[Leica] Charlie's QC post

["Edward Gosfield III, MD" <egosfield@nni.com>]

Hi Charlie

what an excellent LUG post.

I used to work in the high end hi-fi business, and have pulled bad
MacIntoshes, Levinsons, Thresholds, Audio Research, and other exotica out
of boxes as new units.  No industrial product can be made perfectly every
time, but the qc during mfg can determine what the rate of failure might
be, as you point out.  A friend of mine is a process engineer at a big
semiconductor wafer mfg co. and he became self-taught in Deming principles
out of necessity.

From my point of view, the problem is not that some M6s fail, but that
Leica say they inspect every one, and yet the flawed units are passed on
for sale.  They can and will improve the mfg QC, i suppose, but i wonder
whether their standards of acceptability (dust & crud in lenses, coating
defects) are just lower than those of the obsessives who buy them (i don't
exclude myself--but i have an M3 and don't expect new cosmetics). And they
are charging for the QC and inspection.

best wishes

ted gosfield
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