Nantong.
No, It was not just "Cry Wolf" in the china bridge fabrication quality problems both in the Oakland Bay Bridge and the Alexander Hamilton Bridge in NYC! There were real quality problems, many of them cultural systemic. However, as a Third Party Bridge Fabrication inspector in the USA and Canada, I can assure you that there are some very real quality problems, cultural, systemic and outright criminal in the USA too.
Although there are some considerable cost savings by taking the "Low Bids" from China to fabricate over there, I do not believe the offset in initial bid / fabrication cost, factors in the downstream value of local and even out of state returns into the net savings total. The values of the unemployment offset, steel manufacture offset, transportation offset, and even the administrative employment offset do not appear to be used in the net savings calculations.
There may be some "as yet unknown" quality problem costs crop up in the future due to the required repairs made in China, and the use of foreign steel in the fabrication. There were some problems with coatings and deck topping with the Tri-Boro Bridge in NYC.
It still offends me that our politicians cannot just punish the quality offenders in the USA, but bite the bullet and spend the extra dollars to keep the work at home.
Joe Kane