Quality vs Quantity

In designing a product for large scale manufacturing, a designer must make certain choices that affect the rate of production. Different production techniques take varying amounts of time to complete, however, at the same time the results produced may also vary. The decisions made have to reflect constraints affecting the situation including the amount of available materials, time of demand, production time, and quality of the end product. In a famous example from World War Two, the German army produced high quality tanks that could go longer and were armored better than any other tank on the battle field. However, these high quality tanks were produced slowly relative to Russian tank production. Factories in Russia produced lower quality tanks that were known to regularly breakdown or hurt occupants in large numbers. Although German tanks were superior, they were greatly outnumbered by Russian tanks and resulted in a German defeat on the eastern frontier.

Similarly, the market for pens can be examined in disposable pens versus refillable ink pens. Demand on the market exists for pens that are to be used in everyday settings. A large number of people require some sort of reliable writing implement to be used for some reason or another, thus creating a demand for writing implements. A pen designer then has to make a choice; make lower quality pens on a large scale quickly to supply the demand or make higher quality pens slowly. The situation that reflects the target market must be taken into account when making a design and making possible alteration for manufacturing. The higher quality pens may yield a greater profit per pen but the lower stock results in fewer pens to sell, while a vast amount of lower quality pens can be sold for a greater net profit.

Yet, not all situations favor vast numbers of low quality products. Such an example is with super computers. Some programs, software, or calculations require processing power greater than the regular desktop can provide. In this case a high quality, but few in number, super computer is required to run the calculation.

Sources:

<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1057539/panzer>

http://www.okokchina.com/Files/upp

ic19/Disposable%20Ball%20Pen%20A110001B%20%2812%20colors_%20fluorescent%29295.jpg

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/row/t-34-DNST8601537_JPG.jpg

http://www.ruthtrumpold.id.au/designtech/pmwiki.php

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110426155002AA8m3gj