Chinese SKF Bearings!!!

[wvpolekat]

I understand the corporate world and that everything is driven by the bottom line. While blame is, almost always,put on the consumer demanding cheaper goods. Would this possibly be a by-product of the EXCESSIVE salary differential between a CEO and the average worker? I certainly think so. I believe that consumers are forced to demand the cheapest because they can't afford any better. Mega corporations are more than willing to imply that these cheap goods(these two can rarely be used together with a straight face) are every bit as good as their higher priced counterparts. This used to be a valid argument between generic canned goods and name brand, but that cannot be said today necessarily. Canned goods used to roll down the line and get different stickers put on the same cans as name brand, now China is in that mix. Scares the **** outta me, having China in our food chain too. Bottom line is this: We cannot control what China does, do we really think that we can control their quality, or prevent the counterfeiting, on any level? All driven by greed. Period!I will continue to avoid China products best I can until I have to start speaking Chinese. Which, by the way, isn't gonna happen in my lifetime. Buy your China crap if you like, but understand you become a part of the problem every time you do.

In spirit, I think you are right. While grossly overpaid executives do factor in, I don't think it is the primary driver.

It's not that people can't afford better, it's that many Americans got into a very nasty habit of living beyond their means. They, as a general rule have a sense of entitlement. That they are owed a certain standard of living. They do not know how to do without or budget. They will buy things on credit if they cannot afford it. So, I guess it is that they can't afford it, just not because CEOs make too much.

We have become a society of excess, driven by debt. So many Americans are spending such large percentages of their income on debt payments that they have very little leftover after that.

Because, Americans don't know how to say "Enough" when it comes to keeping up with the Jones's. We have to change our outlook. In a way, the credit markets drying up was the best thing that could happen. Force people to stop using it to live beyond their means and use their money more intelligently.

 

[panthony61]

SKF bought out PEER bearings in China well over 2 years ago. This is in addition the their bearings manufactured in Mexico, South America and Romania and I suspect Slovakia/Romania.
There are virtually NO bearing companies not having bearings manufactured and brand named in China. I used 4-6 million bearings a year with my company and the bearings we used came from one privately owned company with several factories for different sizes. People here say they love Timken, but you should know that when you are buying in the 1000'sto 100,000's, they have extremely long ( 6 mos-1 year or more ) lead times and over inflated prices. The North American consumer demands lower and lower prices and this drives the quest for less expensive components. This is a viscious circle. Just remember, in the 50's, Japanese products were like the Chinese products of the 80's and early 90's. The quality is far superior now than 20 years ago. Some major Chinese bearings actually use components from Russia.
I don't believe you can find a pure american made bearing these days, for the price you are willing to pay.