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It isn’t difficult to see that producing lemon vehicles is inevitable. Indeed, it is in part a problem of our own making. Manufacturers put things in vehicles that consumers demand, and that will give the manufacturers the sales edge. Thus, you and I are partially responsible for the increased complexity that leads to lemons.
Unless there is a fundamental change in vehicle design, cars, trucks, motor homes, and motorcycles are not going to become any less complex.
Example of Fundamental Change in Technology:
How many parts are there in a modern automobile? Five hundred? A thousand? It’s closer to fifteen thousand! By contrast, a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell electric power plant, still fifteen to twenty years in the future, has two outputs, electricity and water, and it has no moving parts larger than an electron. And you can drink the water! |
Complexity and Quality
We have been looking at two factors: complexity and defects. The added dimension is quality. Japanese manufacturing is an excellent example. Are there more parts in a Lexus than in an equivalent model Mercedes? Both are equally complex, yet Mercedes vehicles have far more problems than Lexus vehicles.4 The power of quality, applied rigorously throughout the manufacturing process, can utterly transform what seems like a statistical certainty.
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