Editor’s Note: Today’s guest post is from Dick Locke. Dick, who has delivered seminars to over 100 companies across the globe, is a seasoned expert on International Sourcing and Procurement who wrote the book. (Here is the link to his archived posts.)

Last week, I bought two home items at Costco. One was a Chinese-assembled and branded 42 inch very thin LED-lit TV for $300. The other was a U.S. made foam mattress for $500. Guess which one had an obvious manufacturing defect and had to be returned and which one worked perfectly right out of the box? The simple product from the US or the complex product from China?

Anyone? Anyone?

It was the U.S. built mattress (and it was so much fun to get it picked up and replaced).

Products aren’t going to come back to the US from anywhere unless our factories not only compete in landed price but have better quality than other countries’ products have.

While China doesn’t have the greatest reputation for quality in some of its products, its electronics (and I’m sure other products) are generally excellent. I’m convinced that quality levels are more a function of the purchasing techniques that buying companies use and less on the country of manufacture.

Thanks, Dick!