Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Harte
On another track, why is it that manufacturers nowadays give so little consideration to the consequences of using small, cheap parts in their products that have built in obsolescence. One such part is fitted to my gas boiler to measure the water pressure inside the system. The sensor is of such poor quality that it requires changing at least once a year (the boiler's only 3.5 years old), and usually fails during the coldest spells. It's costing my gas supplier a fortune to keep coming back to change a tuppenny-ha'penny part that is just so badly designed.
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It's all about knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing.
Anyone seen Deepwater Horizon? Most folks think it was a safety issue. In fact it was all about a lack of quality control. BP has a culture of cutting costs in everything from staffing levels to materials and if they can't make the Contractor pay then they don't use the materials.
The disaster occurred because BP had over-run the schedule and they were paying big money per day for the rig. Their managers decided to short cut some vital tests which, had they failed would have cost another ten days or so. Rather than know the quality of the cement grouting, they decided to bury their heads in the sand and wing it.
Of course BP may never recover from the costs but the thirteen who lost their lives and their families will never recover at all.
In my opinion the problem has arisen from the employment of inexperienced graduates rather than experienced personnel in key positions, whether it be engineering or finance. These people have no regard for contracts or procedures, they see things in black and white. You can add Grenfell Tower to that too.
A bit of a leap from Mike's gas boiler (ours at home has also just failed yesterday), but a generally relevant viewpoint methinks.
BTW Graduates when they have experience are as good as anyone.