Electronics industry in the west (the lack of it)...(re-posted without naming) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: ocset
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2020, 01:55:20 pm
content: Hi,I do most profusely apologise to the forum for making mention of a certain global company by name in my previous post, I should have not done that. Please may I now re-post the below, my having now deleted that name, and all reference to it?Does anybody now think its time for the West (and others) to start becoming self dependent as regards to engineering equipment, especially electronics equipment? Eg power supplies and other electronics...China, by sheer honest hard slogging work, has now deservedly become the world’s new super power. Nobody would disagree with that.The Chinese will very soon realise that they are now the wealthiest nation in the world, and will cease offering the west electronics equipment at a fantastically low price….and the West will have to start making its own electronics again….this will be an enormous shock to the west…so the west should start becoming self dependent right now……otherwise doom.To those who still think that China is a poor country, in need of the West to buy its products…..just look on the web. Also, China will soon be the owner of the entire South China Sea, and all of the vast minerals/Natural Gas and vast oil wealth that it contains. The Philipines, who have seen China build a militarised island in its own territorial coastal waters, in response, have quite happily asked if China would make the Philipines a province of China (look on the www what President Duterte said).*..........................*...........................*...............................*.................................*................................In particular, the Power Supply Design & Manufacture industry should be brought back to the west right now.This is because Power Supply is a “key sector” of electronics. If a country disposes of its own Power Supply industry, then it looses out massively in all other sectors of electronics.This is because “Power Supply” is the only sector of electronics where any electronics student could be almost guaranteed of being able to develop the skills necessary to become a Power Supply designer at some level. (as long as they put in some decent work) This is because Power supply design, at its base level, is easier than all other sectors of electronics. In all other sectors of electronics, only a small percentage of students could guarantee being able to develop design capability, because these other sectors are technically harder than Power supply engineering. (at its base level)As such, if a country disposes of its Power Supply sector, then there will be no jobs for the majority of graduating electronics students…since they mostly won’t manage to make the grade in these other harder sectors of electronics…and consequently numbers enrolling for electronics courses will dwindle away…as they have done in the west. And when you have only a small number of students enrolling for electronics courses, this then hits all sectors of electronics…..resulting in engineer shortages in all sectors of electronics.Power Supply is also a “key sector”, because virtually every single electrical/electronics product needs a power supply of some description. (apart from simple heaters and toasters etc)Another reason why any student could realistically expect to be able to develop Power Supply engineering design skills, is that in the Power Supply sector , the Simulators are free of charge, (LTspice) and the test equipment and components are cheap and affordable such that someone could actually design and build a power supply on their kitchen table. –And its essential to actually get real hardware experience in order to become an electronics hardware designer….In other sectors of electronics…the simulators and test equipment and components are far too expensive (eg RF & microwave) for students to be able to afford….so few will be able to get into it....most just won't be able to get that essential hands-on hardware design experience in these other sectors.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2020, 01:59:54 pm
content: Another treez gem.The majority of power supplies are low cost AC-to-DC switch mode units. In these applications cost is the primary driver, so they are made where labour is cheap. There are a number of UK manufacturers that make speciality power supplies for aerospace, medical, or test equipment (for instance TTi still make most or all of their kit in the UK.) And there are power modules that are made in the West - for instance TI, at least until recently, was making some of their iModule DC-DC converters in the USA, and Murata manufacture(d) these in Japan and Europe.Your assertion that power supply design is something for just undergraduates is just wrong. Designing a flyback converter that can be low cost, reliable, efficient and meet EMC requirements is a complex job. When I worked at Echostar we had one guy who was entirely involved in testing the Chinese power supplies for our STBs, to see if they were any good. A great deal of them failed the aggressive tests we set out (despite being consumer electronics devices), but our purchasing power allowed us to get manufacturers to make the necessary changes. Most of these passed EMC (usually only by a few dB, but they passed), but failed under conditions like excessive load and case temperature. There is a requirement in the EU/EN standards regarding the maximum temperature that the case of a consumer electronics product can reach, excluding cooking/thermal appliances.

