Hand vs. Machine
Although products such as furniture or clothes made by hand are detailed and unique pieces, I consider that is better to buy items made by machines. The main reasons to do that are, price, and warranty, as well as standardized methods to manufacture them.
The more automatic a production line, the lower the cost. When we buy a made-by-hand pure wool suit, we are buying a product with both more quality and more suited for our specific needs. Nevertheless, such kind of suit is often quite expensive than a suit made in an automated manufacturing process. The same increase of price takes place with shoes, cars, sweaters, toys, or any other item built on a customized basis.
Another reason for me to choose an item generated by machines is the standard. I know when a buy a car from Ford Motor Company, that the parts of its engine compliant the requirements of Ford, and have less risk of failures caused by manufacturing mistakes. This is possible because most of the production phases were completed by machines such as assembling robots, sensors, and computers. On the other hand, a Rolls Royce car, despite the fact I do not have the money to buy one, is made by hand, and such piece of detailed and beautiful work probably might have little manufacture defects that automation avoids.
Finally, because of the standardized methods used to manufacture some item, producers can offer more extended warranties to their products. A three hundred dollars watch probably can work properly for over ten years, and the producer can offer a warranty longer than would offer a famous watch producer from Switzerland who makes all of his watches by hand.
Technology has extremely benefited our contemporary society. The use of machines on production processes increase quality, decrease prices, and continuously provides improvements to every product in the market. For that reason, I think that items made by machine are the best for me.
