran the machine and several people delivered parts to it. The machine had a PLC computer controler. Production and inspection data was displayed in real time, automatically collected and available as a print out. Quality and consistency were the emphasized. The machine had to meet specific Cpk capabilities before it could be accepted. This was all proven technology in the 1980's. The machine met its production and quality requirements by a good margine.

As US production moved overseas the machine tool company I used to work for was sold to a foreign company and US branch was eventually "disposed of" and closed due to a lack of work in the US. I have to wonder how the AC-Delco spark plug plant has faired.

I also have to wonder how the quality of the Chinese production compares to the US quality.
 

[JML755]

This one is a lot better than the stamping plant video with the guys sitting IN THE PRESS.

The commentator on the pictures mentions "safety bandage" implying the operator should be wearing gloves. But anyone seen using gloves around a drill press, lathe, mill in the shop of a Machine Tool builder I worked at would have been reprimanded (dismissed after 1st warning). As for the chips on the floor, that's normal to see during the day as chips (i.e. "money") accumulated.

Many decry outsourcing in general but are happy to pay less for tools and parts (spark plugs included). Pretty hypocritical, IMO. I know some on this board vow to buy USA, but that's getting less and less possible to do.

Don't blame the corporations. They're in business to make money for their owners. If anything, blame Washington DC politicians for allowing the Chinese (and others) to tilt the playing field. There are virtually NO restrictions on how foreign companies can operate in the US but the reverse is not true.

How to fix it? For every roadblock that the Chinese put up for American businesses, do the same for them.
 

[Puddles]

Wasn't it Bill Clinton who signed NAFTA into law? If you ask me, that was the beginning of the end.
I'd like to know the percentage of people out of work in this country are from the manufacturing sector?
 

[mkirsch]

Back about 100 or so years ago those were the working conditions in this country. Our ancestors put up with it for a while, but eventually they said enough is enough, and that's how we ended up with unions, OSHA, and the EPA.

China is just about to that point where they're going to decide they don't like being treated like cattle. The riot at the Iphone plant was just the first of many to come.
 

[decent truck]

Following diplomatic negotiations dating back to 1986 among the three nations, the leaders met in San Antonio, Texas, on December 17, 1992, to sign NAFTA. U.S. President George H. W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas, each responsible for spearheading and promoting the agreement, ceremonially signed it. The agreement then needed to be ratified by each nation's legislative or parliamentary branch.

First paragraph Wiki NAFTA. Bummer
 

[Jason the Red]

That's the truth!!!