Which is better in manufacturing, quality or quantity?

1. 64

   leroy64posted 12 years ago

   Which is better in manufacturing, quality or quantity?
   
   Assuming that US manufacturing cannot compete with the cheap labor of other countries, should US manufacturing increase the the quality of the goods produced in order to compete?   Please don't submit that worn out cliche, "both!"   I know that time, materials, and labor determine cost.  Higher quality usually means more time and better materials.

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2. 60

   Cookinmom11posted 12 years ago

   I don't think higher quality goods would keep people from buying foreign goods. It seems like people are more concerned with the price. I'm not sure, with our labor laws, that America could produce quality products that could compete with foreign prices.   Increasing the quality will make the prices even higher, and could make sales drop.  I don't know that there is a solution, unless it would be to put high tariffs on imported goods, making it cheaper for us to by domestic products.  I'm not a business major, though, I really don't know.

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3. 0

   Old Empresarioposted 12 years ago

   It depends on whether you are asking the consumer or the manufacturer this question.

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4. 80

   Taleb80posted 12 years ago

   It depends on many strategic planning before starting the business like:
   1- The customers you would like to attract. (Is he poor, rich or somewhere in between).
   2- The product you plan to produce. (Luxury Products for rich people should be high quality).
   
   But commonly as the global economics face many problems like inflation, unemployment, we see that mid & poor levels are gradually expanding, I vote for quantity more (Unfortunately).

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5. 0

   nayaz1625posted 12 years ago

   I am sorry to use  "both" here but I would rather say they have to strike a fair balance between these two. Too good quality implies high cost, low cost may mean cheap quality. Ideally, produce something of a quality superior to those you get from outside but at the same at affordable prices. Even if the price is higher than from other countries, you will be able to sell only if they are still available to at least middle class people.

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6. 61

   Dennis AuBuchonposted 12 years ago

   Quality is the most important ingredient.  If you have high quality and do the job right the first time cost will be reduced not increased.  Concentrating on the qualty of a product or service will gain the recognition needed to prosper.
   
   Today individuals are looking for good quality products and services even if the price is higher than other competitors.  People do not mind paying more for a quality product what they do mind is paying a high price for a product with low quality.
   
   Quality is an ingredient which will drive costs down while increasing your customer base.  As customers increase the cost per unit becomes less with producing more.  This increases profit which helps secure jobs and the company's future.

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7. 52

   Steveyoposted 12 years ago

   You do need to focus on striking the right balance between quality and quantity, and that depends on the type of product you are manufacturing and the markets you serve.  The real differentiator could be the value (or perceived value) of your product as perceived by the customer.  In this situation it could be possible to apply a little innovation, building in additional features to the product so that your customer believes the additional cost to be worth it.  One other important factor is automation as an automated production line has the same labor cost no matter which country it is in.  There are lots of answers to this question but I think the main point is to maybe look at the issues of product design, production methods, support, suppliers, branding, marketing etc. from every possible prespective and then make them all work together.

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8. 65

   thecollecktorposted 12 years ago

   Quality is by far the most important consideration for a manufacturer when competing with cheap labor.    Quality establishes the market for an item.  As customers discover the value of the quality, more and more people (sales) occur.   As sales increase the manuacturer begins to look at ways to reduce costs to increase profits yet continue to maintain the product quality customers expect.   New products can then be created and added to the manufacturer line to further build sales and profits.   
   Cheap labor to a manufacturer many times increase costs in returns, customer diastisfaction, rejects, all reducing profits.  Without profits a manufacturer is not able to stay in business.   The market is continually changing requiring the manufacturer to continually invest in new products, new solutions which profit pays for.    Cheap labor decreases value, quality increases value and growth.  Apple computer is a great example of this as they entered the market with a higher cost high quality computer.   As their market share grew, they were able to expand to now be one of the largest companies in the world.   They have expanded into the world market with reduced costs as the market place accepted their products allowing them to develop new products that have become the basis for the industry

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