author: ocset
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2020, 03:19:34 pm
content: QuoteThanks, but that wasnt my assertion. I freely confess that at its highest level, power supply engineering is just as hard as any other form.Do you mean TT electronics?TT electronics owns Stadium group, which owns stontronics...Stontronics is a massive importer of Far Eastern power supplies into UK and elsewhere.https://stontronics.com/stadium-group-integrates-power-business/Should power supplies like this found in Australia be designed and manufactured in the Far East?https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/dodgy-solar-inverter-catches-fire-this-morning/To get enough specialist power supply designers in any country...one needs a "breeding ground" of power supply engineers working on the lower end stuff.

author: dmills
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2020, 10:07:59 am
content: A small generic power supply is a COMPONENT, and should be treated that way, I don't build that any more then I build my own transistors, mosfets or processors.Jelly bean power supplies are boring, and add nearly no value to a product.I would need a LOT of convincing before I was willing to bother designing my own jellybean mains flyback on a board I was doing, I mean it is not hard to datasheet 'engineer' something using the chips and magnetic components from one of the usual suspects, but then I have to convince the NRTLs and people like PSE for the Japanese market that my thing is acceptable.If I was doing real consumer stuff at real volume then maybe, but that lives in a target BOM place that I have no clue how to meet.The value add is in the systems engineering to solve an actual customer problem, not in making mundane things that you can buy for a few pounds each.An IRM-30 costs me £7 in reasonable volumes, and I have thousands in the field, they almost never fail (I think I have had two fail on early life soak, nothing else), I probably could not meet that COG doing it myself, let alone the NRE cost of certifying it with basically everyone.Last thing we need is loads of expensive engineering time going on designing the stuff that is not profitable except at mad scale, far better to spend that time on stuff that makes a difference to the customer.Regards, Dan.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2020, 10:20:03 am
content: Treez, regrettably I conclude that you willneverbe successful. Sorry.To borrow concepts from Dragon's Den, "you are uninvestible; I couldn't invest in you". Why? Because I invest in individuals that are adaptable to changing marketplaces/understanding/situations. Marketplaces, understanding and situations willalwaysbe evolving, and companiesand people mustchange with them.You repeatedly demonstrate that you cannot recognise changes in the marketplace, and repeatedly demonstrate that you cannot adapt to the changes."So, I'm out".But there might be hope:ifyou manage to learn to pivot, then you might become successful. If not, then it is a slow decline for you.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2020, 10:34:12 am
content: Kill me. With fire.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2020, 10:50:42 am
content: Quote from: bd139 on April 14, 2020, 10:34:12 amWrong target, wrong method

author: dmills
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2020, 12:11:03 pm
content: Sounds about right, NOTHING at scale has low one time costs, and the only way to make money on that stuff is to do it at scale. Figuring out how to do the new and shiny at scale also has massive costs.Blueskull does at least seem to be doing interesting power stuff that pushes the limits, sort of stuff that I MIGHT consider in house if I really needed to (But would more likely contract a specialist to handle for me), but the jellybean stuff? Fuck that it is a component.Regards, Dan.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2020, 12:24:12 pm
content: It amuses me when I have been involved in a less advanced design, and people say "oh, this work must be so easy for you". Design for volume is never easy, and never a good task for the inexperienced, however simple the product. There is always a competitor, applying deep experience, who might be driving a little more out of their costs, and making a better margin.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2020, 02:49:12 pm
content: Quote from: treez on April 13, 2020, 01:55:20 pmI don't disagree. Ironically enough, some countries (among which China itself) have gone a long way to become themselves self-dependent, while providing the whole word with stuff.Key point IMO is that such approach, before this whole fucking virus crisis, was actually fought by the predominant approach, which was the exact opposite. Ultra globalization was seen as the ultimate virtue, a world where progressively every activity should apparently be optimized on a global level, with each country kind of specialized in its own range of activities. Doing anything to be self-dependent was almost considered more or less as some form of fascism.Whether this trend is going to change, I have no clue about, but I seriously doubt it. Looks like we are currently doing anything we can to get things back to where they were before, quite possibly eroding invididual freedom in a lasting way to achieve this, instead of trying to change our approaches and get more "local".As to the power supply field, if I understand you correctly, you seem to be saying that it's relatively simple and easily accessible. I don't quite agree with this. Designing efficient and ROBUST power supplies is hard and requires a lot of care and experience IMO.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2020, 05:29:30 pm
content: Quote from: treez on April 13, 2020, 01:55:20 pmThe underlying problem with this thought is that in economics, it is seldom worth doing "the easy stuff" because it is so easy for competitors (countries, companies, people) to step in and create a race to the bottom - commoditizing the item and pushing the price way down. In that space, whoever can make it the cheapest wins. Like agriculture... without subsidies, a lot of farming in the West would be uneconomical.The real money is in making products that others can't easily make, and make them well, and sell them at a price people are willing to pay. (Apple, Microsoft, Google, etc. etc. just to pick some companies from the tech sector)

