Made in China or Made in Japan?

[richard_wallace2]

In a talk with a friend, i came to know that minolta cameras changed

"country of origin" in the 90's from Japan to China. My

dynax60/maxxum70 is also made in China though the lenses i've got

afterwards are made in Japan. This drove me to a question: Are the

models from the 90's made in China "worst" in any particular point

then those made i Japan, or this is just something a proud owner of a

Japanese Minolta says to win a discussion?

 

RWallace

[gary_woodard]

Richard, nows a fine time to wonder if China is producing inferior products.

They own retail sales in this country.

[clinton_abe]

Welcome to the new Global Economy and World Order.

 

While many of the cameras are assembled in China, many of the components are still made in Japan. In my experience, the quality of manufacturing in China is dependent how how tightly the company is being watched by the parent company. If there is supervision by the Japan managers, then quality is usually as good as Japan. However, most Japanese companies reserve production of their best cameras for Japan. Minolta produced the Maxxum/Dynax 9 in Japan, and I believe they had less than 200 people on the assembly line.

 

All the camera company produce in China and other countries. But then again Boeing produces plane parts in India and other 'third world' countries.

[scott_lewis3]

There is no inferiority assembling something in a poorer country as long as you maintain quality control. But you save a lot of money in labour. This is good for the end consumer. And if company A dose it the company B,C and D must also use cheaper labour to keep in the game. Also there isn't the stigma associated with production in china like 10 years ago. The Chinese manufacturing industry have prove they can produce more that 10 cent plastic ducks that fall apart the first time they see water. Some of my Minolta kit is assembled in Malaysia and the Philippines. But the only piece I have problems with was assembled in Japan.

[cfimages]

It's not China or Japan, but...

 

...10-15 years ago, Taiwan was known for their cheap plastic toys, and even cheaper shoes. Now, they produce the majority of the worlds computer hardware. (And FWIW, 97% of the worlds saxophone's).

 

In todays economy, and with the levels of automation in manufacturing, it doesn't take very long for a "poor" nation to go from producing crap, to producing high-end goods.

 

Any "name brand" company, regardless of the industry, will have the necessary quality control measures in place to ensure that standards are met. Otherwise, they'll lose customers.

[admiralblur]

Wow, so many experts and yet still almost no information to answer the man's question...

[fmueller]

<i>"Are the models from the 90's made in China "worst" in any particular point then those made i Japan"</i></p>

 

<b>No. There is no difference.</b></p>

 

Was that clear enough, Admiral?

[geoff_mcauliffe]

This "Chinese Minoltas are worse than Japanese Minoltas" piece of BS crops up again and again. Is there any evidence that this is true? Of course not. Maybe the Chinese cameras are better than the Japanese models! Those of us who remember the 1950's might remember that "made in Japan" meant a cheap piece of crap.

[cmphoto1]

The only real difference I have seen is in perception. Somebody is trying to win an arguement.

 

chad