Superficially, this is a good question, but I would draw attention to the prevalence of Chinese made counterfeit products in our marketplaces. This counterfeiting practice is actively encouraged by the Chinese government, as it was by the soviet union before. It’s certainly not the only country doing the the counterfeiting, but what sets China apart is the volume of counterfeit products, and the governmental support for it. We’re not talking just Gucci bags in some tourist trap, entire market places. So, yes, American companies, shareholders and politicians share a great deal of blame for all of this, but it’s tough to fault a consumer if the lesser cost product --not a counterfeit product-- is of acceptable quality.
^^^
Truth.
Good points, without question. The issue isn’t so much that all American products are superior, rather, it’s better to insource the manufacturing of products that we can make because we can make them acceptably well, probably better than China, and doing so puts us less at risk of financial impact from a hostile regime. Saudia Arabia is a good example of our trading and dealing with an enemy people - not just a government, and enemy civilization who for years lorded their oil production over our oil dependence like a crack dealer to a crack fiend. It took generations to get out from under the kingdom’s thumb, but now we are. We have the political ability to tell saudis to go F*** themselves tomorrow and be none the worse for it. However, our dependence on Chines manufacturing is across multiple industries and more impactful. There are business opportunities to be had in multiple industries. The next time your city proposes tax breaks for a sports franchise and a new stadium, gratis, courtesy of local tax payers, stop it. Redirect the efforts to manufacturing.
I cannot say first hand but posit the following; Material and design spec are essential, and let’s assume the prototype meets or exceeds expectations from the one off assembly. Seller of the product approves the agreement to go forward with manufacturing, and the manufacturer tools up their assembly “line” to make the product. They produce an initial batch but the tooling “line” has a slight defect in one or 2 of the processes. a bad form, bend or weld, here or there.
The products are delivered and are visually acceptable, but not close to the prototype. They’re sold, go into the field but fail prematurely due to weld defects, bad bends, or what have you. now the seller is owned. profit gets sucked up, new shipments are possibly affected, customers rag on the seller, etc.
maybe intercoolers are practically the same, maybe not. they may appear visually similar or of visually similar quality but that doesn’t mean that they are of similar quality.