Quote:
Originally Posted by Squawk
The Space Shuttle's primary flight computer had 1MB storage and a clock speed of 1.4 MHz, over a thousand times slower than my laptop I'm using now which takes about 2 minutes just to load Windows.
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The naive assumed space exploration created so many high tech products. Space qualified hardware is typically 10 or more years obsolete. For example, a computer in Martian Rovers is an 8086 - a late 1970s technology.
Appliances do not fail because newer stuff is always crap. When business school graduates replace hardware designers, then hardware is unreliable - years later. But it sure is profitable. That (and not that it is new) explains why so many 'green' appliances fail.
Obvious is why. Business school graduates merged those appliance companies. Hotpoint (a lowest end product) is now made on same assembly lines that make KitcheAid. Business school graduates merged those and many more white appliance businesses into one. Profits (not the product and not quality) are only relevant.
Cars designed by engineers now last 20 years. My first Ford and GM cars were rusting out in two years. Why? Business school graduates discovered that not painting inside of doors and fenders would reduce costs - increase profits.
GM still makes obsolete (crappy) V-8 engines. Well, GM suppliers must also supply parts for more reliable foreign manufacturers. Last time I looked, more cars are assembled in America for import manufacturers then for domestic ones. So even GM's quality increased. Because their part suppliers had to increase their quality to supply parts for companies with cars designed by engineers.
I will never forget a conversation with the president of one of GM's part suppliers. He was acidic saying, "GM will show me how to reduce by costs." Even GM employees in that factory complained about parts from that factory failing repeatedly in their GM cars.
Due to requirements such as pollution control, engines are more reliable and cost less to operate - both in fuel and in maintenance. New means better when the industry's products are designed by people who "come from where the work gets done".
When newer products are less reliable, then top management comes from business schools. As so often demonstrated in the TV show "Undercover Boss", too many bosses have no idea how the work gets done. That is now a problem in what was once a very reliable American industry - white appliances. Reliability is why Bosch, Samsung, and LG are growing in the American market.
How did business school graduates pay for their money game mergers? Maytag sold their newest technology to Samsung. Neptune series means Samsung gets more reliable and Maytag earns a less reliable reputation (in the next 10 and 20 years).
To see the resulting damage today, then view spread sheets and market growth numbers 10 and 20 years later. That is when bad management is quantified. Product quality defines that problem much sooner.