Quote:
Originally Posted by Unobtanium-inc
Quality of parts and components has always meant something different to the Japanese in comparison to the rest of the world. I remember reading a case study in college where an American tractor company contracted a Japanese firm to make starter motors for their tractors. They insisted that they would tolerate no more than a 5% defect rate! This got lost in translation. When their order was ready there were about 10 pallets of starters and then the Japanese said there was an 11th pallet with the bad starters. They were really confused why the Americans wanted 5% bad starters, they painted red X's on these. To them they would only deliver 100% good starters and would test every one before they shipped them. It was a different mentality in terms of what quality means.
---Adam
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Yes Adam, I guess the Japanese were known for excellent quality control back in the 70s and 80s. Their electronics were second to none. Think of the names that have now gone by the wayside due to off shore production or market change -- Hitachi, Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba etc. I landed here in the late 80s and even made a living off of these components out of the garbage during and after the bubble economy. No used market then for great stuff then Japanese were loading out on the street for the garbage man to pick up the next day. All still working and fairly late model! TVs, VCR, Stereos name it. They had no space to keep last years model if they bought the new one. I got to see those components first hand. Loaded a van load every night for years all over the city, that is until the earthquake which destroyed my game! That's when I got into cars instead of electronics.
bernie