[makmanalp]

Eh, I don't see this happening because China still has the big manufacturers, and they keep the big clients happy. Most of those manufacturers probably are good at building to spec, but would not entertain a small project like pen type a.

That's what China is all about: mass (with a capital M) manufacturing. In pen type a's case, the up front costs and haggling are a major trouble but for an order serveral orders of magnitude larger, the up front costs are a mere rounding error.

[hluska]

Great points - thanks for your perspective! I think I got a little caught up in the cult of me....:)

[makmanalp]

Not to detract from your point though, I do agree (and I'm fairly certain there are numbers somewhere to back this up) that the super-custom small batch manufacturing industry is alive and kicking in the US and other non-fareast countries because of exactly what you describe.