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2020, 08:07:47 pm
content: Honestly it would be nice to see a better business mentality where more than just money matters, and see more local manufacturing. It does not always have to be about money. There was a time where things were "proudly made in Canada" or USA etc. It's not just about the lowest bidder but about wanting to stay as local as possible and being patriotic. These days, we lost that. Hopefully if there is one thing we can learn from covid-19 is that important supplies like PPE need to actually be made more locally. USA should have plants, Canada should have plants, etc... It's not just about being patriotic but also about being more practical and also caring about the environment. Instead of mining stuff in one country, sending it in another for processing, then sending those raw materials to yet another, more stuff could be kept local.Me personally if I get electronic projects made for selling I will want to manufacture as much of it as I can in Canada or at least try to source parts from here where I can. Unfortunately it won't be that easy especially jelly bean parts as all those are made in China, but perhaps the PCBs can be made here, and the cases can be made here, at the very least. If I actually had the project come to a point where it's making me money then I would work on the rest.In a situation like right now with covid-19 the more local my supply chain is, the better it is for business continuity as well.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2020, 08:20:31 pm
content: Your point falls apart when a big chunk of the raw materials comes from China which is a sovereign nation. You buy their products to get their resources.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_countries_by_mineral_productionReally it's a race to the bottom and this whole petty natioanalism and pointless borders that drives all this shit is tiresome. We're all stuck on the same fucking rock with limited resources so it's better to start getting along with everyone else rather than blasting our own toes off.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2020, 08:29:28 pm
content: Quote from: bd139 on April 14, 2020, 08:20:31 pmRemember that wikipedia page lists mineral production, not availability. Some minerals are truly only available from a few places. Most minerals that we only obtain from a few places are that way by choice. Change prices, pollution regulations, or other relevant factors and magically new sources open up.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2020, 08:30:40 pm
content: Yes aware of that. I dabble in futures (Edit: mostly unsuccessfully)

author: sam[PS]
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2020, 02:50:00 am
content: Interesting debate indeed.I'll pass on the statement about power supply as i don't think that's really a good exemple.But let's take simple microcontroler board as probably a better exemple. When i studied electronics at university, we where learning two things 1. basic theory so that we have the tools to understand what's going on 2. hands on starting from scratch using component's datasheet as textbook a breadboards a roles of wire. I'm now teaching at a university where we are asked to not do most of 1 because "it has to be more practical oriented" and for the 2 most colleagues use china maid arduino board with fully assembled china maid "shields" for all the more specific parts, and even the programming just consist on using a pre-made library from internet. I try to argue with them that if some student become competent EE that will be despite this education, not thanks to it. But i'm a minority voice. And here is how that rejoin our debate. The arguments of the other professor are exactly those i see used in some post here :-That's cheaper this way-Anyway nowdays that's how it works-What's important is the system level (although we don't have any class about system engineering in our program)But you know what's fun ? I also start teaching for a chinese university. And there do you know what they ask me to do there ? 1 basic theory and 2 hands on from scratch.I do believe that anyone claiming to be electronic engineer should be able to design and build a basic microcontroler board with few basic sensor and LF analog frontend. But that's not how EE student are trained in most western university nowdays, that's how they are trained in asia.So although psu may not be the right exemple i do think some profitable business can still be done in west in terms of hardware. I'm thinking about small volume niche application, tones of small simple product can be developed just around a small µC and few opamps/basic components. If you think more specific and less mass market then the business opportunities are there. And i know few company around me in Europe that do pretty well with this kind of model. The problem is financing such business model as investor only want mass market target, while this kind of company can be profitable enough to feed their men and invest enough to stay afloat for lifelong, these are not the companies that will produce any billionaire, so in the curent investment way of thinking these company are not interesting. And the second problem is do we really have the competent engineers for it ? The answer is probably no.But for both this issue it can be solved with political decisions. So i think this question is totally relevant.Just my 2cts...

