Death of an Engineer: Attention-Seeking has Killed Invention

<p><pre><code> &#62; Making quality products for consumers [..] is dying. </code></pre> This is a tired old line. The art and craft movement rose a century ago on the same ideas.<p>But the examples he gives are bizarre - Fender?? Fender is a text-book example of the strength of engineering things to be mass-produced.<p>Fender guitars were conceived to be mass-produced. Where Gibson makes a big deal about the supposed tone benefit of a guitar with a continuous neck to the base of the noise-box, the Stratocaster has always had a bolt-on-neck. The paint is Dupont car paint. Yet Clapton prefers it to the hand-built stuff. Better yet, if you break one you can just go and buy another off-the-shelf that matches it.<p><i>Some</i> people pay a lot of money for old fenders, but people make strange purchase decisions when it comes to music and art.<p>I think people want to believe that hand-made things are better (particularly when they are committed to hobbies to build things that have no market), but I rarely see an example of it.

What's wrong with cheap things? Is there really something so terribly wrong with the ability of everyone to acquire basic, somewhat decent functional furniture, clothing, entertainment electronics, household appliances, and automobiles cheaply? Would it be better if only more expensive, long-lasting, luxury goods that most people couldn't afford existed?<p>We've lived in that world before, it wasn't a better world for anyone. Since the same people who could have afforded expensive, high quality goods back then can today (a tiny subset of the population).<p>I may not like the style of most of the furniture at IKEA, but I am glad that it exists so that people of modest means can outfit their homes and spend the rest of their money on items that have a greater impact on their quality of life.<p>I would address the other points in the piece, but I thought this point was worth making on its own.

"The old days of having artisans build guitars for Fender or build bicycles for Schwinn was the old model; i.e. giving a niche market high quality products. These quality products have usually gained value (a Fender Stratocaster in 1964 sold for $289, today it sells for +$23000; a Schwinn Paramount in 1966 sold for $245, today sells for $2500). Inflation from 1963 to 2011 is about 600%. Money spent on products was money invested."<p>Having ridden Schwinn bikes as a kid, I must say they were a good example of mid-century American engineering. They were simple, strong, and hard to break. On the flat ground of northern Ohio, I didn't miss gears. But would you want to pedal a heavy, one-speed bike up the hills of Washington, San Francisco, or Seattle? And to the best of my knowledge, they were produced by men who would not have described themselves as artisans.<p>Consider an automotive equivalent, say a 1966 Ford Falcon. It got decent gas mileage for its day, and it was apt to last and last. It was handsome, and it had a distinctive look, something missing in lots of more recent cars. But who but a hobbyist would want to drive on now? In every way a 2012 car is better, whether made in Stuttgart or Detroit--the engines and transmissions are incomparably better. The safety systems are incomparably better.<p>That is also an odd notion of investment. Putting $200 into GE shares in 1966 is one thing--presumably the investment goes toward paying for new factories, new equipment, etc. to build products and make money. Putting the same money into a Schwinn bike invests in private transportation. That the bike gains in value results not from all the potential passenger miles one can rack up, but from the disappearance of all the thousands of identical bikes over the years.

This article is a little ridiculous. It assumes that marketing/sales generates no value, that engineering/making things is the sole value creator.<p>Anyone who's ever tried selling something knows that building something is not even half the battle. Putting engineering on a pedestal above all others serves no useful purpose (I say that as an engineer myself).

While the author's examples are horrible (German bread? Iranian baklava?), he has an important point.<p>When you have an expanding economy, such as the US has had for the last 60 years, marketing trumps manufacturing. People don't want any shoe, they want a Nike. But we've changed to a contracting economy now, where manufacturing trumps marketing. People care less about the label and more about having a decent shoe. (Note, I'm not talking year-by-year ups and downs, but 'bigger picture' movement.)<p>During the expanding economy, America outsourced manufacturing to focus on marketing, since it was what was important. And now that things have reversed, it's in a bad spot.

I don't think this is unique to the US, and not unique to the last 10 years either.<p>Consider this: Of all the products made a 100 years ago, only 1% was made to last for a long time. Right now the other 99% is broken and thrown away and the 1% is still being used.<p>We only SEE old products which are well built. That doesn't mean all old products are that way.<p>There are still products being build which we can use for a long time, but they don't stand out and will only be noticed after a tens of years.

I think you're just not looking hard enough to find the quality you're looking for. While there are certainly mass produced bicycles, guitar amps, motorcycles and other things that cater to the need of the masses, there are also craftsman made examples of all of those. Any decent sized city is likely to have a bicycle shop that custom makes frames to order. They're much more expensive, but I imagine they provide plenty of value to the customer who orders it.<p>In respect to the idea that there are no uniquely American souvenirs I also think you're being a little too quick to jump to judgement. Along with cowboy boots, as was mentioned, a possibility is a hat, or a big metal belt buckle like cowboys like to wear. An American football jersy, perhaps. Military surplus items, especially if branded with a 'US Army' or similar could work for some people's tastes. If the friend a skateboarder or snowboarder there are plenty of companies that have locally well known surf and skate shops with branded shirts (think RonJon) or skate decks.

