Hulkster Posted January 14 Posted January 14 my nasci, stradic FK, Tranx 400A and Curado I are all made in Malaysia and they are great. so I'm not sure why it would make a difference if a reel is made in Japan. The Shimano factory there puts out great stuff. 2 Quote
Super User bulldog1935 Posted January 14 Super User Posted January 14 The way to become sure is try a Vanquish and Conquest. The Malaysia factory puts out a great design. Japan bench adds technician skill, personal interest, and a touch of cultural perfectionism to the great design. You can make an analogy with union shops vs. offshore manufacturing. 2 Quote
redmeansdistortion Posted January 14 Posted January 14 Speaking of made in Japan, this guy showed up yesterday. Unfortunately, we're going to be in a deep freeze for the rest of the month so I probably won't get to use it for at least a couple of months. 3 Quote
Randy Price Posted January 14 Posted January 14 I'm of the opinion that anything made in Japan is top quality. Malaysia is ok too. Not a fan of China. 1 Quote
TLHSS Posted January 14 Posted January 14 Interesting topic. In another forum I'm on that is heavy on ultralight JDM gear, there's a few threads on the Daiwa Limited AGS 63UL Italian Special Area Trout Rod. Not an inexpensive rod (around $400 US) that is made in China. One forum member that has been purchasing, fishing and reviewing JDM gear for many years recently purchased one, felt the built quality was impeccable, and felt it performed at a level above most of his JDM gear. Even stated he would be selling some of his JDM rods to make room for additional purchases of this Italian Special-type rod. It makes me wonder what Daiwa has done to produce a rod in China with the same quality as those produced in Japan? Better QC processes? More money spent to produce the product (at less overall profit)? Again ... I think it's an interesting outlier. 1 Quote
BassResource.com Administrator Glenn Posted January 15 BassResource.com Administrator Posted January 15 Reminder that politics of any kind are not allowed here. Some comments have been removed. Carry on... 1 Quote
Smirak Posted January 15 Posted January 15 44 minutes ago, Glenn said: Reminder that politics of any kind are not allowed here. Some comments have been removed. Carry on... My wayward son? I think I’ve said this in another post, but…offshore manufacturing is sometimes just as good as made in the USA. What you may not understand though is that MADE IN THE USA means that “all, or virtually all” of the parts, processing, manufacturing and assembly is done in the US. There are tons of awesome products that are assembled in the us with globally sourced materials. Any manufacturing company, be it reels, cars, table saws, etc have a built in error acceptance rate. Many manufacturers that purchase parts for assembly in their plant have an acceptable number of quality rejects as well. I used to work in the space industry and our QR acceptance rate was 95% or better. Which means, we were ok getting 5 out of every 100 that didn’t meet quality standards. Often times, it never hit that rate. But, I’ve audited many, many manufacturers as a supply chain guy and I’ll say there are really good ones offshore. Quote
Super User bulldog1935 Posted January 17 Super User Posted January 17 this thread has a very simple answer, the math of which has been ignored by everyone who says there's no difference between Japan and offshore assembly line. The offshore assembly line worker is graded on his production quota. He spends less time sorting parts and more time pushing out assembled reels. The Japan bench worker is graded on his perfection - he grades himself on his perfection. He spends more time on each reel, sorting and matching parts for improved function. If there's 5% rejection on the same manufactured parts, it's the Japanese worker who's going to reject the entire 5% and not put them in a reel. The offshore assembly line worker is going to reject fewer of those parts, and more of them are going to end up in a reel. 1 Quote
Super User AlabamaSpothunter Posted January 17 Super User Posted January 17 To me the whole 'made in Japan' becomes a lot clearer when looking at the higher end spinning reels. The complexity and tolerances on reels like Certates, Sustains, Stellas, etc. is pretty mind blowing. I honestly believe those type of high end reels could never be made outside of countries like Japan, Germany, or the US. There are only a handful of cultures and countries who truly pride themselves on quality over quantity in terms of manufacturing. Would you buy a Ferrari that was made in China? How about a Rolex that was made in India? 1 Quote
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