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2020, 11:55:45 am
content: Quote from: sam on April 15, 2020, 02:50:00 amA degree course should prepare someone for a career, with top-ups for new technologies keeping the student relevant over the years. Basic theory is strategic knowledge that lasts. If you learned about analogue filters in the 60s, adapting to digital filters in the 80s only required a top up of your knowledge, as you already knew the basics. Hands on knowledge (or focussing on the latest trend for software people) is tactical knowledge, and what it teaches you will be obsolete in a few years. If your college course had too much of this, you will be left with little of value from your years at college. Even on the day you leave college its preparing you more for a technician job, than the sort of job traditionally associated with a graduate.China graduates something like 400k people a year who have been through a course where they learned to do some basic things with a microcontroller. Its a small, very hands on, module within one of a number of much larger courses that focus on basics.

author: OwO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2020, 12:38:33 pm
content: Only up to calculus 2 really? That's high school level shit where I'm from (and that is not China). That means you can't appreciate Maxwell's equations (since you don't know what the divergence and curl operators do), understand wave behavior (also relates to time vs space derivatives), or visualize heat transfer/fluid motion (requires a mental model of sinks/sources which relate to the laplacian). Or are the calculus levels named differently in China?

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2020, 12:49:04 pm
content: Quote from: coppice on April 15, 2020, 11:55:45 amVery true. It baffles me why people don't understand that.

author: OwO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2020, 01:10:58 pm
content: Quote from: blueskull on April 15, 2020, 12:43:53 pmOkay, that means you compress two classes into one, since your calculus 1 corresponds to calculus 1 & 2 in "the west", and your calculus 2 is calculus 3 & 4. Are each of your calculus classes only one semester long (4 months)?

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2020, 02:16:52 pm
content: Quote from: blueskull on April 15, 2020, 12:10:57 pmFrom your later messages, it seems the maths you listed was only a small part of your overall course. The rest is straight on EE material. All those topics are maths heavy, but they are pure EE. If that's your idea of math-intensive, then all you are saying is that serious EE work includes a lot of maths. I think we all knew that.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 16, 2020, 03:08:44 pm
content: Electronics manufacturing won't go back to the West. The West and China itself will just find another third world country like China to exploit cheap labour and the lax environmental laws. If you think for one moment any of the West's corporations are in China to help the poor Chinese workers, you are a naive fool. They are there to maximise profits for their shareholders. That is their sole intention.Don't think they are altruistic. Sure they might do some token gesture, but why do you think most of the corporations are into heavy tax avoidance? They shift profits to wherever the taxes on profits are lowest. They do not want to pay money for hospitals, schools etc in the countries they do business, because when it all boils down to it, they don't give a #$%* about anyone except themselves.

author: ocset
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2020, 08:42:32 am
content: Granted the kind respondents here are not the people to whom this thread should be directed.The respondents here are amongst the most brilliant electronics engineers in the world. You could all choose which country you wanted to work in. Respectfully I say, if the country you were in went down...you could all simply move to a safer one..,..and get a high(er) paying electronics job there.I can quite see that the overall point of this thread is not going to be high in your ” in-trays”QuoteThanks, but even with my amoebic brain I have got offline flybacks out there doing their job perfectly well......Also passed all regs including EMC generally without great problem.Overall, it would end up being cheaper designing SMPS’s in the west..This is because even though the Far East will design and manufacture say a flyback for you super cheap at first …….you would find that as your product’s sales really built up, the Far Eastern designer would shoot up the price of the SMPS. This always happens, since they are in business aswell. Usually the Western corporation will simply tolerate it and pay up…since the product is by then making loads of money anyway.The Far Eastern companys can easily do this because they know that the Western SMPS industry has now been so denuded that the capacity just isnt there to take the jobs back.QuoteUnderstand your point about greedy Western capitalism taking manufacture (and design aswell) to the cheapest place on earth, wherever that may be. However, I think we would both agree that the end-game of this is eventually dire straits and doom for the West.USA and Germany are the Western countries that have retained the most “in country” electronics manufacturing…and its no surprise that they are the richest and most wealthy Western countries, which prooves my point. –They also have more engineers….which makes for even more wealth making of itself. Ultimately, importing loads of Far Eastern SMPS’s (and other stuff etc etc) only makes the Western middle men rich. The rest of us get poorer, and more jobless.

