mcooley said:
...
Plus, more and more the items Festool offers say Made in China. The behemoth looms and will likely out compete Festool. I'd like to hope they can resist but it seems unlikely.
...
Um, FUD-ing much?
The Chinese tool OEMs are not
even trying to compete with the mainstream brands. Not to mention with niche makers like Festool, Mafell, Fein, etc.
At present, there is one (
1) very specfic tool which Festool outsources to a chinese supplier. That is the cordless recip saw. A 18V platform filler so many kept asking for.
And that is IMO because this
type of a tool is not manufactured anywhere else in the world these days.*) There is literally no know-how on how to make it in Europe, and never was to begin. Before china became the world's workshop these were US imports.
mcooley said:
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I know China's expertise is top notch in a lot of ways but still a premium product coming out of China can't be at the same price point. If it's better then even worse. ...
Indeed, that would warrant a proper surcharge.
/Ever heard of that funky tile-shaped thingie certain Fruity company sells for $1000+ ?/
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*) I am not implying the chinese factories or engineers cannot make as good or better tools as Festool. They certainly can. But
it is impractical/impossible/inefficient to manage/control integrated manufacturing across big distances, not mention across continents. Currently ALL Festool factories and their core supply chain are within a couple hours drive between them, R&D centers including. It is simply impossible to "just add a factory" even in, say, Romania, still within the EU as it would be physically too far for integrated low-series manufacturing the style Festool does. Even the only non-German "Czech" Narex factory I mention so often, is just a few kilometres from the German border. It is closer to Festool HQ than many regions of Germany are..