The article says: "Shouldn’t we all be paid proportionally to the value we produce and our time."<p>If your work is directly contributing to that value, then sure. But in the example given (a machine that prints $100 vs $1 bills), the work is exactly the same. If you expect to be paid more to work on the more expensive machine, another worker would surely undercut you.<p>I don't think it is "bogus" to be paid for work and not take a share of the profits. I have specifically requested this arrangement at various startups, even when offered stock. If you want to be compensated with some sort of stock or royalties, you are making a bet on the future success of the business.<p>Apple has become one of the most successful companies ever, while building quality products. Their products are thoughtfully designed by obsessive designers and engineers, the best of the best. Apple products would make a great "USA souvenir" if not for the fact that they are already available worldwide.

Value is all about perception. Something valuable to one man might be junk to another. Being a good engineer is about creating things that your target market will value.<p>The author seemed to like one off artistic creations over mass produced goods. if it wasn't for mass production, there is no way we will have the quality of life we have today.

After making reference to artisan bread from Germany and baklava from Iran, the author asks, "How many items in our homes today will gain value over the next 30 years?"<p>I don't want to know what that bread or baklava is going to look like in 30 years.

Suppose I am an oil engineer, and I develop some highly technical breakthrough in oil extraction. Is this good, because I am an artisan, and am deeply invested in a very challenging problem? Or is it bad because this invention essentially earns me an infinitesimal fraction on each gallon of gas sold, e.g. "siphoning a little amount of money from a lot of people"?<p>I am not really sure I understand the distinction that the author is trying to draw.

The end goal of work isn't money, it's to produce something of value. Money is just a technology for trading things of value.

Five minutes and google with give you more independent US guitar and amplifier manufacturers than you would know what to do with. I can't imagine that the same can't be said for bicycles.<p>Of course, few among us are going to be able to throw down $5-6k for a souvenir - either now or back when the equivalent of todays's $5-6k was a hundred odd dollars.

Article in a similar vein: <a href="http://nat.org/blog/2009/07/nerds-and-jocks/" rel="nofollow">http://nat.org/blog/2009/07/nerds-and-jocks/</a>

Henry Ford's book "My live and my work" is all about it.

&#62; I admit there is no product from the US that is worth much and is unique<p>A few things wrong with this statement:<p>1) The US is large. New York City and San Francisco have very different cultural identities. They also span a distance roughly 1000 miles longer than London to Moscow. What is something that is worth much and uniquely European?<p>2) The US is an amalgam of many other cultures. There are very few things that are both culturally unique to America and tangible. Here is a man who makes hand-made custom knives [1] in Brooklyn. What about knives are uniquely American? What tangible products are uniquely American? The only thing I can really think of are Winchester rifles.<p>3) And for that matter, what is uniquely German about artisan bread? What is uniquely Iranian about baklava?<p>[1] <a href="http://thisismadebyhand.com/film/the_knife_maker" rel="nofollow">http://thisismadebyhand.com/film/the_knife_maker</a>

&#62; <i>What souvenirs can I bring back from the United States to Germany, I had nothing to say.</i><p>The joke is on him: pretty much ALL typical American exports and products are extremely common parts of daily life over here in Euroland... we have your music, movies, tv shows, video games, fast food restaurants, soda pop, clothes, cigarettes, etc. So, yes, considering this it might really be hard finding something to bring home he really cannot buy here anyway.<p>&#62; <i>The old days of having artisans build guitars for Fender or build bicycles for Schwinn was the old model; i.e. giving a niche market high quality products. These quality products have usually gained value</i><p>This is an extremely bad example and a wrong conclusion.<p>First, there still are a TON of very high quality "artisans" building guitars, guitar amps and effects for the "boutique" niche market and most of them come from the USA and they pride themselves on their products, the quality and that it is done by hand, in the USA. I am sure you will find the same is true for other industries and markets. Just because you don't know them doesn't mean they aren't there.<p>Second, the craze over Fender and Gibson vintage guitars has MUCH less to do with real, actual quality and I say this as a guitarist. Be realistic. This is a vintage collectors craze over very iconic products which have become extremely rare because before the vintage craze, they were a dime a dozen - see Clapton's legendary "Blackie" was bolted together from parts of 3 guitars he paid a 100 bucks for, total. Most people didn't store them or consider them valuable at all, they just played them and modded them and when they broke they were thrown away, nothing special about them. They were mass products, FAR from what those USA boutique luthiers do today. But it is EXTREMELY rare to find a mint condition guitar from that era. Actual production quality, quality assurance and longevity of guitars made by USA Fender today are arguably WAY better with WAY less variance but everybody wants a 60's Strat... for a fraction of the cost of a vintage one, I can get one of those boutique luthiers to build me a more reliable, more durable and better made perfect replica. Sentimental values aside, there is a thorough understanding what made a 50s or 60s Strat and you can get virtually in-distinguishably close, including a used look as if it was 50 years old. So, this is just like saying a mint-condition vintage Mustang was a WAY better car than the ones they build nowadays.<p>The value those items have NOW does not come from superior engineering or production. They have sentimental and iconic value and they are rare.<p>While we are at it: where did the internet and PCs come from? What about 90% of all programming languages and operating systems used nowadays? Who brought us our beloved iPods, iPhones, iPads and apps?