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2020, 10:29:52 am
content: Quote from: treez on April 18, 2020, 08:42:32 amLol, no.QuoteLol, no. Contracts are negotiated almost permanently. With every round, chinese suppliers are squeezed like a lemon and pitted against each other. The idea that chinese companies can just jack up the prices is ludicrous. If they did that, the next contract would go another chinese company offering it at 0,02$ cheaper or to Vietnamese companies or wherever the next big pool of cheap labor is to be found.QuoteNo, it doesn't. Neither the USA or Germany produce commodity power supplies. They may make some speciality industrial/military or whatever (and this is most certainly not limited to the USA or Germany) but they sure as hell won't make the wall warts that go with whatever dingus that are boxed with electronics or whatever.You're probably not wrong that the reflex to produce everything in the Far East, always, is wrong. But the example you chose is just plain wrong. There's no added value in mass producing power supplies around here.

author: ocset
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2020, 12:00:00 pm
content: QuoteIt would result in more uptake of electronics as a career by the young. Thats where the value is.https://massey276.wixsite.com/governmentAlso, it'd be a breeding ground for the more complex power supply designers that you spoke of.In the first place, as the above www explains, it'd make some money obviously, (because theres always a marketplace for power supplies) but itself would be overall loss making (at least at first)...but thats not the point, its the spinoffs it gives....so really, in the whole, it would make money for the country.Yes, though, it would in the first place need government funding....no private investor would embark on this.....but as the www above describes......this money would be returned by way of greater tax revenues from the spin off benefits.QuoteIts not about cheap labour...it has to cheap and organised......loads of cheap labour in India etc but they dont get anywhere near what China gets....China is of couse now , or very soon, to be the richest nation on the earth without doubt...maybe thats China plus the entire mineral wealth of the South China Sea.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2020, 12:07:01 pm
content: Quote from: Ice-Tea on April 18, 2020, 10:29:52 amUnless you've spent a long time in the electronics business in Asia its hard to fully grasp the extent of this. For a lot of business that has a government hand in it there will always be protectionism. The biggest problem a Chinese company faces there is to make their offer so attractive that they can overcome the desire to keep local businesses in the target market alive. Where customer choice is free, Chinese companies are simply competing with other Chinese companies these days. If they are an important company, they may get assistance from their provincial government. However, they are in competition with Chinese companies in other provinces, who get aid from their provincial government. Provinces competing with each other looks insane to an outsider, but maybe it creates a level of competition that works to keep people on their toes. The bottom line is a foreign buyer can essentially play off one subsidised Chinese company against another. Walmart is king.I doubt many Vietnamese companies will win a lot of electronics business in the near term. What is happening is Chinese companies win the business, but more and more of the high labour content is executed in Vietnam, Indonesia, or elsewhere. Similar to the way a Samsung phone or Epson printer is now generally assembled in a Vietnamese plant, from a polished kit of parts that avoids most of the need for good logistics connecting the Vietnamese plant with numerous component sources.Quote from: Ice-Tea on April 18, 2020, 10:29:52 amThe USA and Germany have taken different paths. The US has given up on most electronics manufacture. It has, however, kept a big chunk of the component business, especially semiconductors. Semiconductor assembly and test left the US in the 60s and 70s, and wafer fabrication is now joining it, but the US still has many of the strongest semiconductor companies. With most new design teams being set up in China or India that may change.Germany was one of the first western countries to truly embrace China as both a manufacturing centre, and a market. You see this in the early strength of companies like VW in China. Germany still has a lot of electronics business, and are more prepared than most countries to use automation to keep local manufacture viable. However, German business is well connected to China, and anything that works out cheaper being done in China goes there.

author: donotdespisethesnake
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2020, 12:07:59 pm
content: Meanwhile, the UK are world leaders in flogging dead horses.Ironically, it's the same sort of wishful thinking that makes UK management so bad, as if prototypes can be made to work by willpower alone, instead of finding causes and fixing bits of hardware or software.

author: ocset
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2020, 02:25:56 pm
content: Take a high quality product like this….https://www.smoothskin.com/smoothskin-bare-features/Its pretty much just an offline power supply , a light detector, a big storeage capacitor, a micro, and a xenon flash tube. We all know the power supply is certain to have come from China. Now that the product is established in the market, the Chinese will have jacked up the price of the power supply. –And the company that owns this product will just keep paying the higher price……they won’t go to another company in China and try and get a cheaper one. They’ll stick with what they have and just jack up the price of the product.It would be seen as too risky to make an engineering change….by the non-Engineers that manage the company.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2020, 02:31:59 pm
content: Quote from: treez on April 18, 2020, 02:25:56 pmYou know nothing about how the electronics industry works. Why do you just keep making things up?

