Re: [Leica] outsourcing manufacture ...

[Godfrey DiGiorgi <ramarren@bayarea.net>]

>It depends on the circumstances.  Generally, I consider
>outsourcing abroad to be suspect until proven otherwise, no
>matter what the countries involved.  I have _very_ rarely heard
>of any company outsourcing for any reason other than a fast buck;
>certainly improved quality never seems to be a motivation.

I work for a multinational manufacturer. When we outsource, we are 
looking to maximize quality to our customers for greatest customer 
satisfaction along with minimizing the cost of production and 
accomodating in-house resource constraints. Customer satisfaction is our 
greatest concern and improved quality is the best way for us to achieve 
it: many studies and tests have proven this. 

Minimizing the cost of production allows us to offer the products at a 
more competitive price, but we cannot outsource purely for cost of 
production at the expense of quality because that would kill our customer 
satisfaction. We like our paychecks, thank you, and won't go that way. 

All of the products which we've outsourced have returned top notch QA 
ratings and very high customer satisfaction ratings. It is invisible to 
our customers which products are outsourced, as it should be: we don't 
hide it, it's just not visible unless you look hard. Our brand label is 
what's important to us and to them. The customers don't care as long as 
the products meet their expections.

Godfrey