zlacker

I'm not in traditional engineering but I always felt like "specs" only tell part of the story. In your example they may use stainless steel but cut corners by using less of it than they really should or maybe just use really cheap stainless steel which leads to other problems.

I've noticed manufacturing companies like big auto will try to solve for this by creating more specs for parts provided by suppliers but that's a losing battle as its always a race to the bottom. Plus now you need large testing teams to verify parts meet all these different specs. Maybe some percentage of the parts do - what do you in that case? The whole process can be a mess.

>>mdgrec+(OP)
You bring up some good points.

Construction specs often include “Allowed manufacturers” to limit your choices to certain vendors, which theoretically means you get quality material. For stainless steel, sometimes they’ll specify which alloy you need to use (304L and 316L are the most common) You certainly could submit the specified manufacturer’s product and then switch it out for a cheaper option, but if you’re caught, you could be forced to correct the work with the right material or be financially on the hook for another contractor performing the work. It would be up to someone else to notice that the steel contractor isn’t using the specified material, which may never happen.

The ‘use less of it than needed’ problem would ideally be caught by an inspector, but they certainly aren’t perfect.

Here’s a link to Cleveland Clinic’s electrical spec, if you’re curious how detailed they get: http://portals.clevelandclinic.org/Portals/57/2012_Elec%20Sp...

>>quickt+s1
Wasn't one of the problems with Boston's Big Dig that the contractors put an extra inch between bolts which saved them a ton of money (but ultimately killed a person)?

>>mdgrec+(OP)
Most manufacturing specs in US industries such as aerospace and defense are extremely well defined. They don't usually leave enough meat to cut corners in significant areas. They are typically fairly robust in that they are self-assuring. When specs are written correctly they are extremely difficult to subvert in one area and still come up with anything that could be confused with a conforming product. Plus the penalties for actively subverting these specs can be quite severe.

That said, I can almost guarantee the specs for automotive manufacturers are less strict and the penalties less severe simply because the specs are made to be cost-centric rather than performance-centric.