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2020, 02:33:20 pm
content: Quote from: treez on April 18, 2020, 02:25:56 pmInteresting product... wonder if it can be used as a shaver by men?

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2020, 03:10:30 pm
content: Quote from: coppice on April 18, 2020, 02:31:59 pm"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject" -- attributed to Churchill.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2020, 03:10:36 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on April 18, 2020, 02:33:20 pmProbably, although it would likely be very tedious to shave with this. One downside is probably also that hairs are likely to grow back with less density or maybe even disappear altogether in some spots, which you don't necessarily want if you ever want to grow a beard back someday.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2020, 03:23:09 pm
content: This is similar I suppose to my discovery that if I pointed my large Nikon flash close to my skin and set it off, smoke would come off the hairs

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2020, 03:32:25 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on April 18, 2020, 02:33:20 pmWhen I was a lad there was a place in London that would numb your skin and individually pluck out all the hairs on your face to leave a wonderfully clean shaven look. The snag is the hairs take a remarkably short time to start regrowing.

author: ocset
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2020, 04:13:14 pm
content: QuoteThanks, but Smoothskin bare is made by Proctor & Gamble, and they wouldnt describe themselves as an "electronics industry."I wouldn’t mind betting that even the Senior most electronics engineer in the dept that makes the smoothskin bare (or any other of the engineers there) would say that they have loads of power supply experience. They would all say that the power supply should be totally designed and built in china, because the Chinese factory “does that all the time, and does it very well”. Which of course, is true. (The SS bare is a top quality product.)

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2020, 04:37:30 pm
content: Quote from: treez on April 18, 2020, 04:13:14 pmI wouldn't be too surprised if the whole thing (not just the power supply) was actually a re-branded, off-the-shelf product made in China, or elsewhere.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2020, 05:01:13 pm
content: Quote from: treez on April 18, 2020, 04:13:14 pmA lot of Proctor and Gamble's business is in electronics, such as Braun. Try a little research. If you get a design in at Proctor and Gamble its usually a good day, tinged with some concern over margins. They mostly go for very high volume products, but that means they are also fierce negotiators over price.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2020, 05:05:16 pm
content: Chinese wealth wealth will have many consequences. Not all unfavorable for the rest of the world. One reason China is so dominant in the materials world is their lax (by European/North American standards) environmental regulation. But that is already changing, and I expected it to continue to change. As their costs rise due to environmental controls other places will be automatically more competitive.

author: ocset
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2020, 08:49:08 am
content: QuoteThanks…you are a brilliant electronics engineer who can manage to get a new power supply going if the Chinese up the price of the current one……..however, the managers of the excellent Smoothskin Bare product (like all other such managers) are not engineers….they are business guys…when the Chinese ramp up the price of the PSU for SS Bare…they will just pay up.If we look at the price of the magnificent SmoothSkin Bare, (and it is a great product) we can see that the consumer ends up paying for any price rises in the Chinese Power supply

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2020, 11:18:24 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on April 19, 2020, 08:53:40 amThis is a good point. People who are good at something usually figure out how to do it cleanly too.The benefits of exploiting an underpaid and un-loved workforce are short lived. Today, the bad PR companies get from it will hurt the brand image and therefore sales (e.g. various scandals with sportswear, running shoes, etc.)

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2020, 01:04:13 pm
content: Quote from: treez on April 19, 2020, 08:49:08 amThe first priority of the business guys is not to be screwed by other business guys as ruthless as they are. There is no way a company like Proctor and Gamble, with its huge electronics interests, would be so dumb as not to either lock in a long term supply agreement, or ensure they can easily swap out a module that might cause them supply issues. When you try to get a design in with people like this the first step is to talk to the engineers, and if they like what you have to offer you talk to the purchasing people who will negotiate supply conditions. Typically you will need that agreement settled before the engineers get to do any significant work with your offering. As I said, you show no signs of understanding how the electronics industry works. You also seem unprepared to research and learn.