On Thu, 24 Mar 2016 15:25:23 +0000, Chris J Dixon wrote:
Johnny B Good wrote:
I did! It was a Tesco 3KW plastic jug kettle bought several years ago
for 12 quid less the fiver voucher (almost identical to the Cookworks
Kettle - White 3KW jug we bought in our local Argos store this
afternoon,
====snipped tale of kettle repair====
Redesigning this plastic part so it outlasts the element is unlikely to
add more than a penny to the retail price of the finished product over
the lifetime of its production run. There's really no excuse for such
shabby design and it's an issue that the greens ought to be addressing -
it's more than just electric kettles that exhibit this sort of
shortcoming.
I have had a Panasonic bread maker for some time.
The first part to fail was the plastic catch for the dispenser tray, so
I fashioned a metal replacement, which was partially successful.
When the rather abrasive seeded mix I use eventually wore off the
coating on blade and pan, it was better value to get a complete new unit
from ebay.
When the second dispenser latch failed, I came across
http://www.shapeways.com/model/18132...53-breadmaker-
dispenser-latch.html?li=productBox-search
Which is just the job. You'd think Panasonic could have done this
themselves.
The cycnic in me informs me that this is just a 'failsafe' way of
building in 'planned obsolescence' It's the home computer equivalent of
Microsoft's Cockamaimee Pagefile default settings in windows designed to
accelerate "System Senility" by aggravating the effects of file system
fragmentation due to normal file writing activities further aggravated by
the endless file churn from the never ending stream of windows updates
and fixes.
Microsoft's partnership deals with the PC hardware manufacturers,
effectively a cartel and informally known as "Wintel" on account of the
major chip supplier being Intel, benefited both parties in boosting
sales. Obviously, wintel would like to sell as much product as possible
and this pagefile trick was Microsoft's 'failsafe' contribution to
shortening the upgrade cycle to drive such an increase in sales.
Now that the use of SSDs in place of HDDs has become prevalent, the
effects of fragmentation have all but completely disappeared, neatly
sabotaging the cockamaimee pagefile settings effect on system
performance. I've no doubt MSFT have alternative plans in their latest
windows 10 to effecting such a desirable steady decline in system
performance so as to keep the upgrade cycle artificially shortened to
persuade the nicely conditioned consumers to carry on servicing the
desires of wintel.
The neat thing about the pagefile stunt as far as MSFT were concerned
was that it offered an almost zero cost remedy should they be forced to
backpedal on this artificial ageing strategy for whatever reason (eg, a
competitor product that didn't exhibit such a failing or a PC computers
equivilent of "Ralph Nader" blowing the whistle on such a sneaky trick).
As it happened, MSFT's trick was never embarrassingly exposed in the
mass media so they were able to continue this ruse for over two decades.
Part of the reason for this success was that they offered the end users
pagefile settings options to completely eliminate this particular effect,
neatly silencing any outcries from technically competent users who would
more likely feel they'd "gotten one over" on "The Dumb Consumers"
reinforcing their (justifiable) sense of smugness.
Manufacturers of white goods such as kettles and breadmakers, otoh,
don't have quite so cheap a "Backpedal" option as "Wintel"(tm). The best
they can do is pick on a cheap part as their built in weak component,
preferably one that only costs a few pennies at most and is easily
replaced in a modestly equipped "Warranties Repair shop" manned by
relatively cheap labour should they have seriously miscalculated on the
maximum lifetime of the weak part and find themselves swamped with
warranty returns.
Assuming no such miscalculation, the relatively few warranty returns
would normally be handled by simply dipping into their reserves of spare
inventory of brand new goods set aside for just such warranty purposes.
Resorting to actual repair of faulty goods only becomes the more economic
solution to servicing warranty obligations when they've seriously
miscalculated the planned failure rates of the cheap to replace component
elected to sustain sales of the product in question.
There are at least two reasons why the element in a modern jug kettle
remains the most reliable component. The first being that it is the most
expensive part, the second being that it's the most difficult to design
in a limited life time intended to satisfy the minimum warranty period
requirement without it exhibiting a dramatic and possibly hazardous
failure mode. Indeed, it may actually cost more to manufacture a shorter
lived element than a conventionally designed one.
The quieter the failure mode, the better it is for the manufacturer. The
"It simply stopped working." report by aggrieved consumers is far less
newsworthy than the "It went bang! and tripped all the house electrics,
endangering my dear old grandmother's oxygen supply." type of report.
It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that such inexpensive
"Throwaway" appliances are invariably let down by apparent penny pinching
on inexpensive plastic components. The penny pinching to reduce
manufacturing costs is a myth designed to deflect the consumers' thinking
away from the real purpose of such 'penny pinching' which is to provide a
minimal risk method of maintaining a steady demand for replacement
appliances.
--
Johnny B Good