do the manufacturers build things to go wrong after a specific time ?

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a foot in Tokyo

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I bought this Epson GT-F500 scanner around 2 years ago. This morning in the middle of scanning it stops working. No warnings, no signs of strain. Just stops working.
It makes me wonder if manufacturers build things to break down after a certain time so we have to buy the new model.
 
yes and no.
they don't build things to break.
they do build things to last at least a specific number of hours, but not a lot more.
there is a difference.

there is what i thought was a very good story about Henry Ford.
he told one of his employees to go around to the local junk yards and look at the ford cars there.
look specifically for parts of the car that were in really good shape.

the answer was that all of the king pins were in perfect shape.
he then told his designers that they could save some money by not making the king pin as strong, since it obviously did not need to be.

most manufacturers do cycle tests on products to see how long they last.
when there's a problem, they make the part stronger.
Henry ford was the only one i've heard of that made a part less strong, although one would have to assume that it's happened thousands of times -- to save money.
 
I don't think that companies are able to calculate exactly when a product will break down, and thus, build them that way. I'm sure it is possible from a historical perspective to measure what the average useful life of a product that has not materially changed will last.

There are far too many factors involved in what causes a product to break down. Anything mechanical is going to be prone to break down eventually. Properly maintaining a product will extend its useful life. However, some products may have had problems during the manufacturing process that are not readily identifiable at that time, but do become evident after testing or actual use by the end user. Therefore, many products have some kind of warranty coverage in case the product fails prematurely. If you don't have a good product, eventually you lose sales - not a good business plan. For instance, since your scanner broke down only after two years, does it make you want to go out and buy another Epson scanner? Probably not.
 
Yes.


Most stuff is made to break

Its a bit like light bulbs. They can last for decades but they are all made to last for months instead so we have to keep spending
 
Yes, in a word. I was talking to a Black & Decker designer who told me that their DIY drills are "6 hour" drills but their de Walt models for the professionals are "300 hour" models.
 
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