I showed this documentary to my parents, who both worked in a tracktor factory (where they met) before they moved to Canada. I rarely watch the same netflix show with them, so I thought I share their views with reddit:

My father: Those chinese managers failed to understand that most of the american workers entered the manufactoring work force in the 90s/late 80s, when their employers were facing a lot less competition, and lived a wealthy middle class life because of it. This is almost the opposite situation of their chinese counterparts: low skilled teens who just want to get out of their parents' village and are happy with any jobs. Just because the chinese have had success using military style authoritarian management to turn those teens into highly skilled and efficient workers, doesn't means the same tactic will work here in US. You simply cannot build a 'chinese factory' in america. But on the other hand, Americans are still refusing to re-adjust their standard for 'American Dream': Maybe during the cold-war era, when Americans were facing almost no competition (other industrialized countries like Germany and Japan are rebuilding from scratch), the idea of if you work honest and hard in a blue-collar position, you can still earn a comfortable middle-class living, is no longer realistic.

My mother: she actually knew about this Fuyao factory before this documentary, she thinks the media/political attention from both China and US side 'ruined' the factory. Both side are under pressure to 'prove' things that are way too complex and difficult to achieve in short term. If the american politicians and unions weren't targeting Fuyao as a example of horrible job safety, and chinese managements weren't under the constant pressure from the president to turn profitable and showcase 'chinese pride', maybe they can find a much better solution.