[Leica] Leica's manufacturing

[r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard Taylor)]

Mark - What we've heard is actually opinions from a couple of guys who  
have professional  insight into industrial processes that ring true to  
this professional as well.  What has to be done to achieve an  
acceptable failure rate in released cameras built under different  
processes is well known.  (Settling on the acceptable failure rate  
isn't easy, either, since the lower the rate the higher the cost of  
the camera.)

If Leica has learned from their experience, the M9 will be a solid  
return to their traditions.  If not, they might not survive another  
black eye.  The failure rate of the purchased cameras will tell the  
tale.

At one time "Made in Japan" assured inferior goods, and "Made in  
Germany" signified the best.  Now, when I heard the M9 and X1 were  
both made in Germany, I cringed.  Japan is the best at releasing high  
quality high-tech goods these days.  I never give the reliability of  
Nikon, Olympus or Panasonic cameras a second thought when buying one.

Regards,

Dick



On Sep 15, 2009, at 9:00 PM, Mark Rabiner wrote:

>>    I have no faith that Leica's product design or manufacturing
>> policies are optimum, no matter how rich Dr. Andreas Kaufmann is. Nor
>> am I happy that they are willing to dissemble to hide engineering
>> ineptness. Remember that just a year ago it was impossible to make  
>> full
>> frame digital Leicas and that magenta blacks were an illusion. Good
>> people can make bad decisions. Witness Bill Gates downplaying the
>> importance of the internet or signing off on Vista. The brief video
>> view of Leica's assembly process is hardly a confidence builder.
>>   Larry Z
>
>
> That fact that excellent companies make big historical mistakes does  
> not
> make a bunch of camera collector guys on an email list experts in the
> optical mechanical manufacturing process.
> It's not like second guessing where they put the on off switch.
> Here we have a company showing us the ins of their manufacturing  
> process how
> foolish of them not not know that they had something to hide.
> I'm going to take the wild guess in thinking that they don't have  
> anything
> to hide. That this is the best way to make this camera system in these
> amounts. And they these professionals would not be out of the loop  
> on such
> obvious options.
>
>
> Mark William Rabiner
>
>
>
>
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