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Chinese manufacturers are in trouble. What would help? Industrial design!

By Rain Noe - July 17, 2009

in Design Business

A recent article in the sexily-named Plastic News points out that the "Factory of the World," a/k/a China, has been hit hard by the downturn. A sagging worldwide demand for products has placed Chinese manufacturing overcapacity at a staggering 30-40%. What to do?

Eric Chan, a native of China's Guangdong province and now president of industrial design firm Ecco Design in New York, said Chinese firms should think less about the export model of mega-factories, and instead put more attention to developing niche products....

The article points out that that would require better industrial design, which is a bit of an uphill battle in China:

"It is very difficult for [Chinese manufacturers] to understand why they need design," said Alan Yip, director of Yip Design. A recent study of industrial design among about 250 PRD manufacturing firms said that while most consider design important, they don't give enough weight to the decisions of industrial designers, and too often only consider design a visual skill, rather than integrating it into product development.

Will the efforts of Chan and Yip help? Time will tell. In the meantime, check out the rest of the article here.

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