Product quality

“ B. Modern industry is characterised by an ever-growing care for exactitude; as tools get more scientific it is expected that the product shall have fewer hidden faults, and that in use its quality shall be as good as its appearance. ”

“ Quality the Keystone.—The fundamental basis for success in the operation of any roadside market lies in the quality of the products that are offered for sale. This is a rather difficult condition for the operator to maintain consistently, but it is fundamental in securing customers and in keeping them. Products that have become stale, unattractive or unpalatable for any reason should never be offered for sale and should be discarded, made into some by-product or sold through some channel which will not identify the article with the stand itself. ”

“ With honesty of purpose, quality of product, absolute fair-dealing, push and untiring energy as guides, any man or woman given good health, common sense and a fairly meritorious patented article can unquestionably succeed in profitably marketing it. A steady climb with unflagging zeal and singleness of purpose always win out. ”

“ A comparison of their books showed that the manufacturer was producing his chemicals more than forty per cent cheaper than his rival, while the business man made up the difference by insisting on maintaining the highest quality, and by his superiority in selling, buying, and the management of the commercial side of the business. A combination of the two, however, finally resulted in mutual respect, and saving the forty per cent formerly lost by each man. ”

“ Nearly every manufacturer is aware by painful experience of the great and almost incessant variation that occurs in the quality and properties of the materials used in his trade, and the frequent risk of failure of his process. ”

“ To all interested in or concerned with this great industry, there is one thing to be remembered above all else—study and test not only the mechanical construction and perfection of your product but know from every conceivable angle what the user or consumer is going to demand of it. If this be done, and done thoroughly, and exhaustively, you will build the appliance of the best materials obtainable, because it must wear well ”

“ In ordering goods of any kind, care should be used to state very explicitly the color, size, quality, and quantity of the articles desired. If manufactured goods, the name of the manufacturer, or his trade mark or brand, should be given. ”

“ His commercial strength manifests itself rather in the outlining of matters relating to organization and broad policy with a sagacity arising from a shrewd perception and appreciation of general business requirements and conditions, to which should be added his intensely comprehensive grasp of manufacturing possibilities and details, and an unceasing vigilance in devising means of improving the quality of products and increasing the economy of their manufacture. ”

“ But what business ever started with the manufacturer and ended with the consumer? Where does the money to make the wheels go round come from? From the consumer, of course. And success in manufacture is based solely upon an ability to serve that consumer to his liking. He may be served by quality or he may be served by price. He is best served by the highest quality at the lowest price, and any man who can give to the consumer the highest quality at the lowest price is bound to be a leader in business, whatever the kind of an article he makes. ”

“ I have been assured by an extensive manufacturer, that on promoting his workmen to situations of greater responsibility but less physically laborious than those previously filled by them, he found that they required more food and that, too, of a better quality. ”

“ More products sold domestically should be produced on the same production lines, meet the same standards, and be of the same quality as products for export in order to better satisfy the needs of upgrading consumption. ”

“ The attention of the manufacturer should be directed to the use of his materials in such proportions as will furnish, in the melting-pot, the proper quantities of the essential ingredients, as determined from the known composition of the best commercial samples. The purity of the raw materials and the accuracy of his proportions and quantities are proved or disproved by the excellence of the product ”

“ The president of an important manufacturing work once boasted to me that their men had chased away the first inspector who had ventured to appear among them, and that they had never been troubled with another since. This was said as a matter of sincere congratulation, but I thought to myself: "This concern will never stand the strain of competition; it is bound to fail when hard times come." The result proved the correctness of my belief. The surest foundation of a manufacturing concern is quality. After that, and a long way after, comes cost. ”

“ The reason of this is that, while those who supposed they held a monopoly of these markets have been content to rest at a certain point of excellence in manufacture, or have even been careless about the matter, their rivals have persistently sought to improve the quality and the methods of production, and to adapt their goods to the exact taste of their customers; and, apace with this, have developed systems of thorough training, in general and special schools, of their artisan classes in all branches of manufacture, and in the numerous applications of science to the arts. ”

“ Standard Policy A Standard Quality must be inseparably linked to a Standard Policy.
Without a definite and Standard Mercantile Policy, it is impossible for a manufacturer to long maintain a Standard Quality. ”

“ It should be one of the first objects of all manufacturers to produce stuffs not only beautiful and quaint in design, but also adapted for every-day service, and decorous in humble and secluded life. And you must remember always that your business, as manufacturers, is to form the market, as much as to supply it. ”

“ A commitment to excellence in manufacturing and services is essential to our Nation's long-term economic welfare. Quality in manufacturing and services will contribute to increased productivity, reduced costs, and consumer satisfaction. ”

“ One must rely somewhat on the character of the places from which one buys, and not expect good styles and reliable manufacture where commercial success is the dominant note of the business. In truth the careful buyer is not so apt to fail in quality as in harmony, because grade as well as style in different articles and manufactures is to be considered. What is perfectly good in one grade of manufacture will not be in harmony with a higher or lower grade in another. ”

“ If purchasers of goods in packages and cans would always note the brand, and afterward buy according to the quality, it would be an encouragement to honest manufacturers, and the grade of such foods would no doubt be raised. ”

