How Outsourcing to China will "Bring it Home"

Mei (name changed) is a Chinese factory worker who makes toys sold overseas. She works 12 hours except on Saturday when she is permitted to only work six hours. She lives in a small flat with her husband and one child. She was pregnant with a second but the local authorities forced her to have an abortion. For two years she managed raising their living child alone, because her husband was being detained under suspicion of having ties to a certain religion. This is not Hollywood, this is nothing remarkable, this is common people's life.. in mainland China.

The phenomenon of outsourcing to China took on a complete new dimension in the USA, with the sudden success of what some consider the single largest retail scandal in American history - Wal*Mart. According to the PBS documentary STORE WARS: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town:

Made in the U.S.A? Despite a well-publicized "Made in the U.S.A." campaign, 85 percent of the stores' items are made overseas, often in Third World sweatshops. In fact, only after Wal-Mart's "Buy American" ad campaign was in full swing did the company become the country's largest importer of Chinese goods in any industry. By taking its orders abroad, Wal-Mart has forced many U.S. manufacturers out of business.

(note the above recording of Wal-Mart's 1992 television ad "Bring it Home to the USA" was removed from YouTube several weeks after this article was published)

Most Americans never saw past the red-white-and-blue logo of this seemingly phony patriotism. Wal*Mart stock price skyrocketed with its success. Wal*Mart would ultimately get away with "selling the American economy" to Chinese elite on an unprecedented scale. Other retailers - by choice or by necessity - also increased Chinese imports. The Chinese elite came to understand that a great weakness of their western counterparts was the overwhelming self-centeredness of some. And as Wal*Mart showed everyone, you only need some. Convince one to outsource - two more follow. Others resist, but as their own products loose markets to cheaper competition, they too are soon forced to follow suit in a massive avalanche of outsourcing. This flood of new low-cost, low-quality product to store shelves also fostered a new "use up and throw away" mentality in people, which produces more waste and garbage.

But it gets worse. In early 2009 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed a collateral agreement in Beijing which grants China the right to claim Eminent Domain of LAND within the USA as security for all the debt this has helped cause. America has now quite literally - and quietly - mortgaged itself to China, and most people living there don't even know. Americans can partly thank their local Wal-Mart - after all - "They Care", as their carts say. All of this for the everyday low price of cheap tube socks and $2 a day paid in sweat shops that nobody else had to look at. So, for those who want to move to China, there is good news. We just keep outsourcing to China, and China will be brought to us.

Outsourcing Disasters Put Consumers at Risk

Outsourcing manufacturing and even development to overseas companies became a fact of life with international agreements and the economic globalization which quickly followed. Foreign export subsidies abroad and lowered import tariffs at home offer a powerful case for simply sourcing what we want from somewhere else. The benefit to consumers are cheaper display prices. However, the products themselves can have hidden costs which total much higher than the display price. Here are just three costs not on the price tag:

Safety: September 2009 saw the latest chapter in a long string of expensive and time-consuming product recalls of items manufactured in China. Just the other day one of our staff found themselves face to face with this reality in their own home, having narrowly avoided possible injury when the powder metal blade retainer for their new, one-day-old imported lawn mower cracked a large chunk off after just ten minutes of operation. This safety-critical part was stamped from powder metal and probably given insufficient oven time to bake - which means there are hundreds - thousands somewhere just like it. Back at the store our colleague watched as the entire model line seemed to have a similar flaw and started immediately getting pulled from the floor. How much could that have cost someone?

Economic: Training overseas personnel has opened the door to a flood of skillful black-market copycats, counterfeiters, patent and trademark pirates who apply inside knowledge to cleverly reproduce almost any product illegally, which becomes expensive and difficult to police. Local jobs and skills are lost overseas forever. Eventually, the local economy finds itself borrowing from China to buy from China.

Human Rights: Those employed overseas in the manufacture of low cost goods for export often discover their original expectations wrong, working in appalling conditions, with no way back out. Middlemen, business brokers and investors receive the entire net profit from the supply-demand relationship.

The real differential in the final consumer's decision is actually not cost, but timing. When presented a choice between "pay now or pay later", MBA 101 states that credit-based consumerism such as what is encouraged in the USA will pick "pay later" - even if it means paying more. Darwinism 101 responds that if cutting out fierce business competition could therefore be timed early, it technically justifies almost any other consequence in quality, ethics or community interest. Darwin knows that consumers will still have opportunity to pay their fare share of it all, just a bit "later".

Uncontrolled serial product outsourcing can be a disaster. Not surprisingly, there is growing understanding about the importance of highly selective outsourcing, supplier evaluation, certification and inspection by qualified local staff and agency, while maintaining tight product control, domestic R&D, and a healthy ratio of credible domestic suppliers and know-how at home.

