Hi all,
on the issue of "Made in Germany" - there is no percentage to which a product has to be actually made in Germany to carry the label "Made in Germany". The short version is that "Made in Germany" did not originate in Germany but in Great Britain. It was meant to shield their economy/markets from cheap imported goods (to a large part coming from Germany, go figure...
) that were intentionally falsely marked as being British products. However the Germans learned their lesson rather quickly and soon the message conveyed by "Made in Germany" was overturned from negative to positive.
Until today "Made in Germany" is not controlled by any regulatory body but there are a couple of court and higher court rulings on this matter. They more or less agree upon that a product is "Made in Germany" if:
- It is really made in Germany to a very large/crucial part.
- It is assembled in Germany and assembly procedure adds immensely/crucially to the value of the product.
- It is refined in Germany and the refining procedure adds immensely/crucially to the value of the product.
There's nothing guaranteed with "Made in Germany", there is no official guidelines or quality assurance procedures that lead to "Made in Germany" - All you can do is put it on your product, wait for "somebody" to sue you over it and hope the court follows your explanation.
Having said that, "Made in XXX" doesn't matter to me if the product is high quality, stands the test of time and works. There are enough companies that proof it can absolutely work out. BUT "Made in XXX" matters to me in terms of politic-, morale- and ethic- questions - and when I buy a high $ product that is "Made in "less fortunate country"" I sure do hope that at least a small part of my money is used to make the life of a "lucky few" in that country a little better. In the same turn I hope that when I buy "Made in Germany" again a small part of the money from my purchase stays in Germany and puts food on fellow Germans tables. However these topics are best not to be discussed over a keyboard, that's why I will stop right here.
In regards to labeling products and disclosing their country of origin, especially giving the vague meaning of "Made in Germany", I always have to think about what Sal Glesser (President of Spyderco, a cutlery company from Golden, Colorado USA) made his, and the companies "unofficial" motto: "Integrity is being good even if no one is watching." I guess he read C.S. Lewis
In first place I will not hold a company hostage for their decision to move production abroad. Then, in my book a company that openly and fully discloses where their products are made will always prevail/outrank companies that simply haven't been busted yet.
Given current outings of well known companies and associations over political-, economical and even to some point criminal-decisions they have made, I think it's pretty safe to say, they all have a nasty little secret to fall over sooner or later. So I'm not going to waste my time to actually really argue over where a product is made, if I don't like what I see, hear or experience with a product/service I will walk away from the company that offered it.
You know, I do too like the warm and fuzzy feeling I get when the mind plays tricks on me again when hearing about all those family operated/owned, small to mid-size companies that want nothing more than to produce and sell the best product available to the customer. They all have top notch ratings for this and that, of course the workers are "family" and they are so proud not to be dictated by greedy stock owners and brokers in their actions. Well, to me, today, it's all BS for a large part. A big fat lie some marketing guy or gal came up with because it fit and still fits the spirit of our time. I can't hear it anymore. If you run a business you want to make profit, if you can make more profit by shifting production, you do so. If you can increase profit by running a subsidiary low-budget line of your products in less fortunate countries or just for the reason of competition, you do so. ... and so on ...
Speaking of the charger, it's nothing. I don't know if you would find a lot of electronics in your every day appliances that don't originate in China/far east, it's common practice. Additional food for thought: they either simply don't lie about a current move or are just becoming clean over something that was done for a long time before and could have been an issue sometime in the future. How should we actually ever be really sure about it? And then, think of possible advantages beside company owners and leaders filling up their pockets. What if they re-invest their "charger-production-shift-to-China"-savings into the company for let's say more crucial research and development on future products that will be "Made in Germany" or the savings simply help them to offset costs and therefore keep all of their employees instead of reducing staff. Everything is possible at all times after all. We don't know and I doubt a business decision like this is followed up by a public announcement. We will see where it goes, meanwhile enjoy life and what you create using Festool products or any other Brand's.
Kind regards,
Oliver
