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I couldn't agree about the Festool kit not having an edge over most of the competition. Maffell however have had a few advantages in quality and operation over Festool for a while.
It's still a question of some customers being prepared to stick with a high quality product at a higher price for the minimal gains (i.e. System compatibility in Festool's case). There is no need to compromise manufacturing quality to compete in a crowded low price market and the Chinese will always have logistics adding cost and customer support is more difficult.
We are not behind any country in terms of our research and development. Our manufacturing industry and universities are at the bleeding edge of technology but the population has abandoned it as a profession.
As you say it's a question of perception, a lot people couldn't feel proud to work in industry or skilled labour, it's seen as a fallback from any easier way to make a good living. I could go on but I'm not that bothered whether people go to work to enrich this country or not. I have my own way of getting by and there will be demand for my skills all the time people are living in houses, come the zombie apocalypse I will have loads of plywood for the windows and be very handy with an axe!
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Airhead
I agree in principle, but I recently had to buy some new power tools for a large project. I'm used to using the 'best' and never purchased anything except Festo when I was a tradesman. I was convinced by the sales guy I used to deal with that I didn't need to buy Festo as the cheaper brands had caught up quality wise.
So my worry is that we are too far behind, and now due to the massive investment and progress China and India has made in their R&D sectors and they can churn out high quality items far cheaper than we can.