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by happyopossum
1437 days ago
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> Soviet made machinery, vehicles, even glassware for pubs [1] was made with sometimes ridiculous margins and tolerances to ensure longevity Bollocks. Soviet machinery is simple and crude, typically many decades behind their western counterparts. |
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"Keep it simple and stupid" is a tried and true engineering principle. The higher tolerances a design uses, the easier it is to manufacture and to repair, and the less likely it is to fail from wear and tear in the first place.
A socialist economy, where waiting for a new car could take anywhere from five to twenty years (!), definitely has to prioritize simpler, more (fault-)tolerant designs even if that takes a bit more resources to account for said tolerance. For example, a modern car heavily using fibreglass and plastic in the chassis may weigh a good load less than your average Lada or whatever that was made out of metal, but it could easily be repaired by your average farmer using tools they had in their shed.
Random side fact, this is a major cause why farmers are paying record prices for tractors nearly half a century old [1]. Or why the Russians are currently using so much ages-old stuff in the Ukraine war - modern tanks require a lot of logistics for repair and spare parts, but these old Russian clunkers? You can piss into the tank and it will probably drive on it. (Yes, I know, the Russians haven't been maintaining their tanks properly, which is a major factor in why they were not able to take Kyiw)
[1] https://www.startribune.com/for-tech-weary-midwest-farmers-4...