On manufacturing quality...

[Arik]

It's an example of two! Hey guys my Glock malfunctioned .. just like everything else!!

[MAUSER202]

Those are on the small side for CAT equipment. They may be more or less specked from other company’s for components such as engines, hydraulic etc. I don’t think their quality is on par with their heavy equipment.

[Slater]

It's an example of two! Hey guys my Glock malfunctioned .. just like everything else!!

Yeah - two with (oddly enough) the same QC issues. Kind of makes me wonder about that particular model.

[Arik]

Yeah - two with (oddly enough) the same QC issues. Kind of makes me wonder about that particular model.

They were bought together? Probably made together in one lot! Could have been an issue somewhere. It's impossible to catch every problem. Doesn't make we wonder at all, any product you look at someone has this same experience. ANY product!

Now, it's possible that model is a POS but example of two, bought together, isn't much proof of anything except those two were bad for some reason

[Slater]

In the end it was a lesson learned for us. Why roll the dice on more Caterpillar equipment when there are other brands out there? They certainly can't be any worse.

[utahjeepr]

Cat equipment is made all over the world, components and parts are made all over the world. So is everyone else. Start digging into a machine and you will be surprised how many different sources there are in one piece of equipment.

Funny story, took delivery of a new rubber tire backhoe. For those nt familiar they have a F-N-R shifter on the column and a 4 spd trans on the floor. Operator drove less than 10 ft, transmission disappeared through the floor. The trans was put in place and other components were installed, but the trans bolts and mount were never installed. Broke a lot of parts on its way out. Brand new, delivery driver was still putting his chains away. Needless to say we did not accept that one.

Not a Cat, John Deere. But they all have problems from time to time. Usually it's stuff like missing shims and little BS. Once in a rare while it is a total shitshow like yours.

[MegademiC]

Yeah it's a sad state of affairs. Bean counters are a major problem, along with idiot management who thinks they can rely on quality certifications from places like China and India. Some relatives own a tier 3 auto supplier and have had to deal with customer-mandated outsourcing to those countries (forced by their customers, regardless of true cost), and the huge, repeated and entirely predictable problems that it brings. Some companies have wised up a little bit, but this was absolute idiocy around 2005-2010.

So many of the quality problems come down to a bean counter or senior manager requiring use of a cheap foreign supplier that promises to deliver quality but doesn't, and probably couldn't do it even if they wanted to. In tractors, tractor implements, and ATVs/ORVs this is a regular issue for gears, gearboxes and bearings in particular. It's to the point that even moderately knowledgeable consumers are looking for it, and some companies make a selling point of using Japanese or Taiwanese bearings. Poor steel is also a regular issue for some really simple stuff like discs and plow blades, even when the spec is basically simple carbon 1050-1080 with nothing fancy, a product that the US and UK were making by around 1880 or even earlier.

In our market, people are wising up to true cost of quality.
We’ve been taking back volume from the asian market over the last few years.

Every time a customer gets a new purchasing or quality manager, they start buying asian again, then come back once they see the new scrap and productivity numbers.

Im hoping this trend grows and American companies continue to make quality and not chase pricing.

[Slater]

Interesting that a country like Turkey could claim a sizeable chunk of the entry-level handgun market (Canik, Tisas, Sarsilmaz, etc). The ones that I've examined show excellent QC, so whatever they're doing seems to be working.

[ThirdWatcher]

This will sadly be the new trend, Made in the USA also made to be disposable crap so that they can compete with the shitty imports.

I’m not sure the average American factory worker even cares what kinda $#!+ they turn out. I remember seeing an expose on TV about Chrysler Corp. several years ago where some of the assembly line workers smoked dope and drank alcohol on their lunch breaks. No thanks. (I don’t know how accurate the story was but I can tell you the Dodge pursuits we drove in the ‘80’s were absolute lowest bid junk.)

My wife’s 300 was made in Canada and my Ram 3500 was made in Mexico. I’ll pass on “Made in USA” vehicles (except for the Cummins engines I run in my trucks).

[SteyrAUG]

I’m not sure the average American factory worker even cares what kinda $#!+ they turn out. I remember seeing an expose on TV about Chrysler Corp. several years ago where some of the assembly line workers smoked dope and drank alcohol on their lunch breaks. No thanks. (I don’t know how accurate the story was but I can tell you the Dodge pursuits we drove in the ‘80’s were absolute lowest bid junk.)

My wife’s 300 was made in Canada and my Ram 3500 was made in Mexico. I’ll pass on “Made in USA” vehicles (except for the Cummins engines I run in my trucks).

If you want Made in America you probably have to buy a BMW.