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In business, making a product as cheaply as possible while asking the maximum price for it is the corporate norm.
Standards are often mandated by government consumer protection regulations.
Lead and asbestos weren't eradicated from most products in the United States out of the goodness of any CEO's heart. Dangerous materials are taken out of the marketplace by a combination of laws and loss of profits.
But some brands do hold themselves to high quality standards without regulatory intervention. Their consumers demand a certain level of quality, so these companies meet it to stay competitive.
And not all of them are luxury brands.
Reddit user HottCuppaCoffee asked:
"What companies have extremely high quality standards for products that people might not realize?"
3M
"In terms of temporary adhesives, anything made by 3M. Especially Post-It notes and Command strips."
"Their materials science is so far above every other sticky note company that it’s barely comparable."
"And I don’t know if there’s any alternative to 3M Command strips."
~ platyboi
BIC
"Obvious BIC reference. Aeronautic tolerances in a cheap pen."
~ Eneamus
"Turns out that making the 'ball' in a ball point pen—which is really just a type of very small ball bearing—is actually really, really hard. The tiniest variation in roundness can be easily detected in the smoothness and evenness of the ink laydown."
"For all of the different pen manufacturers in the world, there are only a handful of companies that can make the balls. They are actually harder in some aspects to make than aerospace bearings, to the point they were used as a proxy for Chinese manufacturing ability."
"They've had issues over the years successfully developing indigenous jet engine production. It was generally held that once Chinese manufacturers started producing their own pen balls, they'd be able to make their own jet engines."
~ BattleHall
"As a baker, those are the only pens I use at work. All of my paperwork and logs inevitably have a fine layer of flour on them and the Bic Atlantis pens never gum up and quit on me."
~ Lurking-Since2010
"Their lighters are also vastly superior to the competition and they only cost a few cents more."
~ elevencharles
"I can personally attest that, serving on a submarine when smoking was still allowed, the BIC was the last one to quit working when the oxygen got low."
"And then all you needed was to use a second BIC to light the first one. Zippos and Torches were sh*t in low O2 The Scripto adjustables were better, but still sh*t compared to BIC."
~ PromptCritical725
King Arthur Flour
"King Arthur flour. They've rejected multiple train cars full of unprocessed wheat, because the protein content was off by a few hundredths of a percent, contravening the requirements set forth in their commodities contract."
"It put them behind in production, and pissed off their suppliers. Most other flour producers would have accepted it with a variance sign-off, and moved on."
~ sjbluebirds
"I have their Baker's Companion. It's something like 700 pages of recipes and detailed information on flours, sweeteners, yeasts, etc..."
~ Atalung
"They have a great YouTube channel as well where they regularly upload recipes."
~ _Patronizes_Idiots_
"Employee owned too!"
~ dtmfadvice
*Since 2004, King Arthur has been 100% employee owned.
YKK Zippers
"YKK zippers. The best."
"They never advertise and they are rarely mentioned."
~ RockerElvis
"Dang straight. Even when they had no competition for decades, they kept quality really, really high."
~ MrSnappyPants
Yamaha Instruments
"Yamaha musical instruments. Their guitars often get overlooked but I have never played a bad anything by Yamaha."
~ Redbeard_Rum
"Yamaha trumpets and trombones do just fine through high school, and their Xeno series trombones are just about on par with Bach and Holton."
~ euphomptus
"Yamaha are completely acceptable for professional musicians. Not all of their models for sure, but they have some excellent professional models."
~ mithoron
Lego
"Some people may know, but Lego. Lego has EXTREMELY tight manufacturing tolerances, aiming for around a precision of ±0.01mm in dimensions to ensure consistent and reliable interlocking of pieces across different sets."
"That's why pieces made years or decades apart snap together like they were all made yesterday. There really isn't a competitor that comes close."
~ RUB_MY_RHUBARB
"Not only that, but they were pioneers when it came to the utilization of injection molding. I wrote a paper on it for my mechanical engineering class."
"Their standards are absolutely incredible."
~ sexywallposter
Tweezerman
"I used to work at a drug store that was more of a mini-department store, had a cosmetics department, electronics/photo, grocery, etc... I spent a bunch of time stocking shelves all over the store and always saw the Tweezerman nail clippers and wondered who would buy such expensive nail clippers."
"They were easily 2-3 times more expensive than the other ones right next to them."
"Well when I moved out and went to university, I needed nail clippers so I went into the store and picked them up again and wondered again absent mindedly before I put them back."
"When I picked up the cheap ones they were worryingly lighter. I've used nail clippers that weren't stiff enough and/or sharp enough and didn't want to deal with that.
"I bought the Tweezermans, and nearly 15 years later they're the best nail clippers I've ever used. They are as sharp as the day I bought them."
"Every once in a while they disappear for a few weeks and I get legitimately concerned that they have disappeared for good. Fortunately they've reappeared every time so far."
~ Villain_of_Brandon
"I can testify that the Tweezerman tweezers are even better than the nail clippers and that's all I will consider buying now."
"But honestly I've never needed to buy others or get mine sharpened because they're almost as good as when I bought them probably 7 years ago now."
