Made In Japan. still Charismatic?

viper08

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We all know, in 70s/ 80s or even 90s Made In Japan was considered premium quality, top notch product lines and desirable in A/V world.

Now globalization and cost cuttings have shifted productions to different low cost countries. Is Made in Japan still holds value?

What you think guys?:eek:
 
History not withstanding, "Made in Japan" is pinnacle of manufacturing today. "Made in China" has risen steadily but still a long way to catch up with Japan standard. Japan will most likely remain the force in the foreseeable future, as with Chinese economy nosediving future doesn't look much brighter than the present.
 
I have so many items 'Made In Japan' items like Seiko, Sony etc. that are still working today even after 20 years..
 
Well this "Made in X" is tricky,
I presume now a days they write the country name where it's assembled.

So it doesn't matter where it's made whether India, China or Japan.
Cause the technology and parts will be same inside and the methodology.

French fries at MacD newyork and Pune is the same fries.
 
It's unethical to write "Made in X" when it's not made in X. I have seen more honest text such as "Made in X assembled in Y" or "Assembled in X with components from Y".

BTW, french fries at NYC and Pune isn't the same. No too sure of Pune but it surely ain't same in Delhi.

Technology will remain same and even components may remain same, but the quality of raw material can change and it does. Quality of tooling and equipment can vary and it does. Maturity of processes, adherence to quality norms can be different and it usually is.
 
Thanks Guys.
I can see some manufacturers especially LCD panels still get label of MIJ to differentiate their product from rest of the market. So I assume they consider it to be a power magnet. Still...
 
It's unethical to write "Made in X" when it's not made in X. I have seen more honest text such as "Made in X assembled in Y" or "Assembled in X with components from Y".

BTW, french fries at NYC and Pune isn't the same. No too sure of Pune but it surely ain't same in Delhi.

Technology will remain same and even components may remain same, but the quality of raw material can change and it does. Quality of tooling and equipment can vary and it does. Maturity of processes, adherence to quality norms can be different and it usually is.

French fries part was a Joke, obvi it's not same, they tweak the taste and ingredient according to country, same like cola.

Now to the mail question, let's take and example of any CAR, Mercedes,

They manufacture their SUV @ Chakan, Pune.
Now let's assume it has only 5 components, and all 5 are manufactured in different countries and then came to India and they assemble here.

Now we call it as "Made in India" which i agree also.
If every component are from different countries, will you give weightage to the countries and the country has max. weightage will get the tag "Made in X" ?
 
It's no longer 'Made in Japan' 'Made in China 'Made in Korea' or 'Make in India', it boils down to what exactly manufacturers want. Present day manufacturers have cutthroat competition amongst themselves but the common interest that drives them is 'profit', and more and more profit. That's why these days they make consumer electronic goods such a way that products would conk off in 3-5 years. Forget Made in Japan products, I have a Godrej refrigerator which has been running since 1991 without any issue but my sister bought a Korean brand refrigerator that conked off within five years. It's not solely/mainly cost cutting but the voracious appetite for profit that drives manufacturers to make shoddy yet technologically advanced products.
 
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I can see some manufacturers especially LCD panels still get label of MIJ to differentiate their product from rest of the market. So I assume they consider it to be a power magnet. Still...

One of the largest LCD manufacturers is setting up a plant in India. I don't think made where matters anymore. We should worry about who makes it. The assumption is, of course, that the brand will ensure quality irrespective of where it is made.

Today manufacturers locate manufacturing units for multiple reasons - (1) to be near the max demand (2) to be where tax and other benefits are max (3) where labour is cheap (4) and where raw material is available in abundance.

So don't be surprised if your next LCD TV is made in Vietnam with parts from China, Japan, and Korea and the LCD panel from India.

Cheers
 
Assembling good quality mass market products based on assembly line processes av receivers, tvs, computers etc can be done anywhere.

Places like japan become important when it comes to niche or very high end products where numbers are low and super low tolerance quality control in slightly traditional manufacturing process are needed. Such products are usually costly as well.
 
One of the largest LCD manufacturers is setting up a plant in India. I don't think made where matters anymore. We should worry about who makes it. The assumption is, of course, that the brand will ensure quality irrespective of where it is made.

Today manufacturers locate manufacturing units for multiple reasons - (1) to be near the max demand (2) to be where tax and other benefits are max (3) where labour is cheap (4) and where raw material is available in abundance.

