David, in my work in China, I often get surprising realisations like "this factory makes 90% of these widgets in the world" while the factory in question may look like a dusty shed. The "super-centralisation" phenomenons are all around.
People may think that simple, generic items may gravitate to competitive markets, but with modern manufacturing equipment, even very small factories can have sky high productivity.
At around 2014, I was working on arranging manufacturing for one netbook design, and I went to South China to pick suppliers for mechanical parts.
A company called RKX hinge was the biggest notebook, and cellphone hinge maker in the world with more than half of global market share. To my surprise, they did not have a website at the time, not even a sign on the door.
They were a small, 2 storey factory in Baoan, with an office on the factory floor, and "a warehouse space" made of dangerously tall pyramids of boxes in the corner of shop floor.
People may think that simple, generic items may gravitate to competitive markets, but with modern manufacturing equipment, even very small factories can have sky high productivity.
At around 2014, I was working on arranging manufacturing for one netbook design, and I went to South China to pick suppliers for mechanical parts.
A company called RKX hinge was the biggest notebook, and cellphone hinge maker in the world with more than half of global market share. To my surprise, they did not have a website at the time, not even a sign on the door.
They were a small, 2 storey factory in Baoan, with an office on the factory floor, and "a warehouse space" made of dangerously tall pyramids of boxes in the corner of shop floor.