~ Reprobate726
Fiskars
"Fiskars scissors and branch loppers."
"I broke a set of loppers and I was pretty sure it was my fault because I was cutting a branch that was WAY too big and I twisted the loppers."
"I did this many, many times over the years. Finally it broke the blade."
"I sent them an email asking how much to get a new lopper blade and explained that it was my fault. They said 'no worries' and sent me a new blade for free."
"And a whole new set of loppers for free. I only buy Fiskars for scissors and loppers now."
~ OddDragonfruit7993
"I love their scissors for their quality. One day I was going to buy a splitting axe."
"I saw Fiskars made one. I was like 'No wayyyyy....', but figured they wouldn't deviate too much on quality with their brand name on it."
"Holy sh*t that thing is like a legendary weapon that was made by a god who hates trees. I've decimated 100s of logs with that thing."
"Just this last cold snap I went and split some more. After 4 years it still just hogs through them like they are butter."
~ Jaereth
Herman Miller Chairs
"They’re super expensive, but Herman Miller chairs."
"I sit in mine for several hours every day and it is by far the most comfortable, least back pain chair I’ve ever had."
"Their comfort isn't because they're super soft or anything. Their comfort is that they don't cause pain after long days."
~ Autumn1eaves
"Crazy part about Herman Miller chairs is you don’t immediately notice how comfy they are because they’re designed for work."
"Spent years on sh*tty office chairs and when the day was over I felt pain in my back and shoulders. After a long day at the office in a Herman Miller, no pain."
"The long term effects of having a good office chair are invaluable."
~ DeeYumTofu
Kong Dog Toys
"Kong Dog Toys—the red rubber stuffable toys. The rubber is a precision made compound with such high quality control to always be the same whether it is being made for a small size Kong or the red Kong frisbee."
"Because it is a ubiquitous item available at many pet stores worldwide, shelf stable and always smells the same to the dog, it is used in detection dog programs for security, police and military around the world."
"They cut up pieces of Kong into incredibly small shavings to train the dogs to find before moving onto other target odors, as well as using the Kongs themselves as a reward toy."
~ wreckoning
"We have a Kong and two Kong bones and it's the only thing my pitbulls haven't destroyed eventually."
~ mendicant1116
IKEA Toys
"IKEA toys for children currently have tougher safety standards than what all the global laws require."
~ henaine
"All their products adhere to the strictest laws of all their markets. So if Germany has rule A and the US has rule B, then their products will conform to both rules."
"Most companies just make slightly different products for different markets."
~ DLRXplorer
"We got my toddler—at the time—a toy baking set and beach toy set from IKEA."
"Lasted for years. We donated it before anything broke or bent."
~ jollysnwflk
Hilti Tools
"In the tool world/construction it’s hard to beat Hilti but they are expensive."
~ PutPuzzleheaded5337
"Hilti are true professionals tools. I own some Hilti tools that are literally older than me. They are used weekly and I’m almost 30."
~ Hour-Shake-839
"I’m an elevator mechanic. I accidentally kicked a spare battery for my Hilti hammer drill 6 stories down a hoistway to the bare concrete floor below."
"The case was cracked. I wrapped some electrical tape around it and it still works to this day. As long as I have to drill holes in concrete, I will do it with a Hilti."
~ RaceDBannon
Toyota
"Most people probably realize this, but Toyota has insanely high quality control down to the individual parts."
"There's a reason they last forever."
~ dixon-bawles
"I was in a Toyota manufacturing facility recently where they were doing quality inspections on camshafts. They were using equipment that I didn't recognize."
"When I asked about it, I learned that they use some very specialized measuring devices because the tolerance for some parts of their camshafts is +/- 4 microns. An average human hair is around 100 microns."
"That blew me away."
~ Chaos-1313
"Toyota is extremely loyal to suppliers and even help them adopt just-in-time delivery and quality measures because having a consistent supplier base means more control over quality and manufacturing processes."
"The parts might end up costing more, but it works out because there's less delays in assembly, cars don't need to be re-worked after assembly, etc..."
"Most American companies will switch suppliers at the drop of a hat and buy from the lowest bidder."
~ hgrunt
"I can confirm. There's an entire group at Toyota dedicated to helping suppliers improve their quality, process and efficiency."
"These engineers spend almost all of their time at supplier facilities as consultants helping the suppliers."
"They don't even bill their time to the suppliers, Toyota pays their salary."
~ Chaos-1313
KitchenAid
"KitchenAid. My food mixer is 25 years old, is used 2/3 times a week and looks and operates like new."
~ c-fox
"My mom is still using the KitchenAid mixer she received as a wedding gift in 1964. Works perfectly."
Bush's Baked Beans
"Bush's Baked Beans. I've never worked at another facility where quality was focused so much more than actual production."
"The line stops all the time over anything remotely impactful to quality to make sure that the product is safe, and the standards are met. I've seen them shut production down for 3 days while they diagnosed and solved an issue that they could have ignored and just let the filters catch."
"Oh and they continued paying their employees through the downtime. Absolutely amazing company."
~ Below-avg-chef
What company or product would you add to the list?