What does "quality" mean?

[riptides]

Re: What does \"quality\" mean?

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( "Meets Customer's Expectations"

Simple as that... )</font>

Ahh... interesting. I would take it up a notch and say ...

Exceeds

Quality to me is just a point in time when all things are right for you. <--- think about that for a second. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[riptides]

Re: What does \"quality\" mean?

Best quote I ever heard related to quality -

"Quantity has a quality all its own".

Don't really know where it originated from, heard it during the cold war days. Some people really try to live by it though.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[sweettractors]

Re: What does \"quality\" mean?

We define quality as : Inherient engineered advantages in a machine, Fair prices, Value for the dollar spent, Dependable Dealer network for future support, Service after the sale, A good track record for the product and the Mfg, --Ken Sweet

Sweet Farm Equipment LLC *Over 80 Used 1-2-3 bottom Turning plows and lift discs in stock Today*

 

[gamble77]

Re: What does \"quality\" mean?

Well what these prices are comparing are totally different machines. I imagine the JD and Branson are both 4wd, shuttle shift, platform tractors. The Farmtrac is 8+2, tunnel, 2wd, standard ag tractor. There is a refinement level there that you are going to pay the extra $ for the Branson or JD. But refinement never equaled quality...and still doesn't.

 

[RalphVa]

Re: What does \"quality\" mean?

I've heard that Bransons are made by the same Japanese outfit that makes JDs. Looked at a Branson at C'ville Power Equipment one day. Some parts were already starting to rust.

I switched to quality cars back in 1978 when I bought my first Benz, a 1972 with 140k miles on it. Before that, I'd experienced a quality difference in working on my Alfa vs. Fiats. Called the Fiats my "torch and hacksaw cars" because things just didn't unbolt on them. You had to either cut or burn them off, due to poor quality stuff in putting them together. The 1972 Fiat 124 body was about to fall apart in 1978.

Bought another Benz in 1984, a 1983 with 22k miles on it that looked like a new one. Well, after another 160k miles, it STILL looks like a new one because its so easy to maintain. Everything just unbolts that is bolted. Paint stays bright and shiney (wax once/year).

Got a Toyota pickup, another quality machine. It just goes and goes and goes. It's our most used vehicle. Gets 27 mpg around here and 30 mpg at 85 mph on the highway, passing everything. Will carry around 1,000 # of stuff, about 1 1/2 yards of mulch or 1/2 yard of gravel. Wife had a garage sale while I was gone to MG college last weekend. A guy showed up and wanted to buy my truck. Couldn't believe it was a 1996. Looks newer.

Seen some quality problems with JD's dinky check and fill oil plugs on the LX4 cutter, and some stuff is kinda tight to get at on the 4010, but haven't had to hacksaw or burn anything.

I was impressed by my neighbor's 30 year old JD. It'd start first 1/2 turn after sitting all winter after a bit of battery jump. (Its fuel injector recently bit the dust though, and JD doesn't make parts for them any more. She's getting the injector rebuilt.)

Ralph

 

[Cityboyfarmer]

Re: What does \"quality\" mean?

The bottom line is that you have to be satisfied with what you buy. Any one of those tractors you buy could break on the first day of operation if somebody on the assembly line had a hangover and left a bolt loose. I've heard lots of stories of this happening to every brand. You could also but the least expensive of the three and it could give you a lifetime of trouble free operation.

So what does quality mean to you? That is the real question here and ultimately you must decide. What do you intend to do with your tractor? Will you make a living with it or work pretty much on your own property? Have you sat on these machines and test driven them?

 

[DrRod]

Re: What does \"quality\" mean?

Thanks for all the thoughtful responses.

But I'm really trying to identify specific things that differentiate the 1st tier tractors from the 2nd and beyond. Are there really different levels of components, different grades or gauges of steel, more bolts holding things together, better plastic in the control levers, thicker wires, better designs for the PTO, stronger rubber in the tires -- basic stuff like that.

i.e. just what I'm I supposed to get for the extra money?

Thanks again,

Rod

 

[BXRICK]

Re: What does \"quality\" mean?

I agree with Roy - Quality means that it meets (or exceeds) customer expectations. And of course, those expectations can be different partly depending on what the purchase price was.

But quality is only one of several things that affect price - as I think was mentioned above.

R&D counts for a fair amount. In general, it's going to cost quite a bit more design a bunch of new features into a tractor than to simply disassemble a competitors tractor and build pretty much the same thing. Someone has to be paid to design, build, and test all those electro-gadgets that tend to appear first on the big three brands.
From the manufacturer's point of view, he may increase the price of tractor X to help cover the cost of tractor Y (or keep tractor Y's price a bit lower). Each line of tractor is not going to make exactly the same profit margin. And one could assume that popular models can be increased above what they "normally" would get.

Conversely, the more tractors a brand sells, the less R&D cost per tractor there is. That very first tractor off the line costs a lot more than all the subsequent copies.

And I'm guessing a good dealer network costs a fair amount to support as well.

So the way I see it, the big three's prices tend to be higher for a number of reasons. Going back to the beginning, we (a nebulous group) expect a bit more from the big three in the way of R&D and dealer support, and maybe in terms of length of service. Therefore, the cost has to be higher to accomplish all that.

When all is said and done, very few things are priced based on a "(cost + profit per unit) x expected units sold" model anymore. Most things are priced based on what the market will bear. If they can get enough people to pay it, they'll charge it.

 

[rockyridgefarm]

Re: What does \"quality\" mean?

excellant post!

side note: the first fax machine was built in about 1965 with an investment of millions in research. But it was worthless. What good is one fax machine...

 

[Varmintmist]

Re: What does \"quality\" mean?

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Besides - What is a Farm Trak? do they have a website..? )</font>

http://www.farmtrac.com/

Farmtrac is Long, they have made tractors for a just a few years, well, just a few decades. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I'm not sure what Farmtrac you are looking at but when I was comparing they wanted as much for the ones in the size I was looking at as the Deere guys wanted for theirs.

................................

Quality is customer satisfaction, period. If your service or equipment is what the customer wanted and performs as advertised then it is a quality product or service.

Most tractors that are on the market now are quality machines. I think what you are looking for is value, not quality.