I would bet that something very similar played out in the halls of Hewlett-Packard when Carly Fiorina proposed the merger with Compaq - only there weren't enough left in the boardroom to side with the Hewlett and Packard families to return them to building quality products. It was also the last time in which either the Hewlett or Packard families held stock in the company they had once founded.

What a great memory. A movie about ethics. Inspiration to have pride in your work. I had almost forgotten how uplifting movies can be, when they are not dealing with comic book characters.

This would be considered a science fiction film based on todays society.

One learns not to buy from companies that sell junk? If enough people won't buy from them, they......can become public money bailout candidates in the name of the greater good.
(did reality just change?)

Electric Motor bearings that need to be oiled seem to last longer than modern bearings that "seem" to be no maintenance. I have opened so many "oil-less" motors only to find them unrepairable because the bearings are stamped in place and not removable. Even worse they are often sintered not ball. Junk.

people who stand proud of what they have created are shunned by their own industries when they voice their pride in that accomplishment. AR explained that phenomenon very clearly a multitude of times. it is mediocrity that is admired.

They've become accustomed to "cheap bling" rather than "quality goods" and since they're willing to buy crap, the manufacturers are more than happy to sell them crap. For more than what they paid for quality.

Take Home Vacuums. We just replaced our old (Electrolux B.V. made) Eureka (which BTW is now my shop portable...), looked at everything from the New Eurekas to Hoover to, well, you name it. Every one was substandard at best. So we bought a Miele. Sure, they're not cheap, and it doesn't have a lot of useless bling (that doesn't work anyway) - but by god, it's built like a tank. Has what you need to get the job done. And it works. Those are what we *used* to get from Hoover et.al... but no more.

Worse than that, they farm them out to other countries, where there is essentially no quality control, they speak an unfamiliar language, and their entire philosophy is, compared to ours, convoluted... those who have a stake in the company are thousands of miles away, and then they cut the quality further to get contracts for certain big-box stores, the names of which are well known.

People want the latest flashiest junk RIGHT NOW and want to get it for NOTHING and are willing to settle for something far below factory seconds because then they can say "Look at my cool new _________ (fill in the blank)". While their trash cans are filling with the junk they're replacing it with they purchased less than a year before... and they look at something like the KF line junk in the movie, and think that's high quality, because their expectations are *so* low.

Most of the equipment in my shop, I got used... not because it was necessarily cheaper, but because it was built (in America) to be durable, accurate, and not be disposable. Actually, just got a Rockwell Scroll Saw that dates from *maybe* the early 50's (if not before)... and you can *feel* the quality, see the precision that went into it, and other than having to oil it, is literally maintenance free. (Yes... Oil it. Who would have thought of that??!!) I could have paid 3x as much for a Chicom knockoff, NIB, at Home Despot or Blowes... and when you look at them (mostly all former brands that screamed "quality") and they're not worth a tinkers you-know-what out of the box...

In the book walling is a good man, although not objectivist. He accepts the pyramid of value theory

I watched it all. I am very much afraid that all the Tredway Companies of America have taken the Avery Bullard route, and the Loren Shaws have taken command. And so they are turning out their KF Lines of cheap imitations, not quality products.

I like it! Quality products employes are truly proud to create.

"...That's what you want Walt, isn't it - what you've always wanted? Merchandise that will sell because it has beauty and function and value - not because the buyers like your scotch or think that you're a good egg. The kind of stuff that you, Jesse, will feel in your guts when you know it's coming off your production line. A kind of product that you will be able to budget to the nearest hundredth of a cent, Shaw, because it will be scientifically and efficiently designed. And something you will be proud to have your name on..."

I remember seeing this part, though not the entire movie. Always thought it exemplified the best of the American spirit until we had to start competing against predatory pricing by offshore manufacturers. Then we had to contend with inflating prices and wages, forcing the American consumer to buy shoddy goods which were designed for obsolescence/disintegration. Until the driving force becomes quality workmanship at a reasonable cost, the future won't resemble that scene.

"We'll never again ask a man to do anything that will poison his pride in himself or his work."

Walling talking about the slopshod crummy KF line of crap they had denigrated into making - I love that. I forgot how much I loved that movie and its ending - thank you!!!