In message <[email protected]>, dated Thu, 7 Jun
2012, Ed Price <[email protected]> writes:
The BBC explained that German industry (starting with AEG) began a
corporate and industrial makeover around 1900, emphasizing a
designed-in quality that stretched from the product itself to even the
graphics and fonts used in their advertising.
Yes, before that, apart from high-end houses like the ceramics,
jewellery and watch companies, German products were craft goods, cheap
toys and the like.
They further explained that this gave rise to German product
verification societies which set standards and enforced compliance
(see, I did manage to keep on topic).
Something that was possible given the traditional German 'alles in
ordnung' psyche, but it wouldn't work, and hasn't worked in Britain - we
have too many 'rugged individualists'. We have set standards, thousands
of them, but enforcing compliance was, and generally is, politically
impossible. We 'invented' ISO 9000 as BS 5750, but other countries
embraced it much more affectionately.
The BBC claimed that within 10 years, the effort had turned around the
British public?s perception of German consumer goods quality.
Indeed. And Japan went though a similar metamorphosis after 1945.
--
OOO - Own Opinions Only. Try www.jmwa.demon.co.uk and www.isce.org.uk
Instead of saying that the government is doing too little, too late or too
much, too early, say they've got is exactly right, thus throwing them into
total confusion.
John Woodgate, J M Woodgate and Associates, Rayleigh, Essex UK
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