Are China Made Products Really Inferior?

Made in China. Three words that strike fear into the hearts of anyone looking to buy anything that costs over $50 let alone heavy construction equipment parts costing thousands.

Should you continue to steer clear from China made products? Or has the global marketplace increased the quality of parts made in Asia?

The reputation of China-made products isn’t necessarily unfounded. For decades, products made from China were expected to be substandard. Knock off merchandise from watches to women’s purses hit our shores to satisfy the demand of people wanting big name brands for next to nothing. Doesn’t matter they only lasted a few months before unraveling.

Putting a $3000 pump on your machine is an entirely different situation, the last thing you need is for that to unravel, or worse, explode. So most construction companies don’t even bother getting parts made in China. That, however, is changing.

China's construction parts production is getting much better and factors include the increase in government spending, the expansion of transport, and demand.

The biggest reason is the need to be competitive in the global market. To survive, companies from China to Chattanooga must produce a good product or else they will produce no more.

"I have a client who moved to the US maybe 20 years ago who now owns a thriving construction parts business. His Chinese factories could not grasp this (producing quality parts) at first, but now he has around ten factories who have consistently been churning out excellent parts for him for years," says Dan Harris of the China Law Blog.

Companies such as Caterpillar, Hyundai, Komatsu and Volvo have a major manufacturing presence in China, which puts the press on the China manufacturers to produce better products.

Some China made parts are actually being sold to OEM dealers including hydraulic cylinder, radiators, and pumps.

According to Global Report, Lonking in China claims its product quality matches the well-established Japanese competition.

"The few parts that we do have made in China are very easily tracked. For us there isn't any difference between the parts that we have made in China compared to other parts of the world including the United States," says Juli Fusina, General Manager of Reliable Aftermarket Parts.

Some Chinese companies such as XCMG, uses e-commerce website Alibaba as a platform to sell its products. Alibaba, based in the People’s Republic of China, also hosts many other manufacturers who sell parts for a fraction of the cost of OEM dealers.

Buying construction equipment direct from Chinese companies can be a completely different adventure however, if you connect with a good US based reseller, buying China made parts may be the way to go in an effort to save money

inferior parts from China