Manufacturers who haven't corrupted their high standards?

[thepeoplespal]

We all know of companies or products that have been world beaters only for the accountants to completely mess up things up by diluting the brand and start making inferior products riding on the reputation of their past. Mercedes springs to mind with their E' Class rust buckets of the late 1990's. Recent washing machine threads expose a few too.

So who are the culprits guilty of this type of corruption? and who are the saints with products of the highest quality & high engineering standards rising above the recent rush to make that extra sale by downgrading quality and outsourcing to the cheapest possible location?

[Emsman]

Tesco value brand sausage rolls- meat was not considered high enough quality for this application, so was mixed with (what looks like) snot, offal, minge & hoop, eyeball, and hoof.

The end result is something of higher integrity than its competitors- in poorer countries, they are often used as a building material.

[thepeoplespal]

LOL been a few spoof manufacturers on TV in the last year making these type of products, just to see how sucessful they would be marketing it to the supermarkets and one big wholesaler IIRC.

[thehawk]

Unfortunately nearly everything these days is outsourced to China and a lot of it does suffer in terms of quality.

Some uncorrupted brands :

Toyota
BMW
Louis Vuitton
Rolex, Jaeger LaCoulte and a few other proper Swiss watch manufacturers
B&W

[elster]

thehawk said:

Unfortunately nearly everything these days is outsourced to China and a lot of it does suffer in terms of quality.

Some uncorrupted brands :

BMW
Louis Vuitton

Huh?

Louis Vuitton quality is terrible.

Bmw of old had good build quality, there standards are a lot lower than they use to be.

It is quite hard to think of companies that have consistently maintained the high standards.

I would say

Cheaney

Edited by elster on Monday 9th February 23:20

[10 Pence Short]

Matsui.

[Berserker LM]

Ultima. I'm watching like a hawk for the prices to go low!

[fido]

M&S

Honda .. well if you include BMW (vanos? nikasil?) and Toyota (1.8 engine failures)

BT - consistently bad for the last decade or so.

[Plotloss]

Pioneer Displays

[10 Pence Short]

Plotloss said:

Pioneer Displays

I could hear you crying as you typed that.

[Nobody You Know]

I'm about to get flamed here (by people who won't read this post properly or not know what there talking about)

But........ Once the X-Type is gone Jaguar will be making a range of vehicles that really stand out. And once the 12MY XK/XF and new XJ are launched they will have 3 of the best looking cars out there.

There were some wilderness years but they are doing what they have always done well again. Fast Comfortable Good Looking British cars.

On a related note, Land Rover have never made a vehicle that wasn't the best in it's class 'off road' even the RR sport is a great weapon in the mud, even when appealing to the drug dealers and WAGS they still stuck to there off road roots.

Also Nintendo, been making fun innovative video games and consoles since day one.

maybe not a manufacturer in the classic sense but HBO are still making the best TV in the world.

[Emsman]

Oh, and Smash, still as st as ever

[Iain328]

Nobody You Know said:

Also Nintendo, been making fun innovative video games and consoles since day one.

Nintendo Game Cube nearly sent them under I believe.....got killed by PS2 & Xbox. Seems as thought they have put that right now though.

[Parrot of Doom]

Hope Technology of Barnoldswick. World-beating products that IMO just keep getting better.

The best part is their customer service is superb.

[thehawk]

elster said:

Huh?

Louis Vuitton quality is terrible.

Well, I don't think it is, everything I've ever seen has been made to a very high standard. And the point is they haven't really diluted their brand IMO. All the products are still made in France (or Spain) and they don't do sales etc. Apart from the UK image where chavs have copies, overseas they are still very highly regarded and are associated with things such as the Americas Cup etc.

[Nobody You Know]

Iain328 said:

Nobody You Know said:

Also Nintendo, been making fun innovative video games and consoles since day one.

Nintendo Game Cube nearly sent them under I believe.....got killed by PS2 & Xbox. Seems as thought they have put that right now though.

You've missed the point here though, the Gamcube was more fun and innovative than the PS2 and X-Box. They kept to there principles and made a console for the family, not a matt black box with games based on killing and ance music to be the 'cool' 'badass' console.

To me comercial success is not a measure of quality or standards.

Look at Porsche, comercially more successful than they have ever been but very few people would claim they are making cars to the quality and standard of the 993/968 era.

[philthy]

Nokia. Had nothing but trouble with all the ones we've had over the last few years.

[threesixty]

thehawk said:

Unfortunately nearly everything these days is outsourced to China and a lot of it does suffer in terms of quality.

Some uncorrupted brands :

Toyota
BMW
Louis Vuitton
Rolex, Jaeger LaCoulte and a few other proper Swiss watch manufacturers
B&W

These 3 brands are rather victims of they're own success, they now sell such vast quantities that a high level of quality control must be nigh on impossible(pretty sure rolex knock out over a 250,000 watches a year).

jaeger le coulture is a good example though, still inovating too.

Edited by threesixty on Monday 9th February 23:45

[SeeFive]

Axminster Power Tool Company.

I am a woodworking hobbyist, so I do not buy their top quality machinery - typically light trade / trade rated stuff max. I have to say that their own "white" brand tools are still superb value for money.

Their customer service is brilliant too. I bought an air filer from them for the workshop. I had been away for a while, and it stopped working when I got back - warrantee had expired. They offered to replace it, but as I had it mounted in the rafters and it's bloody heavy, I asked for the likely component to be sent. They sent me a new pcb. I was away again, so did not get to fit the PCB till I got back, and that was not the fault. I called again, no questions, stress or hassle, they simply sent me a new induction motor, and some advice on how to fit it.

This is not the only example of when I have screwed up (ordered wrong bushing for sawblades etc) they have simply fixed it - no questions asked.

Great firm, always have been.

[dutchgray]

SeeFive said:

Axminster Power Tool Company.

I am a woodworking hobbyist, so I do not buy their top quality machinery - typically light trade / trade rated stuff max. I have to say that their own "white" brand tools are still superb value for money.

Their customer service is brilliant too. I bought an air filer from them for the workshop. I had been away for a while, and it stopped working when I got back - warrantee had expired. They offered to replace it, but as I had it mounted in the rafters and it's bloody heavy, I asked for the likely component to be sent. They sent me a new pcb. I was away again, so did not get to fit the PCB till I got back, and that was not the fault. I called again, no questions, stress or hassle, they simply sent me a new induction motor, and some advice on how to fit it.

This is not the only example of when I have screwed up (ordered wrong bushing for sawblades etc) they have simply fixed it - no questions asked.

Great firm, always have been.

They are also very competitive on pricing (at least on power tools) and our local builders merchants or tool shops could only beat them by a couple of quid on a £300 Battery drill. There product range is also massive.