The consumer viewpoint : $b covering vital phases of manufacturing and selling household devices — John Shaqi
The consumer viewpoint : $b covering vital phases of manufacturing and selling household devicesBentley, Mildred Maddocks
General
The consumer viewpoint : $b covering vital phases of manufacturing and selling household devices
Bentley, Mildred Maddocks
Home economics -- Equipment and supplies
Safety demands that every equipment involving an electric motor be so
fully insulated from the machine frame by water-proof fittings and
insulated shaft couplings, etc., that a maximum of safety can be
assured. It is indeed remarkable that this is not more often cared for
in the original design. In one short period, at least three machines
were forced into the disapproval group in the Department of Household
Engineering of Good Housekeeping Institute with such lack of insulation
as one of the causes.
It is thus clear that consumer needs, in this great classification of
merchandise (household appliances) as reflected by consumer attitude
are often ill-defined and extremely difficult for the manufacturer to
interpret. Therefore, as a recognition of this condition, the basic
purpose running throughout all of the testing work at Good Housekeeping
Institute is to test every device so as to duplicate the conditions
under which the device will be used by the ultimate consumer, be she
intelligent or unintelligent. It has furthermore been the Institute's
special province to express to each manufacturer the trend of consumer
demand as seen, not only through the Institute's use of appliances, but
through the thousands of consumers who report their experiences.
It is an interesting and surprising fact that mechanical tests develop
data which often interpret the results obtained under practical usage
of the equipment, and the results obtained under the practical usage
quite as often define the value of the mechanical data. Any effort a
manufacturer may make to develop these two angles of testing will more
than offset any money cost that may be added to the factory overhead.
Complete testing of this character will also save ultimate consumer
reactions against the completed manufactured product. It is not enough,
as so many manufacturers have done, to place the appliance in a variety
of homes and take the consequent "say-so." It must be remembered that
it is only possible to compare an appliance when you have something to
compare it with, and that something must be an appliance designed to do
similar work. How many instances are there where manufacturers allow
their products to go out without comparative information of this kind,
just because such information is so extremely difficult to get?
To all interested in or concerned with this great industry, there is
one thing to be remembered above all else--study and test not only the
mechanical construction and perfection of your product but know from
every conceivable angle what the user or consumer is going to demand of
it. If this be done, and done thoroughly, and exhaustively, you will
build the appliance of the best materials obtainable, because it must
wear well; of the most efficient design, because it must operate
smoothly; and you cannot fail to so build it that it will do its work
completely and well because you will have the measure of these values
within the experience of your own investigation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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