In today's global environment whoever manufactures products better, cheaper and faster, wins. Every country in the world is competing. In consumer lawn and garden products, China is grabbing a lot of manufacturing opportunities.

There is something very basic about manufacturing lawn and garden tools - value is added by taking raw materials and labor, and producing products that can be sold in high quantities, with quality, to generate good return on the investment.

In the past decade, manufacturing technology has expanded rapidly on a global scale some many countries have mastered the methods, the quality processes, the execution systems and software.

In the U.S. today, big factories are penalized with high taxes, strict zoning regulations and infinite bureaucracy. NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) attitudes are driving manufacturing offshore. On the other hand, Ireland, China, Korea, Hong Kong and many other countries seem to be inviting industry with open arms and deferred taxes.

Automation and outsourcing are modern facts of life.

Traditional manufacturing payroll jobs simply won't be coming back. Many U.S. manufacturers are moving production plants to other global locations like China. And this is not simply because of cheaper labor. A massive shift in economic power is under way.

A tenfold surge in high-quality Chinese imports at below US manufacturing costs is changing the landscape. There has been fierce competition in the past, but the new Chinese competition is dramatically different; they are about half the price. This has been a big factor in the loss of manufacturing jobs in addition U.S. companies are no longer investing in much new capacity and the ranks of U.S. engineers are thinning.

Chinese companies spend more on worker training and enterprise-management software. And 91% of U.S. plants are more than a decade old, vs. 54% in China.

America's trade deficit with China keeps soaring to new records. It's likely to be more than $250 billion in 2008, and about 12% of that through the world's biggest retailer: Wal-Mart. All the other large retailers (Target, Home Dept, Sears, K-Mart) are following suit in order to be able to compete.

After years of struggling to crack the Chinese market, US multinationals are finally reaping rich profits. They're making cell phones, shampoo, autos, and PCs in China and selling them to the Chinese middle class - about 100 million people, a group that should more than double in size by 2010.

Also, by outsourcing components and hardware from China, US companies have sharply boosted profits and return on capital. China's surging demand for raw materials and commodities has driven prices up worldwide, creating a windfall for US steelmakers, miners, and lumber companies.

More innovation. Better lawn and garden goods. Lower prices. Newer plants. America will surely continue to benefit from China's expansion. For more information on the largest selection of quality lawn and garden tools sourced from several countries worldwide, search right here at Green Garden Tools.