Solid Height - Spring Manufacturers Institute

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Relative Costs of Manufacture
of the problem proved to
of offshoring: Recently
in Selected Countries
be the way the spring fit
for the first time, IST
received stainless
Labor Raw Materials
on mating components,
which weren’t being
springs in an assembly
made in China that
worked better than
China
India
5
6
1
1
machined consistently
enough.
It is certain that IST
those made in Europe; USA 100 1
will see more examples
they lasted twice as
long in a fatigue life
Germany 100 1
of offshore manufacturing
challenges in months
test. The reason for
this proved to be the
passivation process
Japan
UK
100
85
1
1
to come. Globalization is
here to stay, and it will
only make sense to man-
applied, as a matter of Poland 16 1
ufacture some products
course, in China.
in low-labor-cost coun-
The more usual
tries. The table to the left
story, though, is that springs made offshore do not showing the ratio of labor costs to material costs for
work as well as those made in Europe. In one case,
springs made in India passed their relaxation test
various countries illustrates this point.
in India (only just), but failed at the end user (mar- The time when manufacturing ceases to be
ginally) because they had grown in transit after hot transferred is difficult to predict, but you can be
prestressing.
certain that China and India’s capacity to absorb
In another case, Chinese assemblies sometimes more manufacturing has not yet been reached. Even
failed a test while European-made ones always when it has, there are plenty of other countries in
passed. The zinc-plated compression spring was the Far East and Africa able and willing to offer their
suspected to be the reason, but the actual cause labor forces. v
20 SPRINGS July 2006