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Foreword

The United States, Germany, Japan, and China can be considered as super-producing countries. Although the United States, a former manufacturing power, has maintained its leading position in high technology, it has abandoned it in the traditional industrial sector.

There is a saying in industry: the Americans patent the invention, the Germans make it a product, the Japanese miniaturize it and the Chinese make it cheap. Although this is somewhat exaggerated, this saying basically clarifies the characteristics of these countries: the USA is a leader in high technology, Germany is good in product development, Japan is good in product optimization, and China has the costs through mass production considerably reduced.

This book focuses on Made in Germany and Made in China.

Germany is known worldwide for its quality and reliability and has almost no competitors in Europe. The introduction of the euro makes it impossible for the European countries to protect their products from the Germany by devaluing their currencies; With the help of the euro, German products broke through the borders and occupied Europe. The world-famous German industrial standard DIN has become the European standard EN.

With regard to modern industry, we have to recognize that Germany is a teacher for China, the German quality has historical dimensions worldwide. For example, the author knew from childhood that the German company Zeiss was producing the best cameras in the world at that time. The Chinese have had respect for Made in Germany since World War II. There are often various articles in the Chinese media in which Germany and German products are presented. The reports are full of praise and recognition, the German model is almost idolized in China. German products are always a model for copies of Chinese products and German company management is always a role model for Chinese company management. Although Made in China has currently dominated the mid-end and low-end markets around the world, Made in China lags behind Made in Germany in the high-end market. The rise of the Chinese model did not mean the decline of the German model. This book does not intend to replace the German model with the Chinese one, but rather to discuss the rationality of these two models in their own existence.