Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/12/30

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Subject: [Leica] OT: man vs machine
From: drodgers at casefarms.com (David Rodgers)
Date: Tue Dec 30 08:35:03 2008

Interesting article in the Times.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/business/worldbusiness/30exports.html?
pagewanted=1&ref=economy

http://tinyurl.com/8x9stm

Not on-topic to Leica, specifically. Yet I couldn't help but notice the
comment about skilled craftsmen performing at levels machines can't
match. I think a lot of people believe the opposite is true. Perhaps
Leica lenses are so good -- and expensive -- because they're out to be
the very best, not just among the very good. I remember Arthur Kramer
making the statement that "nobody regrets going First Class." That, to
me, said all anyone ever needed to know about Leica glass. 

DaveR


New York Times excerpt: 
"In fact, skilled Hawe employees are able to mill crucial parts of its
hydraulic systems to tolerances of one micron. Hawe has not been able to
find any machine - to say nothing of an ill-paid worker - that can
manage the feat. It manufactures solely at sites in and around Munich,
the capital of Bavaria."




In reply to: Message from pklein at threshinc.com (Peter Klein) ([Leica] IMG: [expletive] snow)