Reno, I actually went on a week-long course for Design Engineers, which, let us dub, 'How To Make Your Products Utter Crapola And Save Money', in the eighties. The basic idea went like this: Ford make 1 million cars a year. Save a dollar on each car = CEO buys a Floating Gin-Palace with his Stock Options. They had a list of fabulous examples. My favorite was their idea to replace expensive scroll-engines for tuning guitars and violins with wedges of plastic. You jammed several pieces of this cheap junk into the strings behind the bridge instead! My [ sarcastic joke ] idea of nailing the strings down with fencing staples was met with guarded approval; they "liked the way I was thinking!"
Alan