Free AutoCAD a Hoax

Autodesk recently published an article reading, in part, "In order to get ahead in the workplace, you need to invest in yourself by increasing your knowledge and expanding your skills.. The program offers... Free Software License*"

The timing for this announcement was probably no accident. Autodesk's paying yearly upgrade buyers (unsubscribed) got a big shock just two weeks earlier when Autodesk unveiled plans to triple their upgrade prices. So this quick fix to bury any bad karma was probably planned weeks in advance.

But is the "Free Software License" really free? Actually the license only lasts for thirteen months. Applicants must be able to prove that they are an unemployed design professional, and give reference to their last place and time of employment. Appearantly it is also watermarked "Educational", so it can't legally be used for any kind of commercial work. In other words, this isn't what you were thinking it was. Autodesk is really just expanding their educational program to include recently unemployed users of their software.

Far from "caring about the little guy", Autodesk continues to relentlessly charge high prices to their paying customers, accost people trying to sell AutoCAD on eBay, drag small businesses to court who try to enable high-end functionality in the lower price Autodesk products like AutoCAD LT and kill open interoperability of their file formats.

Sorry, no free AutoCAD.

Four Reasons Economic Downturn is Good Timing For R&D

Global economies run in cycles. What goes up must come down. Likewise, we hope that what goes down must come back up. When we understand economic cycles we see, however, why a downturn is a good time to invest in R&D. Obviously cuts are in order during a downturn, this article explains four reasons why R&D shouldn't be one of them.

1) R&D is a better bargain. Economic downturn is a buyers market. Corporate lay-offs and budget cut-backs can yield a multitude of redundant professionals for cherry picking. The well known Bersin & Associates encourages "Rather than 'freezing all hiring', you should use this as an opportunity to upgrade your own organization. " Supply vendors, also under increased financial pressure, may lower prices for you to maintain sales. For those with cash, downturn is time to buy up, not sell out.

2) R&D keeps businesses internationally competitive. Most companies would agree with this. Some examples are Taiwan, North Ireland, and the USA. R&D also finds smarter and cheaper ways of doing things internally, thus directly saving companies' capital. Some governments award subsidies to product innovation, especially to innovation that will be exported.

3) R&D investment is easier to focus. Poor R&D investment quickly becomes manifest. Durable brands and quality products distinguish themselves from gadgets that consumers start doing without when belts tighten. In times of financial crisis, well focused R&D spending can really make products stand out from the crowd. Develop products and services still appealing to the buyers who do have money, not those who don't.

4) R&D discovers new markets. A recent Business Week article entitled "Innovate Out of the Economic Downturn" called R&D related activity "the single most important condition for transforming the crisis into an opportunity". An example of this is seen in the American Biomedical industry. "The CHI and PricewaterhouseCoopers 2002 report, "Biomedicine: The Next Wave for California's Economy," showcases the importance of medical and biomedical research, development, and manufacturing to California's regional economies and ultimately, to the nation's health." - Business Wire

The afore-quoted Bersin & Associates went on to state, "Downturns should be expected, so plan for them. Do not be surprised or panic." Financial downturn can be a reckoning to see who really has planned properly - and who hasn't. Those who have planned for rainy days should reap these rewards of innovation at lower costs than during periods of economic growth, resulting in more competitive products and services to offer for the economic cycle's next financial upturn.

The Four Os For Finding Work (as a CAD Designer)

Personally, I think that the four Os for finding work are really more or less an elaborate way of saying "gather more information", with four keyword points that just help us remember four useful aspects. This article focuses on applying them to find work in design careers, but they can be used in other fields too:

1. Offer: You need to know what the actual offer is, the real "give and take" of your current job market. Knowing (and accepting) the general offer climate is important when negotiating any specific opportunities discussed in point two. Have you discussed your search with those who already work in the field? What skills do you offer now? Should you offer more? What are employers really offering in return? Do they offer more elsewhere (or less)? Is money your only consideration? Will you get a better offer in another line of work? Do not assume that a more affluent country automatically offers higher wages in all fields. Finding an appropriate salary survey sometimes helps, like this one from AUGI (Autodesk User Group International) for 2008.

2. Opportunities: Establish all potential employment you are willing to accept. Do you know all of the specific design opportunities in your region? Are you willing to work part-time? Full-time? There are a number of online contract work portals available:

• Elance
• ScriptLance
• CAD Ground
• CADAuctions
• GetAFreelancer
• iFreelance.com
• DesignQuote
• Sologig
• Space Master Interiors
• countless more... (comments and feedback welcome)

As a tip, I find the most successful job hunter is never unemployed, because to him/her finding a job is already viewed seriously as opportunity. One could ask oneself, "What opportunities am I NOT yet using to find work? For example, do my friends and/or family know I am looking for this kind of job? Have I checked with all local employment offices & employment websites? Am I willing to try contract work agencies and temp services?"

3) Obstacles: Know why you are unemployed now. Is it the area you live in? Is it your level of experience? Is it new technology? What is it? Be honest, at least with yourself. Know the answer and fix it if you can.

