Differences between European, American, and Japanese electrical products
Thread Content
I used to work on electrical maintenance in a Taiwanese-owned company, and recently I switched to a U.S.-owned company for the same role. In my previous company, most of the electrical components such as relays, contactors, switches, and frequency converters were of Japanese origin; whereas in this U.S.-owned company, all such components are of European or American origin. Let’s discuss the differences between these two types of electrical components – there’s no specific theme, just talk casually
In the field of electronics and electrical engineering, Japan ranks first in the world in terms of overall performance, surpassing the United States – and this is by no means an exaggeration. What was mentioned on the first floor referred only to chip technology. It’s true that the United States holds the top position in semiconductor technology, but Toshiba and NEC (Nippon Electric) have their own strengths in many areas; in some aspects, they even surpass even the United States. To take it a step further, the United States has the best IC design and chip manufacturing companies in the world (for semiconductor lithography and such), while the equipment used by the packaging companies is almost entirely of Japanese origin. In other words, a considerable number of the equipment used by the world’s major semiconductor manufacturers to manufacture chips is of Japanese origin, and it is unique in the world. Japan possesses extraordinary technical expertise in the fields of precision measurement and manufacturing. One reason why our domestic semiconductor industry cannot develop is Japan’s extremely strict embargo on high-performance equipment for us. The more serious issue is that Japan is the world leader in many areas of basic electronic components; for example, in the field of capacitors, most of the best manufacturers in the world are located in Japan – companies such as Nichicon, Rubycon, Panasonic, and others are all Japanese. Take quartz crystal oscillators for example: among the top 5 companies in the world, only one (the fifth-ranked one) is from Taiwan (and it specializes in crystals for use in automobiles only), while the first four are Japanese manufacturers. In domestic markets, the quality of products produced by large companies is usually far superior to that of smaller firms, but Japan is different. Many family-owned businesses that seem like small workshops are still able to reach the highest levels of excellence in the world (Japan has the best shot put manufacturers in the world; that company has only 6 employees, including the manager – impressive, right?). This shows the gap between domestic industries and Japanese companies.