“ The judgment of quality is, however, only one side of the art of buying. We have to add to these a knowledge of the conditions prevailing in the various markets of the world, a knowledge of stocks and probable supplies, and given this knowledge, an ability to estimate their effect, together with other conditions, agricultural, political and social, on the price of the commodity. ”

“ This, of course, does not mean that a product should never be changed, but I think that it will be found more economical in the end not even to try to produce an article until you have fully satisfied yourself that utility, design, and material are the best. If your researches do not give you that confidence, then keep right on searching until you find confidence. The place to start manufacturing is with the article. The factory, the organization, the selling, and the financial plans will shape themselves to the article. ”

“ Taken thus, products present themselves not merely according to their sources, but according to their value as well, as the syntheses of their productive elements. That product which requires them in greater quantity has the greater value. ”

“ In the first place, I hold the goods to be, as might be expected, inferior in quality, to the goods I would like. I don't blame the merchants for not having goods of better quality, because their customers perhaps would not be in the way of buying them ”

“ If you wish the consumer to be guaranteed, both as to value and as to healthfulness, you are forced to know and to determine all that constitutes good and honest production, to be continually at the heels of the manufacturer, and to guide him at every step. ”

“ It seems that the driving force is the possibility to practically meet individual expectations at levels of productivity higher than those of literacy-based mass production, and at costs well below those of mass production. The challenge-how to maintain quality and integrity-is real and involves more than professional standards. Market-specific processes, probably well reflected in the notion of profit, affect design decisions to the extent that often human practical experiences in the market result in under-designing or over-designing negotiated items. ”

“ When the modern conditions first came in and the manufacturer found all his time taken up by the mechanical perfecting of his work, and when his machines first began turning out goods for wholesale distribution, the manufacturer seldom stamped or sewed even his name upon his product. ”

“ In both cases the manufacturer is the one to suffer, by increasing the expense of sorting, holding the green if he is to make a high grade product, and by waste from cracking and mashing of the over-ripe. ”

“ Not only must there be sufficient volume of a given product, but it must be so standardized with regard to varieties, grade and quantities or packages that the reputation of the goods may be established in the market. ”

“ Of the ninety-five perhaps ten or fifteen will pay a price for quality. Of those remaining, a number will buy solely on price and without regard to quality. Their numbers are thinning with each day. Buyers are learning how to buy. The majority will consider quality and buy the biggest dollar's worth of quality. If, therefore, you discover what will give this 95 per cent. of people the best all-round service and then arrange to manufacture at the very highest quality and sell at the very lowest price, you will be meeting a demand which is so large that it may be called universal. ”

“ Unlike our American manufacturers, it may be observed just here, they are quick to change the style of their goods to meet even what they may regard as the whims of their customers, and this is an advantage of no small importance. ”

“ Materials, to answer the needs of standardized industry, must be drawn from certain standard sources at a definite rate of supply. Hence any given detail industry depends closely on receiving its supplies from certain, relatively few, industrial establishments whose work belongs earlier in the process of elaboration. And it ma similarly depend on certain other, closely defined, industrial establishments for a vent of its own specialization and standardization product. ”

“ In consequence of this want of new knowledge, manufacturers continue to suffer losses which might be avoided; high prices of useful articles are maintained; defects in their quality are not improved; preventable accidents still continue to happen; the health of workmen continues to suffer ”

“ It is hoped that the material given herein may be of real service to those whose interest lies in knowing more about one of our most rapidly growing and least understood industries and also to those who would better understand the basic element in all manufacturing and selling. ”

“ More than this, he invented and applied a wholly new principle of manufacture,—a principle that has done more to advance human industry and increase wealth all over the world than any other known effort of the human mind to solve material problems. ”

“ And to crown the whole by the great advantage which is the peculiar fruit of this new principle, what other master or manufacturer is there, who to appearance constantly, and in reality as much as he thinks proper, has every look and motion of each workman under his eye? Without any of these advantages, we see manufacturers not only keeping their heads above water, but making their fortunes every day. A manufacturer in this situation may certainly fail, because so may he in any other. ”

“ The safest course for consumers, therefore, is to buy goods bearing the name and trade-mark of a well-known and reputable manufacturer, and to make sure by a careful examination that they are getting what they order. ”

“ It is singular that this quality in the land, which should have been noticed as an imperfection, compared with the natural agents by which manufacturers are assisted, should have been pointed out as constituting its peculiar pre-eminence. ”

“ Another, where a manufacture of a simpler kind, the competition of which, with a like domestic article, is desired to be restrained, partakes of the nature of a raw material from being capable, by a further process, to be converted into a manufacture of a different kind, the introduction or growth of which is desired to be encouraged. A third, where the material itself is a production of the country and in sufficient abundance to furnish a cheap and plentiful supply to the national manufacturers. ”

“ For one to be capable of taking charge of a manufactory in my line, he must devote many years of close application, and must be a man of fine taste, in order to [Pg 389] get up a taking style of goods, as the success of the business, in a great measure, depends upon that, coupled with a fine finish. The perfection of the manufacture may be all that could be desired, but if the arrangement of the shadings of the colors were faulty, there would be a very limited sale of them. ”