I can tell you that most of the staff assembling Wessex have been there for the last 3 years I have been going regularly to the factory. In fact some, such as the production manager are now good friends. Even when I am not at the factory, we still regularly communicate using the WeChat app - which is like the Chinese equivalent of WhatsApp.Ken Crawford wrote:The problem in many Chinese factories including JinBao is employee retention. These workers aren't seasoned experts that have been or plan to be building instruments for 30 years. The guy building tubas at JinBao may have been assembling toasters six months ago. And a year from now he might be making pants. So when the QA guy gets fired, the next guy with the most experience probably replaced him, and that guy probably has a whole 12 months of experience with musical instrument production.
Where there is a high staff turnover is in such areas as the polishing department. Anyone that has polished tubas knows it is a very dirty and tiring job. So not surprisingly as soon as they can find something less arduous, they do move on. It is probably no coincidence, that the number one reason Wessex rejects instruments is polishing issues, such as micro-scratching under the lacquer.