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Offline Armando  
#1 Posted : 05 May 2015 04:59:41(UTC)
Armando

United States   
Joined: 21/07/2003(UTC)
Posts: 1,350
Location: Houston, Texas
Hi all,

I was thrilled to receive a shipment from my dealer today containing 3 of the new tooling Nohabs and the new Big Boy.

But, lo and behold: The Nohabs bear the most-dreaded sticker: "Made in China". I fear that the Big Boy too is made in China. However, there was no sticker on it.

I thought I read somewhere that Marklin were not going to continue their trend to manufacture in China anymore, but that production would move instead to Hungary. Whatever happened?? Are we to continue paying big bucks for China-made stuff???

I don't really feel like it anymore.Angry
Best regards,
Armando García

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Offline H0  
#2 Posted : 05 May 2015 07:22:13(UTC)
H0


Joined: 16/02/2004(UTC)
Posts: 15,254
Location: DE-NW
Hi!
Originally Posted by: Armando Go to Quoted Post
I thought I read somewhere that Marklin were not going to continue their trend to manufacture in China anymore, but that production would move instead to Hungary. Whatever happened??
We discussed this in many threads already.

A true Märklin fan even wrote in the German Wikipedia that Märklin gave up production in China way back in 2010. Märklin talks so often about transferring production from China to Europe that fans believe they already left China.
But talk is cheap. The stickers reveal the truth.
Regards
Tom
---
"In all of the gauges, we particularly emphasize a high level of quality, the best possible fidelity to the prototype, and absolute precision. You will see that in all of our products." (from Märklin New Items Brochure 2015, page 1) ROFLBTCUTS
UserPostedImage
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Offline mike c  
#3 Posted : 06 May 2015 05:35:29(UTC)
mike c

Canada   
Joined: 28/11/2007(UTC)
Posts: 7,880
Location: Montreal, QC
Even though production may have been moved from China to Hungary, the parts used to make a new model might still have originated a few years ago when they were still produced in China. If Maerklin had a few thousand Nohab shells and frames in inventory, then they would still have to indicate "Made In China" even though the assembly occurred in Hungary. US Import regulations require that the country where the lion's share of production occurred.

Regards

Mike C
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Offline H0  
#4 Posted : 06 May 2015 07:44:43(UTC)
H0


Joined: 16/02/2004(UTC)
Posts: 15,254
Location: DE-NW
Originally Posted by: mike c Go to Quoted Post
Even though production may have been moved from China to Hungary, the parts used to make a new model might still have originated a few years ago when they were still produced in China.
The latest "Made in China" revelations are the brand new bay S 2/6 and the brand new NoHAB (longer than the previous Märklin model). Stocked shells from earlier years? Not very likely.

And metal die-casting is the core competence of the Göppingen factory. But the zincpest cases are said to come from China, so die-cast parts came and come from China, too.

Märklin brought their moulds "back" to Europe.
Maybe the S 2/6 and the NoHAB are not made from Märklin moulds. Some models are the result of "co-operations" - and not all co-operations are disclosed by Märklin.
Regards
Tom
---
"In all of the gauges, we particularly emphasize a high level of quality, the best possible fidelity to the prototype, and absolute precision. You will see that in all of our products." (from Märklin New Items Brochure 2015, page 1) ROFLBTCUTS
UserPostedImage
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Offline witzlerh  
#5 Posted : 08 May 2015 20:12:24(UTC)
witzlerh

Canada   
Joined: 25/09/2010(UTC)
Posts: 417
Location: Sherwood Park, AB, Canada
Were the products you received meeting your expectations aside from the information on the sticker?

This Made in China bashing is getting dated. In the 50-60's we made fun of stuff made in Japan only to have Japan teach the world about high quality process in the 80-90's.
China is listening and responding.

Look, I no longer get a VW as my Nissan is doing much better in reliability than VW currently. Nissan was a joke compared to VW 20 years ago. Things change when companies keep focused. 15 years ago I ditched my Ford for VW as Ford was expensive to maintain....now Ford is doing well but not as good a Nissan. However in a few years, that will change again....

It is up to us to point out problems and Märklin will address them and they have addressed them without costing too much. Part of the quality process is feedback from customers.

Quality process is taught and practiced. If it is no longer applied, eventually a factory will lose out. Märklin has a good focus on the balance of keeping costs down and quality up. If there are good factories in China or India or Hungary or Germany that do quality work for low cost, they will use them and keep an eye on quality.

I am in the international manufacturing business. I have recommended for and against shops both locally and around the world. That recommendation is based on recent performance and willingness to babysit suppliers or not. There is no cost benefit if you get a cheap shop making parts but have to have a large QA dept to weed out the inevitable bad parts and deal with scheduling snafus due to shortages of parts. However, neither will I use very expensive shops and waste money....even if their quality is high.

I am getting other brands of trains (Rapido) that are made in China and they are doing a good job. The detail is much more than Märklin does but that comes at a price that things break with mishandling.

If something is physically not right, then talk to you dealer and/or Märklin. They both want happy customers and will make it right as reasonably possible. If there is a process that is given them headaches, they will change.
Harald
CS2 DB & Canadian Era 3-6
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