The benefit of Arduino is that your boss can say "we just need something that switches this water pump on whenever it's above 20C but not if the battery is low or for more than an hour per day", and you can have the whole project coded, soldered and working in an hour.
The advantage of the platform is speed of development, not engineering good practice or mass manufacturing.
The advantage of the platform is speed of development, not engineering good practice or mass manufacturing.