Hi Ryan, Jeff, and Capt. Carter,
Thanks for your comments!
Well, now that there's a thread regarding quality, I'll feel a little less constrained about writing my perspective on this topic. I've learned a bit about quality and "intellectual property" theft by running a business that involved manufacturing products. But what I know could fit on a sticky note relative to the volumes that some people on this forum know. I discovered the first theft of our intellectual property in Europe - not what I had expected, considering we had shipped more product to other places! Others later suggested to me that intellectual property theft is not likely to be a problem for my business because the volume available in my market is low. On giving it further thought, I realized that "intellectual property" is a pretty strange idea to someone who didn't grow up with it. So is a corporation. Or land ownership. They're all tools that exist because of what they enable.
Factories in China would not be as successful as they are if they weren't capable of excellent quality control. What varies over time and management direction is what happens to the products that fail the tests. Instead of sending them to a landfill, some factories let them flow out through other sales channels where quality headaches cannot return. Maybe that's why the 5000 mAh Li-ion cells I bought on ebay tested at ~515 mAh. "It *is* 5000 mAh, it even says so on the label!" The seller refunded my money but probably didn't hear any complaint from the other buyers. With moderate markup, a 5-10% customer return rate is very sustainable.
Back in the old days, faulty products in circulation would have had the factory's name on them. Long-term thinking meant it was very important what the company's reputation would be 5 months, 5 years, or even 5 decades later. Fortunately, such attitudes are hard to forget because they're in culture. They may no longer dominate, but they won't disappear. I don't think we can easily go back to the "old way" because short-term thinking is driven by shareholders who tend to invest for periods from a mere minutes to a few months. I think all three of you are adapting to a changing world. It *will* work because it *must* work and it's the only thing that *can* work!
Cheers,
Halden
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