[Whippet]

This account reminds me of a company manager who oversaw their external printing jobs. He would visit different printery/bindery operations, not your kinko's sized stuff, but large Lith-o-man type offset presses.

He said he had all different types of metrics he used when evaluating a potential vendor for his jobs. But what it usually all boiled down to was how clean was the press area.

If the presses and surrounding area were grimy and tools, supplies etc. were scattered about, he knew the jobs they did would most likely not meet his expectations.

If however the area was clean and the press operators keeps things in order, he could count on that vendor to produce a superior product.

[elblanco]

But counter examples along those lines are plentiful. I remember reading a breathless writeup on a tour of a new VW plant. The cleanliness and spotless floors were apparently the main important factor there. Yet VW cars are well known in the industry as having serious quality issues with everything from blistering paint to the continuously faulty electrical systems of the New Beetle.

Here's a video of said plant. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd5WGLWNllA

If this dog-and-pony show was representative of VWs efforts to reach parity with the mechanical quality of say, the Honda Civic and Accord, then I would say this "quality is fractal" idea would have some merit. But even a cursory review of something as basic as mechanical reliability in consumer reports or on true delta shows VWs to regularly be just "meh" in terms of reliability.