In article ,
"Arfa Daily" wrote:

But actually Smitty, it amounts to the same thing, doesn't it ? The cost of
consumer electronic equipment is so low, as has been dictated by the market,
that some ****ty practices have to prevail to meet those price points. The
thing is that with leaded solder, those ****ty practices that were
solder-related, could be got away with. With lead-free, they can't, so we
are now seeing equipment which manages to conform to the price constraints,
but can't make it any more, in the reliability stakes.

I'm not in a position to disagree with you on that score. Safety and
reliability are founded on the principle of "more than one fault" being
needed to create failure, and you may well be right that lead was more
forgiving of shoddy manufacturing processes.

Fortunately, with the exception of some high-end audio, my company
doesn't make any consumer products. Our industrial customers expect
quality first, timely delivery second, and price third. They may squeak
about cost from time to time, but it's never a driving force.

Considering the price of many consumer electronic gadgets, I find it
astonishing that manufacturers can afford to put it in a box and ship it
from China, let alone manufacture it.