Should Things Have Precision And Accuracy Or Just Be Good Enough?
January 13, 2021 at 9:51 p.m.
By Max [email protected]
This is or was true despite growing concern that Chinese manufactured products can often be summed up in one word “chabuduo” meaning nearly or almost good enough. This is likely due to the fact that Chinese are often very pragmatic, and unfortunately, that can be dangerous.
The chabuduo philosophy between Chinese people is one of the factors that China is lacking the same quality standards as Western countries have. Cutting corners and the chabuduo approach to get something done faster and/or cheaper can severely impact the quality of the output. You only have to look at the quality of the workmanship in many buildings in China or to read English instructions translated from Chinese by someone in China.
Audits performed at Chinese companies reveals that there are often last minute schedule changes, failure to notify the buyer when changes are made to the production process, and failure to detect product defects. All of these items are deemed nonconformances.
Precision Everywhere
In contrast, in the United States, Americans are generally bombarded with the word precision” as it is applied our modern social, mercantile, scientific, mechanical and intellectual landscapes.
According to Simon Winchester, in his book “The Perfectionists,” precision has become a seemingly essential component of advertising claims. He proves that by citing a number of examples.
“For one, you would begin your morning by first using a Colgate Precision toothbrush; if you were clever enough to keep up with Gillette’s many product lines, you could enjoy less ‘tug and pull’ on your cheek and chin by shaving with the ‘five precision blades’ in its new Fusion5 ProShield Chill cartridge, and then tidying up your goatee and mustache with a Braun Precision trimmer. You can also serenade your new girlfriend by playing her a tune on a Fender Precision bass guitar; maybe take her for a safe wintertime spin after fitting your car with a new set of guaranteed-in-writing Firestone Precision radial snow tires; adroit use of the patented Volkswagen Precision parking-assist technology; take her upstairs and listen to soft music played on a Scott Precision radio. Then, if the snow has eased, prepare dinner in the back garden with a Big Green Egg outdoor stove equipped with ‘precision temperature control;’ gaze dreamily over nearby fields newly sown with Johnson Precision corn.”
The Derivation Of Precision
The word precision, an attractive and mildly seductive noun (made so largely by the sibilance at the beginning of its third syllable), is Latin in origin, was French in early wide usage and was first introduced into the English lexicon early in the 16th century. Its initial sense, that of “an act of separation or cutting off” – think of another word for the act of trimming, précis – is seldom used today: the sense employed so often these days that it has become a near cliché has to do, as the Oxford English Dictionary has it, “with exactness and accuracy.”
Precision And Quality
Precision is one of the reasons manufacturers in the U.S. are obsessed with quality. One auto company states that “quality is job one,” and device and other regulated manufacturers must conform to a host of quality standards.
Noncompliance with quality requirements can deem a product adulterated and subject to recall or other enforcement action. Products should thus be made with precision. Precision is also enshrined elsewhere and everywhere in the names of products, is listed among the main qualities of the function or the form of these products, is all too often one of the names of companies that produce such products.
Again according to Simon Winchester, it is also used to describe how one uses the language; how one marshals one’s thoughts; how one dresses, writes by hand, ties ties, makes clothing, creates cocktails; how one carves, slices and even dices food.
Accuracy And Precision
It should be clear that accuracy is not the same as precision. Accuracy is how close a measured value is to the actual or true value; whereas precision is how close measured values are to each other. The goal is to attain both high accuracy and high precision.
Precision is a much better word, a more apposite choice in all the examples just given, than is its closest rival, accuracy. Precision enjoys a rather closer association with later meanings of minuteness and detail. If you describe something with great accuracy, you describe it as closely as you possibly can to what it is, to its true value. If you describe something with great precision, you do so in the greatest possible detail, even though that detail may not necessarily be the true value of the thing being described.
Max Sherman is a medical writer and pharmacist retired from the medical device industry. His new book “Science Snippets” is available from Amazon and other book sellers. It contains a number of previously published columns. He can be reached by email at [email protected].
