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A more accurate term is "value engineering." If you have a product that's been in the market for a while and it looks like it's meeting service life expectatio
by jordanb 2y ago
A more accurate term is "value engineering."
If you have a product that's been in the market for a while and it looks like it's meeting service life expectations you start looking at it trying to find ways to save money by substituting cheaper parts. You swap out metal gears for plastic gears, for instance.
If these parts have a shorter service life, but the service life is still longer than the warranty, then maybe that's a win in two ways for the manufacturer.
- pinkmuffinere 2y agoWow that's super interesting! I've never heard of this, but the appeal is immediately obvious. Thanks for commenting, gonna have to do a Wikipedia binge.
- folsom 2y agoI think of it as a continuous feedback loop between engineering, finance, and QA that ultimately ends in a product being manufactured as inexpensively as possible without dying in the warranty period.
- xethos 2y ago> You swap out metal gears for plastic gears, for instance. Great, till the motor that drives the gears jams. When the gears are metal,the expensive part (the motor) is more likely to lose. When the gears are plastic, the motor survives and you need to replace the gears with nylon ones or 3D print your own. The plastic gears may not always be designed as a sacrificial part, but most consumers unfairly dismiss the possibility immediately This comes down to warranty too. If it fails during the warranty period, which one does the OEM want to pay to replace: the expensive motor, or the cheap gearing?