[ericmay]

I don't really follow what you're trying to say with your last sentence and I'd be skeptical of a claim that Chinese workers are 30% more efficient, but Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and others have maintained US manufacturing facilities for decades and seem to be doing just fine with any potential culture conflicts.

The 30% number you cite could be true but perhaps in order for Chinese (or any other country) manufacturing to be economical perhaps it needs to be 60%. Mexico is actually important here.

[wongarsu]

Toyota has manufacturing facilities in at least 16 countries, so they probably have this figured out. US import duties make it especially lucrative for manufacturers to have US facilities, which lines up with Toyota having 10 other facilities in the US, plus some in Canada and Mexico.

Still, in my eyes that only makes it more intriguing how they bridge the cultural differences, since whatever they are doing seems to be working.

[hintymad]

> claim that Chinese workers are 30% more efficient

I was just quoting what the documentary said. There was so much contention between the management and the workers in the American glass factory featured in the documentary. In the end, the management hosted a competition between the American workers and the Chinese workers. Chinese workers won with a big margin.

[ericmay]

Yep. It's a great documentary that I enjoyed watching, but I think we need stronger evidence here. Documentaries are not necessarily factual, and they often times have an angle despite the idea that they're just producing factual content/stories.

Showing that the Chinese workers won by a big margin doesn't prove anything. It definitely doesn't prove anything outside of that specific scenario.