So don't be surprised if your next LCD TV is made in Vietnam with parts from China, Japan, and Korea and the LCD panel from India.

Cheers

Yes. I agree with you regarding cost point and I have mentioned same at the start of the thread.
The Question was not, where they now manufacturer, but is the Japan Label still adds more brand value for the end customer. I guess so...
 
Assembling good quality mass market products based on assembly line processes av receivers, tvs, computers etc can be done anywhere.

Places like japan become important when it comes to niche or very high end products where numbers are low and super low tolerance quality control in slightly traditional manufacturing process are needed. Such products are usually costly as well.

That's the catch. Bothered today as well?
 
Yes. I agree with you regarding cost point and I have mentioned same at the start of the thread.
The Question was not, where they now manufacturer, but is the Japan Label still adds more brand value for the end customer. I guess so...

Specific to TV panels, the Japanese have a lot to answer for losing a well held market to their neighbors Korea and China.
It was their stubbornness in keeping the tech priced high so as to alienate S. Asia and S.E. Asia where volumes are high.
Now they cling to a lost opportunity by putting Made in Japan.
In the 80s and 90s the Japanese excelled in trickling down hi tech to masses.
They are still winning as many fabs all around the world still have substantial Japanese investment.

Another way to look at it is this. Japan is very proud of their tech/manufacturing prowess.
It appeals to their local consumers when it says Made in Japan because jobs are being created or sustained due to this.

Cheers,
Raghu
 
but is the Japan Label still adds more brand value for the end customer. I guess so...

I am not so sure anymore. As another member said, 'Made in Japan' is only for expensive products. So we hardly see a purely Japanese product any more. The US, Germany, Korea today are far ahead in automobile technology. US and Europe are doing more work on silicon design and fabrication, particularly in areas that interest us - amplifiers, DAC, etc. Japanese are nowhere in smartphones. The Panasonics and like are also ran in smartphones. TEAC was always proudly Japanese, but they were always second fiddle. Sony is dying. So are Panasonic and Pioneer. Pioneer has merged with Onkyo to reduce internal competition and stay relevant.

They have lost in air conditioning, washing machines, clocks, microwaves, laptops, PCs. They are kind of hanging for their lives in DVD/Blu-ray players, TVs, and Two-in-Ones.

The only area that Japanese have some say is in AVRs.

I am not sure they are even relevant anymore.

Cheers
 
Today its more about the brands, most people do not care about where a product is manufactured as long its from a brand they trust.

But the Made in Japan tag still adds some extra value in the Indian market and that is why some products made in Japan or products with Japanese components have labels or marketing material mentioning about their Japanese origin.
 
We all know, in 70s/ 80s or even 90s Made In Japan was considered premium quality, top notch product lines and desirable in A/V world.

Now globalization and cost cuttings have shifted productions to different low cost countries. Is Made in Japan still holds value?

What you think guys?:eek:

Good old days :)

These days most buyers don't bother about the originating country of a product: the parts may have come from different countries and the assembly might have occurred in China. And some chinese stuff are indeed high quality at their respective price points. So I don't think the "Made in Japan" sticker holds much value now, as it used to do in the olden days.
 
I feel the "Made is Japan" declaration has lost it's value.

Reason being that most of us associate this with the electronics which were very well made and were pioneers in their prospective niche.

Take any electronic product from 70s till mid 90s, if it was Made in Japan, it was having some characteristics like robustness, easy and practical layout, build to last, usage of high grade components. Now the main thing to note is the components could be Non-Japanese but they went thru one of the most stringent quality control process. Thus ensuring top quality products.

Made in Japan stuff cried aloud "Quality".

Also Japanese were pioneers in innovation in electronics specially A/V gadgets.

Almost the playback / recording formats of A/V had something to do with Japan be it Betamax, Spool reels, VHS, CD, DVD, SVCD you name it. They were heavily into R&D.

For example you look back and see the things they have launched in market specially by SONY since late 70s and whole of 80s.

That era is gone. Simply gone.

Now there's very little of those traits remain which gave "Made in Japan" the respect and oomph in that era, why, SONY has not been able to make money since last decade.

So now the kings are Koreans and handful of other co. which are from all around the world.

One may think that when Japanese started to act like rest of world to increase the market share they lost their most important trait, The Japanese Way.

Oh....the days that have gone......
 
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