Why Indian Manufacturers Are Not So Good?


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Let us keep aside Tata and Mahindra which I Wish to discuss and read the following article Written by an Loudspeaker designer from calcutta (Hunter Audio » Home)
Hi

I have got this question from many people here at diy –

Why don’t we see many – Made In India products around ? Like China , Taiwan & Korea

( This note concerns common consumer electronics and general market place goods )

I need to treat this question as a broad one ,

I have been to Taiwan – Korea & China – That too quite a few times ( not to source anything from there ) , just been there –

I have seen my country in the 80 s & now it has changed , Most expensive equipments are Defense Equipments ,

India has an island called Andaman & Nicobar , it is situated right at the gates of Malacca Straits

We have a huge Naval & Air force base there – With it India can control the entire trade from South East Asia – It is like Gibraltar of Mediterranean – This entire base disappeared in the Tsunamis

While other countries were contemplating on the amount of aid to ask the international communities and have bad loans written off – India announced we don’t need any outside help or aid – monetarily

Yet we are apparently not manufacturing anything ?

No that is wrong – infact we are manufacturing – but ?

The Indian Market and Population is so large that we are catering to our own need

Just the heavy good s vehicle industry is growing by 33 % each year – that’s huge - and more or less each & every truck in India – is made in India

Where of more or less every 2 nd heavy vehicle in U.S. , the chassis is forged in India by – Bharat Heavy Forge ( The second largest forging company in the world )

Every thing in India is – Made in India – and it is a huge number of products

Now I need to Club – Korea & Taiwan – together – Very small countries with a huge production capability – They need to sell – elsewhere to absorb this produce – Therefore the huge export of materials from these two else-where

Then you may say China is similar to India

A mass market – Yes a mass market But not similar

this has been one of my reason to travel to China to find out

1 st

Chinese market – initially had been guarded before they opened up – and when they did open up – the people took to all the products being used in the west – they were waiting for Wrigley’s chewing gum – and they just accepted it – same with the digital cameras and mobile phones etc

Then they went in for mass production of these itmes – Chinese people have & use all the latest gizmos that they are exporting – all over the world

( one needs to produce in numbers to keep the pricing competitive )

India being democratic – has set up its own type or identity of product need – Wrigley’s has not done well at all here though other mouth fresheners are booming (local ones & types)

The product we make even in mass scale is mostly for the very large Indian market

Now this Indian produce is not compatible to the requirement of other markets over a broad spectrum of items

2 nd

Indian business is mostly running on individual entrepreneurship and tenacity during the rough times of business – hardly – or very little government help – to mostly non at all – we don’t get access to loans – you can say non at all – till you have become a middle level entity

An Indian wanting to manufacture an Item for export will not be able to raise the funds – unless he is already doing well selling products in the Indian Market – To become a middle level busness house

to reach that middle level identity where the banks will be interested to shell out loan one has to make products required by the Indian market – And this is a vicious circle as this is not compatible to the out side world

For eg . To make a good subwoofer will cost about 80 Usd here - which will include - low inductance edge wound vc - , Non - Press reinforced cone - Large roll Surround - Nomex or similar silicone impregnated heavy duty spider - dual mag motor structure in a under - hung motor structure (with certain improvements)

if i produce this in larger numbers it will be cheaper - even if i process 100 pcs at a cost of 65 usd i will have to invest 6500 usd and when completed - i will have to break my head and involve more money to market it or fright forward it as there are not many takers for this type of a subwoofer - which will be rated at about 300 w rms

These are the various macro and micro problems stopping Indian products reaching outside – whose quality I rate as good as any in the world

Then how is the Indian Economy doing well ? India exports :-

Heavy Industry & products is doing very well

Service Industry is doing very well

Pharmaceuticals is doing very well

Bio – Tech is doing very well

BPO is booming

Garment s & textiles is doing well

Petrochemicals is coming up

Now we break down the business of the above – If China goes ahead and makes all the DVD players in the world , - ok fine –
no problems , it doesn’t raise a hair of mine

( taking that India & China is in competition )

The ground reality is there are 1000 s of Chinese companies competing with one another - with a huge produce – selling at the lowest possible price –

that means :-

for all that man – hours - production facility set up – and all the raw materials involved – raw material sourcing and movement – patents – offices – communication - freight forwarding – and delayed payments – you have made a wee bit of profit

While in India a college kid sitting at a – call center in his off time may make as much profit for India – as much as - a good lot of DVD s will for China

So why in the world will any – one who has got his mathematics and head in place make a DVD player now in this enviornment

But

We Indians should not give up competing or be complacent neither am I attempting to pose our position as a politician

I am in the business of making speakers – Every time I see a Chinese driver my mind automatically focuses in making a similar driver - cheaper & better _

Sooner or later you will find more and more products Made In India

Suranjan Das Gupta
 
Thread Starter #2
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to recognise chinese / indian oem products being sold by reputated companys

it is difficult to actually squeeze out where drive unit are made , this is true for quite a few commercial manufactureres

in the peerless web site the units made in india , used to be mentioned as to where they have been assembled / made

the industry news here in india is they are yet manufacturing for peerless as well as jpw and a few other well known finished product manufacturers

infact peerless of india is now dealing in the finished products of the company s they are supplying to

TO CHECK FOR CHINESE

ONE TELL TALE SIGN I ALWAYS USE IS THAT FIRSTLY CHECK OUT THE CHASIS

chinese have developed stepped dia chassis where the surround is fitted that is when looking from the magnet side you will find the spider area is in steps of varieng dia (this has been done so that the same chasis can be supplied to diffrent oem contractors using a combination of different cones and spiders as that - is what will change in models in a specified speaker dia size other than the motor structure

for chinese also check the plating or the chrome quality and shine it is totally different to products plated in europe / usa

chinese is shiny , original is dull

a higher approach will be to get hold of a penshien (forgings) catalogue , all their oem products to reputated brands like jbl , mission , infinity , jenson ets invaribly ends up on their catalogue as an oem product which is labelled their own

TO CATCH INDIANS

again check out the chasis , the chasis will not have steps but will be a pressed steel one mostly black powder coated

now the steel thickness will not be heavy ,

the powder coating will be dull and if you compaire to a computer cabinet purchased in europe / usa you will find the indian one dull , or shiny ones will have a granular finish

next tale tell sign of an indian speaker is the gasket , the gasket will not be generally laser cut / or there will not be any gasket at all

suranjan

transducer design engineer
-diyaudio.
 

350Z

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Some of it is perception while rest is the truth. Speaking specifically in context to cars, there’s a term ‘status’ and I think that makes all the difference.

Drive Safe,
350Z
 
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I agree with 350Z.

Someone who is not bothered about brand image may go for a TATA, Mahindra or Bajaj. But sadly, such people are comparatively lesser.

The majority would want to own a Honda or Toyota or VW. Even if they are not too happy with the car, they are simply not bothered because they have a 'phoren' product which they associate with quality, class & better brand value.

But the trend is slowly changing. Tata & Mahindra is catching up.

Somewhere I feel it is our fault too - Tata & Mahindra has never been as aggressive as say a Suzuki or Toyota. Reliability is of prime importance today, even a simple reverse sensor failure is considered as a big deal today & that is where the indian giants fail - quality.
 

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