Tag Archives: China

Made In Japan or China?!

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We’ve recently received several calls or emails from consumers regarding the country of origin for our coilovers. So we wanted to clear up the confusion.

In short, coilovers, and our springs for that matter, are being manufactured in both of our facilities- Japan and China.

It shouldn’t be news by now that we have our own factory in China, and it has been operational for nearly 10 years now. Initially, this factory handled our new-at-the-time ENDURAPRO and ENDURAPRO PLUS shock absorber manufacturing. But within the first few years, we were also able to get our STREET BASIS Z & STREET ADVANCE Z kits made at this factory. It wasn’t that cut and dried of a plan, though. TEIN Japan was still manufacturing a majority of the coilovers. It is just that TEIN China needed to address product manufacturing for their local market and soon demand increased and we found ourselves needing to increase more manufacturing out of this factory to meet global demand.

Then, the pandemic threw all of us a curveball. If anyone can recall, there was a period of incredibly ridiculous costs on freight. Soon, we hit a problem with getting containers and scheduling vessels from our Yokohama facility. From China, however, shipping wasn’t much of a concern. The only exception being regional lockdowns in China due to the fast-spreading virus, as well as some shut downs due to electric power being rationed (kinda strange). Shipping was still more expensive than usual, yes. But at least we were able to have products shipped. But another problem became apparent- not all of our customers want STREET BASIS Z or STREET ADVANCE Z coilovers. Soon our backorder list was growing by the week, but it seemed to revolve around one specific coilover model- FLEX Z.

TEIN China had yet to manufacture any of our FLEX coilover line. But the shipping concern forced us to retool for FLEX production out of this facility, and we started adding new machines necessary for FLEX Z production. Starting in late 2021, we received only a few part numbers of FLEX Z from China. But to date, they are now making a majority of FLEX Z kits.

This isn’t to say that TEIN Japan does not manufacture FLEX Z any longer. It’s just that TEIN Japan can now focus on product manufacturing for their domestic market, and a few other Asian countries, as well as for USA.

We now have springs being manufactured in China too! This is relatively new, about 1 year or so now. Before, we were having springs shipped to China for the assembly of STREET BASIS Z & STREET ADVANCE Z kits. We were hoping to find a suitable spring manufacturer in China, but several tests of locally manufactured springs didn’t meet our requirements. BUT, by importing coil spring wire from Japan we are now able to have springs made to our specifications. Yes it costs us more to do so, but quality is still paramount to our business. Still, there is a savings in doing so, and ultimately we still want to bring a quality product to our customers, so long as we are in control of that quality.

TEIN Has Two Manufacturing Plants?!

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That is correct!

Earlier in 2014, we posted about the new TEIN China manufacturing plant, which construction of the plant was completed before the end of the year. This new plant will be focusing on production of our upcoming line of performance replacement dampers. YES, we will finally be working on replacement dampers designed to work with factory springs, as well as our S.TECH & HIGH TECH lowering spring kits! We’ll blog more on this product later.

However, this will not be the first manufacturing project for TEIN China. We’re going to be receiving our new STREET BASIS Z & STREET ADVANCE Z damper lines from the TEIN China plant.

If you had read our previous posts regarding the new “Z” line, you’ll notice that the other Z line of dampers, our FLEX Z coilovers, will be coming from TEIN Japan. Why is that?

TJP New Plant

TEIN Japan’s Yokohama plant. This new facility was opened in January 2014.

It’s a little difficult to explain. But, in short, TEIN is still a very proud Japanese brand. In fact, many of TEIN’s domestic customer base prefer a Japanese manufactured product, especially more of the high-end kits we offer. So TEIN Japan will still continue to produce some of our higher end product lines, such as the upcoming FLEX Z & FLEX A, MONO SPORT, SUPER DRIFT, HG, SUPER RACING, GROUP N., and several other product lines.

That is not to say there is a lack of pride for the TEIN products coming from the TEIN China plant. In fact, we have invested a lot of money into this new plant in an effort to maintain the same TEIN quality our customers know and expect out of every product. Even machinery and equipment used in TEIN Japan will be the same in the TEIN China plant. A few of TEIN Japan’s engineers and managers will also be making the move to China, not only to train new staff, but to also control all operations. To us, this is a necessary step in controlling and maintaining TEIN quality.

Maybe this would have been a much easier undertaking if we just outsourced manufacturing of these more affordable coilover kits through some other Chinese or Taiwanese manufacturer. Sure, but that isn’t the TEIN way. We’re proud of our technology. Again, we’re not claiming to have invented dampers. We’re just proud to make suspension better through our own engineering and through our own technology.

Still though, why the new factory in China?

photo (Custom)

Our new TEIN China manufacturing plant!

A very good question. For several years now, we’ve faced stiff competition in the market place, especially with a lot of these somewhat engineered suspension kits selling for well under $1000. We’re not trying to defame any particular brand. So in their best interests, we’ll leave that information out. Sorry! We’re not here to bash on anyone!

It hasn’t been easy for us. For years, most of the feedback from our authorized dealers and wholesalers is how TEIN suspension is overpriced, and no matter how we dissected our manufacturing process in trying to reduce cost, it still didn’t gain the appeal for a broader range of customers. We were essentially becoming a boutique brand. We’re hoping that opening a new overseas facility helps to address this matter. Of course, this exploits a certain factor about manufacturing in China- affordable labor. However, we’re not in China to simply abuse this factor and gain in profitability. It is just a simple fact about the country and its economic structure, and this is how other manufacturers are able to price their products well below ours. This new affordability in manufacturing translates directly into a more affordable product for our customers.

It wasn’t an easy decision. In fact, it was an idea that we never knew would come to fruition. We didn’t simply decide to open up a new plant. We’re talking about a problem that hadn’t been addressed since late 2008, during the dreaded global financial crisis. Again, we could have simply outsourced manufacturing.  But, fortunately, we were able to hang on and maintain some profitability over the next few years in an uneasy industry. We had to outweigh every factor before we made this decision to grow. Now, it’s set in stone, and the TEIN China plant is just about fully operational.

Many of TEIN USA’s staff share the same regards as all other U.S. consumers when we hear “Made in China”. It clearly doesn’t have the appeal that “Made in Japan” does. Typically, we view Chinese manufactured goods as essentially NOT GOOD. That was just something most of us grew up hearing and reading about. It’s sad. Then again, think about how many other goods come from China… Why is it that China is commonly associated with terrible quality? I think this is something that TEIN plans to dispel. Being that we’re in control of all aspects of this manufacturing plant, we have the opportunity to change that “Made in China” label. We think that, naturally, Chinese manufacturing can improve.

All TEIN suspension products, whether made in China or made in Japan, will be covered with our manufacturer’s warranty. That won’t change. In fact, we’ll continue to offer after-sales service, such as replacement parts and dampers, as well as overhaul service, to all of our customers so that they can continue to use their TEIN suspension for years and years.