This is or was true despite growing concern that Chinese manufactured products can often be summed up in one word “chabuduo” meaning nearly or almost good enough. This is likely due to the fact that Chinese are often very pragmatic, and unfortunately, that can be dangerous.
The chabuduo philosophy between Chinese people is one of the factors that China is lacking the same quality standards as Western countries have. Cutting corners and the chabuduo approach to get something done faster and/or cheaper can severely impact the quality of the output. You only have to look at the quality of the workmanship in many buildings in China or to read English instructions translated from Chinese by someone in China.
Audits performed at Chinese companies reveals that there are often last minute schedule changes, failure to notify the buyer when changes are made to the production process, and failure to detect product defects. All of these items are deemed nonconformances.
Precision Everywhere
In contrast, in the United States, Americans are generally bombarded with the word precision” as it is applied our modern social, mercantile, scientific, mechanical and intellectual landscapes.
According to Simon Winchester, in his book “The Perfectionists,” precision has become a seemingly essential component of advertising claims. He proves that by citing a number of examples.
“For one, you would begin your morning by first using a Colgate Precision toothbrush; if you were clever enough to keep up with Gillette’s many product lines, you could enjoy less ‘tug and pull’ on your cheek and chin by shaving with the ‘five precision blades’ in its new Fusion5 ProShield Chill cartridge, and then tidying up your goatee and mustache with a Braun Precision trimmer. You can also serenade your new girlfriend by playing her a tune on a Fender Precision bass guitar; maybe take her for a safe wintertime spin after fitting your car with a new set of guaranteed-in-writing Firestone Precision radial snow tires; adroit use of the patented Volkswagen Precision parking-assist technology; take her upstairs and listen to soft music played on a Scott Precision radio. Then, if the snow has eased, prepare dinner in the back garden with a Big Green Egg outdoor stove equipped with ‘precision temperature control;’ gaze dreamily over nearby fields newly sown with Johnson Precision corn.”
The Derivation Of Precision
The word precision, an attractive and mildly seductive noun (made so largely by the sibilance at the beginning of its third syllable), is Latin in origin, was French in early wide usage and was first introduced into the English lexicon early in the 16th century. Its initial sense, that of “an act of separation or cutting off” – think of another word for the act of trimming, précis – is seldom used today: the sense employed so often these days that it has become a near cliché has to do, as the Oxford English Dictionary has it, “with exactness and accuracy.”
Precision And Quality
Precision is one of the reasons manufacturers in the U.S. are obsessed with quality. One auto company states that “quality is job one,” and device and other regulated manufacturers must conform to a host of quality standards.
Noncompliance with quality requirements can deem a product adulterated and subject to recall or other enforcement action. Products should thus be made with precision. Precision is also enshrined elsewhere and everywhere in the names of products, is listed among the main qualities of the function or the form of these products, is all too often one of the names of companies that produce such products.
Again according to Simon Winchester, it is also used to describe how one uses the language; how one marshals one’s thoughts; how one dresses, writes by hand, ties ties, makes clothing, creates cocktails; how one carves, slices and even dices food.
Accuracy And Precision
It should be clear that accuracy is not the same as precision. Accuracy is how close a measured value is to the actual or true value; whereas precision is how close measured values are to each other. The goal is to attain both high accuracy and high precision.
Precision is a much better word, a more apposite choice in all the examples just given, than is its closest rival, accuracy. Precision enjoys a rather closer association with later meanings of minuteness and detail. If you describe something with great accuracy, you describe it as closely as you possibly can to what it is, to its true value. If you describe something with great precision, you do so in the greatest possible detail, even though that detail may not necessarily be the true value of the thing being described.
Max Sherman is a medical writer and pharmacist retired from the medical device industry. His new book “Science Snippets” is available from Amazon and other book sellers. It contains a number of previously published columns. He can be reached by email at [email protected].
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