Shoddy panels?

They play by different rules. Which is why they are constantly hacking US businesses and military for technological intelligence to cut the research, development time and cost.

Shoddy quality of panels is only part of a problem. China itself is a problem, and unfortunately nobody is doing anything about it. Problem of over-population, over-consumption and over-pollution. Companies with higher standards (in China) are forced out of business by zillion of competitors with no standards at all. The very mentality is different. Industrial espionage and copyright piracy are so common that have lost its meaning. Knock-offs are sometimes made on the same equipment as a brand name factory next door but with cheaper materials and lower standards, and then the equipment is substituted for cheaper, and then both of them go out of business.

Yes, US aircraft maintenance is being outsourced extensively to China and Philippines, this is not widely publicized and causes safety concerns. Some Asian companies keep hangars in the US, still with very low requirements to qualification and language proficiency, when workers are unable even to read aircraft service manuals.

True enough, even though there is a significant span in the quality of vehicles, the worst of them sold in the US have better JDPower initial quality of the best of them not that many years ago. These days every passenger car model, best to worst, has on average about one defect per vehicle, +/- a few tenths.

Jim

...Unless you get "threaded"

I remember laughing at the Hyundai in the early nineties. Quality was very low (but the YUGO was also there so Hyundai didn't get bottom billing). Consumer Reports tests might have spray painted the inspection quality rating page with black paint. Black dots all over. New car owners showed up at the battery distributor asking "Is there some way to stop all these electrical failures? The dealership is no help"

China is in crisis. What seems on the surface to be an emerging superpower is in fact a country with two billion people, impatient people who demand to work, make money and have a decent standard of living. Like a gawky six-foot 13-year old, the country has a gangly barely controllable manufacturing infrastructure.

But Orientals have a stubborn streak that is awesome. Call it patience or whatever. They will pound, hammer, scream, threaten, belittle and incarcerate their way onto resolving problems. If you doubt this as I did you are going to be in for a surprise. China is a country of regulations. The glaring embarrassing deficiencies in the high tech field will be resolved. China cannot afford to be laughed off and dismissed like Yugoslavia and the "Yugo".

The Chinese government is running scared and THAT is scary. They are conducting naval exercises close to Hawaii. Why? As a diversion. News, BS for the Chinese people. When in doubt divert attention. The Politburo and Central Committee cannot afford to be embarrassed by character assassination of the quality of Chinese goods much longer. You think the contents of the link kindly supplied by big buford are not being screamed at maximum volume at manufactures by the government? It's ugly. I would not like to be a factory manager right now in a central committee "meeting".

China is betting the farm. Either a lot more people stay employed or the members of the politburo are going to sleep with the fishes. Going "backward" because of consumer rejection is not an option.

When I conversed with "Lin" an incredibly gifted bi-lingual engineer manufacturer's rep several years ago, he explained these things to me. I did everything but stand on my head emphasizing the wide open market for illumination quality LED's. He could scarcely believe my emphasis on the quantity "trillions" of white LED's. Of course the industry morphed, and now CREE and Luxeon are highpowered by-words but the first China LED's were garbage. Now, it's a horse of a different color.

Presently I am acting as a "buyer" for a Mexican mercantile owner. He goes to the states and purchases "lots", meaning sealed crates of merchandise that has been returned to stores, for one reason or another. As expected a high percentage is from China. I see defective electric heaters that have miswired circuits, overly sophisticated weather stations with absolutely inadequate user instructions. All returns. For failure to test at the manufacturer, the store is getting a great buy, an excellent value. A few minutes with a screw gun and some basic troubleshooting and straightening out the consumer is getting a great product at a great price. I'm doing this as a hobby. The young owners of the store and I have become friends. This old phart is getting a Chinese manufacturing health report refresher course.

But to sign a death certificate for Chinese quality regarding solar panel quality I feel is way premature. A newer Hyundai that beat Honda, Toyota, and BMW for quality was a rude awakening for me.

Didn't know about Suntech's bankruptcy. They actually made good panels.

Age old adage: You get what you pay for.