4) Operation: Once you gather information, use it to your advantage - even when you don't have a job yet. Understand intimately the needs of each potential employer before the job interview, not after. Know your market and find your niche in it. Learn new skills that are marketable. Find ways to meet others already successfully working in the field you want and listen to them. Sometimes CAD Internet forums can be useful for finding the right community of people to talk to. Finally, share your research with other people who are, in turn, willing to share with you. If you aren't sharing then don't have friends. But if you share too much, other people might just start to use you. Try to find that balance.

Why Buy AutoCAD LT?

Economic slowdown, credit crunch, sustainability - these once academic buzz words have become household language in the last several months. But the falling prices of oil and stocks hasn't affected the high price of AutoCAD and its limited feature version, AutoCAD LT. Professional engineering staff, including architects, civil, structural and industrial designers in various disciplines are affected. The American Institute of Architects reports, "The AIA’s Architecture Billings Index (ABI) recorded its ninth straight monthly decline in October. However, the October drop to 36.2 was the steepest decline in its history, surpassing the weakness reported last February and March as the broader economy was just beginning to decelerate".

Autodesk CEO Carl Bass admits, "We realize that there is no quick or easy response to the current economic environment." For years Autodesk enjoyed good profits from its popular brands in a lucrative industry. However, Autodesk has offered no significant initiatives at this point to ease the financial burden felt by many of their customers. Retail price for Autodesk's latest AutoCAD LT 2009 ("lite" version) CAD software still averages well above $1000.00 USD.

Seeking an affordable alternative that they can trust, CAD engineers are choosing to use progeCAD instead. progeCAD sales have increased a dramatic 400% over the past year in some areas. This may be partially due to the increasing reliability of the overall progeCAD program to read and write AutoCAD files, as well as to offer a user interface and commands very similar to those used in AutoCAD. But it may also have to do with the fact that a company can buy almost three licenses of progeCAD for the same price they would pay for one of AutoCAD LT.

The full version 30-day demo of progeCAD (save and printing are not disabled) can be downloaded from CADDIT. Try it yourself!

3D Industrial CAD Software Upgrades Free For Two Years

CADDIT CAD CAM Australia is pleased to announce a special promotion for engineers looking for affordable 3D industrial engineering software. Buy VariCAD for Windows or Linux right now until September 30, and receive two years of free upgrades. What makes this offer especially exciting are some major product enhancements planned for the product during the free two year upgrade period which include advances in 3D parametric design and simulation. To further encourage Australia and New Zealand engineers to buy before October, CADDIT is offering special online pricing. The total savings of this special offer total to over 50% the normal price.

VariCAD is affordable 3D industrial design CAD software for practical engineers. It offers robust 3D mechanical design tools and associative 2D ANSI, ISO or DIN drafting layouts. VariCAD includes several applications for sheet metal, fit-out and profile construction, interference checking in assemblies and extensive libraries of standard parts which can be included in any design. Sharing designs with external systems is made easy through extensive ISO STEP, IGES, Autodesk DWG and DXF support. For those new to VariCAD, it can be downloaded and used free for 30 days, but this free upgrade offer will still end on September 30 2008. There are also videos, tutorials and other resources on the CADDIT website.

VariCAD has been meeting the needs of mechanical and design engineers for over a decade. This latest special offer includes two years of completely free product upgrades and technical support. There will probably never be a more affordable offer to buy this product. More information about VariCAD is available from CADDIT CAD CAM Australia.

Economy: progeCAD users enjoy savings against high price of AutoCAD

Once resorted to only by smaller businesses needing basic DWG CAD compatibility and AutoCAD commands for 2D technical drawing, progeCAD is now making gentle inroads to larger companies. "Great! This (progeCAD) delivers just the right level of features for a fractional price of what one copy of (AutoCAD) LT costs us..." wrote one office in Australia. "I sorted all our guys with progeCAD without capital expenditure" laughed another.

A downturn in the economy and the rising cost of new licenses for corporate brands like AutoCAD and Microstation have some department heads scrambling to find affordable CAD software that still gets support. Still, the new trend of larger companies toward progeCAD surprises some. It was only a few years ago that the program still suffered issues to edit large files (in excess of three megabytes) and snap to points within nested AutoCAD blocks. As progeSOFT continues to improve their flagship product, end users are enjoying the benefits of what many now consider to be their CAD of choice for money.

Schools benefit the most. They get theirs free. When CADDIT first announced the progeSOFT educational program in Australia, it was quiet. Then slowly interest started calling - TAFE, universities, public and private high schools. Now CADDIT.net receives new educational requests on pretty much a weekly basis.

CADDIT is an international partner of progeSOFT, Italy, specializing in the English or German language product sales and support. Users and companies from any country can download free or register progeCAD and choice of support plans directly online. For full corporate progeCAD site license requirements, the best options is to contact CADDIT directly. Current progeCAD 2008 Professional users can expect at least one, if not two more free minor support upgrades this year. These minor upgrades are mostly patches to enhance and sometimes fix existing functions. progeCAD 2009 is still many months away.