Re: Behringer iNUKE NU6000 amplifier
Dear all,
I like to take the opportunity to re-post an article about Reliability, Planned Obsolesence and Economics.
Is Planned Obsolescence Good Business Practice?
I have answered before on the issue and the myth of "planned obsolescence" but it clearly bears repeating here. Even after 25 years of designing and building products I cannot conceive of any good reason to build products that have a limited life-span.
In fact, I don't know how one would do accomplish it, even if they were somehow convinced that it was a good idea (which it isn't).
What would one do? Buy sub-standard parts, purposely use poor design practices or apply some other means? What if the unit broke down during the warranty period? What would be the purpose if the customer decided that they would replace the product with that of another manufacturer?
This does not make any business sense and I flatly reject any such notion for our products. Nothing is more expensive for a Company than a defective product; both from a commercial as well as reputational point of view.
We Focus on Core Competencies
Just after we celebrated our 20th anniversary as a company in 2009, we set about to re-invigorate our organizationand set our sights on the next two decades.
As part of that process we determined that our core strengths (and interest) lay in product design, engineering and manufacturing.
We also discovered that historically we were not particularly good at several areas of our business which included service, support and distribution and so we set about to make fundamental changes across the business.
These changes include a massive investment in after-sale service through our newly-formed CARE group.
In fact, we renamed Service to CARE because it underlines what we believe is the central theme of the department - to Care for our customers. This investment has added some incredible people, the best tools available and new, fully-stocked repair and support facilities across the world.
We opened our own CARE centers in Las Vegas as well as Kidderminster UK where we increased the stock of repair parts nearly five-fold and implemented a new service manual process driven by our Agile PLM system.
MUSIC Group Opens Best-in-Class CARE Centers
The goal has been to ensure that we are there with the requisite support in the event that a product fails.
The Economics of Reliable Products
It is important that I also frame the discussion around the sheer number of products that we produce each year. With annual production volumes hovering around 5 million units, it is very likely that there is a much larger user base of BEHRINGER products in many product categories than other manufacturers' products.
And with that sort of volume, a runaway failure rate would quickly bankrupt our company in warranty claims. But it is precisely in this climate that we have taken the ultimate show of faith by offering a full 3-Year Warranty program in support of our products in users' hands.
Warm regards
Uli
Dear all,
I like to take the opportunity to re-post an article about Reliability, Planned Obsolesence and Economics.
Is Planned Obsolescence Good Business Practice?
I have answered before on the issue and the myth of "planned obsolescence" but it clearly bears repeating here. Even after 25 years of designing and building products I cannot conceive of any good reason to build products that have a limited life-span.
In fact, I don't know how one would do accomplish it, even if they were somehow convinced that it was a good idea (which it isn't).
What would one do? Buy sub-standard parts, purposely use poor design practices or apply some other means? What if the unit broke down during the warranty period? What would be the purpose if the customer decided that they would replace the product with that of another manufacturer?
This does not make any business sense and I flatly reject any such notion for our products. Nothing is more expensive for a Company than a defective product; both from a commercial as well as reputational point of view.
We Focus on Core Competencies
Just after we celebrated our 20th anniversary as a company in 2009, we set about to re-invigorate our organizationand set our sights on the next two decades.
As part of that process we determined that our core strengths (and interest) lay in product design, engineering and manufacturing.
We also discovered that historically we were not particularly good at several areas of our business which included service, support and distribution and so we set about to make fundamental changes across the business.
These changes include a massive investment in after-sale service through our newly-formed CARE group.
In fact, we renamed Service to CARE because it underlines what we believe is the central theme of the department - to Care for our customers. This investment has added some incredible people, the best tools available and new, fully-stocked repair and support facilities across the world.
We opened our own CARE centers in Las Vegas as well as Kidderminster UK where we increased the stock of repair parts nearly five-fold and implemented a new service manual process driven by our Agile PLM system.
MUSIC Group Opens Best-in-Class CARE Centers
The goal has been to ensure that we are there with the requisite support in the event that a product fails.
The Economics of Reliable Products
It is important that I also frame the discussion around the sheer number of products that we produce each year. With annual production volumes hovering around 5 million units, it is very likely that there is a much larger user base of BEHRINGER products in many product categories than other manufacturers' products.
And with that sort of volume, a runaway failure rate would quickly bankrupt our company in warranty claims. But it is precisely in this climate that we have taken the ultimate show of faith by offering a full 3-Year Warranty program in support of our products in users' hands.
Warm regards
Uli
.
