This is for Jamie
I have been thinking lately about the possibility of someone starting a new appliance company. We know that GE and MayTag make appliances; we all have them in our homes - Major appliances like crappy refrigerators, crappy stoves, crappy dish washers, crappy microwave ovens, and crappy clothes washers and dryers. There are other manufacturers too, like crappy Bosch, crappy Samsung, and crappy LG.
My thinking is that it would be a good idea to start a company that made really good, simple, constantly improving appliances. I vision a product that is steel not plastic, that constantly evolves not to meet marketing needs, but to make it more reliable, deliver more essential function, and be more energy conscious. It will reuse a very high percentage of its parts from year to year rather than being redesigned with new knobs and switches each year.
Deming would be proud of these appliances. Their design and development would fit within the Sigma Six quality programs from Xerox. They would not be about new models for the sake of new models, they would change only when a real improvement to reliability, ecology, function or cost can be delivered. The warrantee would reflect the quality. Long warrantees with No-Question customer service.
Ahhh