Team Associated B4 Factory TEAM - built in China

[tommychev]

Hi,
My b4 kit says "Made in china". I always thought these kits were made in USA.

Should this affect quality at all?

[frogger]

Yes it's probably better quality coming from China as they are much more experienced in volume production and using reputable companies their quality control is superb. Not only that but price wise no other country can compare so you the consumer are getting arguably a better kit for less money.

[Alfonzo]

Sadly, for Western manufactureres to survive, they often sub-contract work out to low cost labour bases such as China. Some stuff from China is as good as anything in the World. Some stuff is sh*t. The Chinese then copy the design and offer very cheap knock-off's (see the new LRP cheap buggy) which we are drawn to by the amazing price tag.

We (USA & Europe) are slitting our own throats, the Chinese are helping us do it.

Sorry, possibly more of an answer than you wanted

Your buggy is probably just fine.

[Buck_Rodgers]

oooh how political lol, and yet very sadly true. couldn't have put it better Alfonzo

[Alfonzo]

These things need to be said Buck. Oh, I forgot to mention, China keeps it's currency artifically surpressed to ensure their prices are always super keen for us mugs. They also have a 'legal system' which ensures the orginal desingers have no channels to pursue infingement of copyrights etc.

Nothing against the Chinese per se. They're playing a very clever game. But it's important we all realise the game being played.

[frogger]

Originally Posted by Alfonzo

Some stuff is sh*t. The Chinese then copy the design and offer very cheap knock-off's

As is some stuff that come out of the US and EU.

Not all things made in China are copied and sold on the cheap. iPhones are made in China, are good quality but we don't see the market flooded copies of those. Yet it is true, they do tend to copy some things and sell on the cheap, they certainly have made a big impact on the RC heli market with the copies but some of the copies are now as good as or better than the originals. That said, the copies seem to be a few years behind the originals in most cases. Align T-Rex 450 Pro heli has been on the market for quite a while (more than year) and it was only a couple of months ago that you started seeing copies appear and they most certainly are not available in abundance yet. Align is still doing very well as company and we are constantly still seeing new products from them.

You could also argue that in a way it promotes constant innovation as the original product designer keeps pushing new products to keep ahead of the copies.

It's fun to watch them have a go though, checkout this site for your daily news on Chinese knockoffs: http://www.shanzai.com/

[CODMAN]

In the case of the B4, I disagreee... yes, we are getting the kit for less money... but the quality is suffrering from it... I only realised this when assembling my Yokomo B-max4 FT. I had always though my associated kits were excelent quality untill I assembled the B-max. Now I realise actually how low quality it is in comparison... Don,t get me wrong, it,s still a great racing buggy! But quality isn't as high... Which is to be expected I guess...

I have to agree with Alfonso on his comments... In order to make short term profit, we outsource to these countires... Then a few years later we complain because they have become our main competitor...

Oh well, just my 0.02$...

Originally Posted by frogger

Yes it's probably better quality coming from China as they are much more experienced in volume production and using reputable companies their quality control is superb. Not only that but price wise no other country can compare so you the consumer are getting arguably a better kit for less money.

[Alfonzo]

Frogger - I did mention that some stuff from China is as good as anthing anyone makes. It certainly is not all sh*t, although a fair bit of it is.

They work hard, and are clever, although not innovative. They train more Engineer's and Scientists every year than we do in, ohh I dunnno, 20 years or something. They are also ruthless & have no scuples in business.

It's important to realise that there is a 'price' to pay for outsourcing so much. Nowadays China has all the money, we have none. And that is not a good position to be in generally.

[frogger]

I know, I'm with you Alfonso

It's just that some people have a view that everything from China is crap which as you and I have pointed out is not the case. The Chinese are working hard to squash that image. Some people also believe that they have no copy right laws but as you have eluded to, they have very strict copyright and intellectual property laws, it's just enforcing them that doesn't quite happen so easily

[Rebelrc]

This is one reason i think that the Predator has stayed british
apparently the chinese give you a good quality product at an unreal price so you accept and send all your tools out there....then the first batch are bang on....the second not so good quality and the price due to something or other has too go up ! and so on +then all your tools are over there
upset them and you find rippoff products sprouting up everywhere like the pound shop or argos
can you imagine your horror walking in a said shop and seeing your product (pred for example) moulded in low grade christmas cracker toy plastic with a massive printed circuit board electrics and, Requires 8 AA battries written on the box's see through plastic window....oh and £19.99 sticker on it
lol

[Rebelrc]

Do you know they even fake EGGS
coz they can make them cheaper but there poisionous....mental

[James]

Originally Posted by Rebelrc

This is one reason i think that the Predator has stayed british

I didn't even know this until a few months ago, i think Lewis should make a bigger deal out of this its something to be proud of. Schumacher have brought more of their production back to the UK too

[Beanie]

Public wants, what the public gets.....if they demand it ever cheaper then manufacturers will try to achieve that.....that means cheaper labour and production costs.

Comes down to retailers setting expectation too, bit of a tangent but stick with me.....if Tesco say you can buy a chicken for £2, then suddenly that is what we expect and so scorn the idea of paying a fiver for a chicken...it sets our expectation. If we were told the chicken was no less than a fiver then that would be our expectation also. You have to appreciate the choices you make as a consumer....if you buy cheap, you can't really moan that manufacturing in this country has gone for a burton....pay a little more and you support British jobs, and then we all benefit...less out of work, etc.....

[chrispattinson]

Just had a great example of this at work today.....
... a guy at work says "I can't believe they've shut Corus Steel on Teesside, its a disgrace." Two minutes later he's talking about the bargain Tshirts he bought at Matalan for £1 a piece.....
.... economic awareness of a shrimp.

[Alfonzo]

That's it lads. You've got it.

Glad this subject has been brought to the attention of Ooplers. It's important.

[Scouser]

Associated parts have been made in China since they were bought out by Thunder Tiger. The quality of the parts has certainly dropped since, nothing against China at all but the casting tolerances and flashing on some of the AE parts now is terrible. Obviously there are quality control standards that these parts meet but compare a B4 part from five years ago to one from today.

[V-Rossi]

Good advice is to check Ebay etc. when you need a new B4 kit, sometimes you can find the US made ones on there, which are a lot better.

When I still had my old US one, I broke about 1 or 2 things in a whole season. After I bought a new Chinese one I had to be careful not to look too angry at the car, to avoid breaking it.

Thing with Chinese factories is: they always make one good batch to convince you, then they start sending rubbish

[RickRick]

I got one of the earliest factory team cars, with the carbon chassie, replaced it last year, and the quality of the moulded parts was much worse to the point i ended up building my brand new car with some of the parts from my 5+year old car!

[MiCk B.]

All,

Not defending AE & parts made in China. But don't forget the some if not all of the B4 moulds are very old at this stage. Prime example is the front B4 wishbones, the new one have lots of flashing on the mould. But then in comparison look at a new B44 wishbone, much better quality. Then the B44 parts are coming from much newer moulds.

MiCk B. :-)

[Rebelrc]

make new moulds then ! NOW! chop chop suey.