I recently spoke to a number of buyers who work for various tech companies in the US. They know a lot about the "bad cap" problem, but they have a totally different take on why it is happening. From what they've seen, it's not due to some mysterious stolen formula, or substandard methods being used. Rather, it is mostly due to counterfeit parts.
In the last few years, across different shipments from different trusted suppliers from China and Taiwan, the parts they've received were counterfeit. The parts look identical and are nearly impossible to distinguish from real ones. Unknowingly, they've used those parts in their products only to get a rash of unexplained failures. Only after detailed inspection can the counterfeit parts be detected. The suppliers overseas are very frustrated by this problem as it is giving them a bad rep.
What they don't know for sure is where the conterfeits get into the supply chain. It seems likely that someone close to the mfg sites overseas may be swapping the counterfeits in right before shipping, but it could potentially happen later in the shipping process.
The main point here, is that just looking at the brand on your cap doesn't mean diddly. It could easily be a counterfeit part, and there's really no easy way to figure that out.
In the last few years, across different shipments from different trusted suppliers from China and Taiwan, the parts they've received were counterfeit. The parts look identical and are nearly impossible to distinguish from real ones. Unknowingly, they've used those parts in their products only to get a rash of unexplained failures. Only after detailed inspection can the counterfeit parts be detected. The suppliers overseas are very frustrated by this problem as it is giving them a bad rep.
What they don't know for sure is where the conterfeits get into the supply chain. It seems likely that someone close to the mfg sites overseas may be swapping the counterfeits in right before shipping, but it could potentially happen later in the shipping process.
The main point here, is that just looking at the brand on your cap doesn't mean diddly. It could easily be a counterfeit part, and there's really no easy way to figure that out.
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