ADVERTISEMENT

We all know that certain items are simply of better quality than their counterparts. Generally, the more you pay for something, the longer it will last, but there are cases where companies decided to do the right thing and make the product better than it has any right to be. 

Someone asked “What companies have extremely high quality standards for products that people might not realize?” and netizens gave their best examples. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote the examples you agree with and if you have any similar ones of your own, feel free to share them in the comments. 

#1

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones Bush's Baked Beans. I've never worked at another facility where quality was focused so much more than actual production. The line stops all the time over anything remotely impactful to quality to make sure that the product is safe, and the standards are met. I've seen them shut production down for 3 days while they diagnosed and solved an issue *that they could have ignored and just let the filters catch*. Oh and they continued paying their employees through the downtime. Absolute amazing company.

Below-avg-chef , Mk2010 / Wikipedia (not the actual photo) Report

#2

Nintendo's former president willingly took a 50% salary cut due to poor sales of the wii u so he wouldn't have to lay off staff, this keeping morale high and quality top notch.

Ambitious-Mongoose-1 Report

#3

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones Some people may know, but Lego. Lego has EXTREMELY tight manufacturing tolerances, aiming for around a precision of ±0.01mm in dimensions to ensure consistent and reliable interlocking of pieces across different sets. That's why pieces made years or decades apart snap together like they were all made yesterday. There really isn't a competitor that comes close.

RUB_MY_RHUBARB , Ryan Wallace / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Add photo comments
POST
Synth Cybe
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There manufacturing quality process operate at what is known to be a 7-sigma rate, which boils down to 1 non-compliant piece in every million escaping in to the wild. No other manufacturer can claim that.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#4

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones Fiskars. Scissors and branch loppers.

I broke a set of loppers and I was pretty sure it was my fault because I was cutting a branch that was WAY too big and I twisted the loppers. I did this many, many times over the years. Finally it broke the blade.

I sent them an email asking how much to get a new lopper blade and explained that it was my fault. They said "no worries" and sent me a new blade for free. And a whole new set of loppers for free.

I only buy Fiskars for scissors and loppers now.

OddDragonfruit7993 , CARTIST / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Add photo comments
POST
Jeremy James
Community Member
8 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I LOVE my Fiskars rotary fabric cutter. That thing is seriously sharp and maneuverable.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#5

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones Most people probably realize this, but Toyota has insanely high quality control down to the individual parts. There's a reason they last forever.

dixon-bawles Report

Add photo comments
POST
SCamp
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Owned Toyotas for 30 years, nothing goes wrong with them - we get them regularly serviced yes, but (touch wood) never had an issue

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#6

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones IKEA toys for children currently have tougher safety standards than what all the global laws requires.

henaine , Ruel Del Jamorol / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Add photo comments
POST
Jrog
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For any line of product, Ikea follows the thoughtest safety standards available worldwide (that usually is just the CE standards). Their real trick is that they do not take the supplier's word for the products being compliant, but they go through a ferocious supplier's qualification process, and periodically run a lot of test -even destructive ones- on production batches.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#7

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones Mars.


I'm talking about the candy company. I used to work in their pet food division and we had a blank check from corporate to make sure there was never a recall.


Our marching orders were to do whatever it took to make sure "Mars Inc." and "Recall" were never in the same headline.


I know for a fact I cost the company tens of thousands of dollars in lost production and product waste during my time there, all to prevent any possible problems making it to market. When a customer would send us a complaint, those details would make it all the way to the facility floor for an investigation, even if they were clearly b******t.


I've since moved on to other industries, and it still blows my mind how the people making dog food and candy had stricter quality assurance than aerospace manufacturers.

PiLamdOd , Abir Hiranandani / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

#8

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones KitchenAid. My food mixer is 25 years old, is used 2/3 times a week and looks and operates like new.

c-fox , Deva Williamson / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Add photo comments
POST
Javelina Poppers
Community Member
8 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well worth the investment if you like to cook and bake. I use the grinder attachment when I make sausage. I don't agree with the price spikes when a new color comes out, but who am I to argue about the law of supply and idiots.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
#9

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones Most people know that Zeiss makes really good glasses.

What some folks may not know is that they also make the ultraflat mirrors used in ASML's EUV lithography machines - the ones that make every high end computer chip in the world.

Why mirrors and not lenses? The light used passing through a lens of any material, regardless of how perfect, is too disruptive. How flat are the mirrors? To the atomic level. If the mirrors were scaled up to the size of Texas, the largest imperfection would be less than two millimeters tall.

xmagusx , Dgg32 / WIkipedia (not the actual photo) Report

#10

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones Yamaha musical instruments. Their guitars often get overlooked but I have never played a bad anything by Yamaha.

Redbeard_Rum , Edoardo Botez / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

#11

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones I've never been disappointed by pens created by Pilot or Mitsubishi Pencil Co. (who created the Uni-ball pens).

VintageStrawberries , QuietJapan / Wikipedia Report

Add photo comments
POST
UpQuarkDownQuark (he/him)
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I used Uni-ball Deluxe Roller Pens exclusively when I used to write sheet music by hand. Sometimes I miss it just because of how good the pen was, but I can’t beat the efficiency of using notation software now.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#12

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones This thread made me think of zippo. More for their free repairs and replacement on authentic lighters. all you have to do is mail them the lighter. in this day n age thats incredible. they dont even care where you got the lighter just as long as its a real zippo.

Life_Argument_6037 , Zippo / Wikipedia (not the actual photo) Report

Add photo comments
POST
Dick Fint
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Good thing you added this day and age. Been using a Zippo since I joined the service back in the late 70's, and while they still beat most of what's out there, they ain't anywhere near as good as they were. I used to be able to light a butt with the window down while driving. Not anymore. Same thing when fishing now. Wind is stronger right off the harbor, but used to be no problem. Now it takes a few shots to get them fired up. And the lids get so loose now much more quickly. Still happy enough to continue using them, but the older models were much better.

View more commentsArrow down menu
#13

Victorinox Swiss Army knives. It was founded back in 1884 and when you think of a Swiss Army knife, you’re basically thinking about Victorinox. The level of quality of these knives is top notch. There are knives from WWII that still function properly.

MTLinVAN Report

Add photo comments
POST
Ace
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There used to be two manufacturers of Swiss Army knives, but the other one Wenger, was apparently merged with Victorinox in 2013.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#14

Otterbox phone cases. I’m an idiot with my phone, and this case has kept my crusty a*s iPhone 7 damage-free lol.

aint_no_wifey Report

ADVERTISEMENT
#16

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones King Arthur flour. They've rejected multiple train cars full of unprocessed wheat, because the protein content was off by a few hundredths of a percent, contravening the requirements set forth in their Commodities contract.

It put them behind in production, and pissed off their suppliers. Most other flour producers would have accepted it with a variance sign-off, and moved on.

sjbluebirds , Kenneth C. Zirkel / Wikipedia (not the actual photo) Report

Add photo comments
POST
Michael D Bresnahan
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

King Arthur is the only flour I will use. I first thought all flour would be the same but after baking hundreds of loafs there really is a difference.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#17

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones Obvious Bic reference. Aeronautic tolerances under a cheap af pen.

Eneamus , Greg Rosenke / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

#18

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones Kong Dog Toys - the red rubber stuffable toys. The rubber is a precision made compound with such high quality control to always be the same whether it is being made for a small size kong or the red kong frisbee. Because it is a ubiquitous item available at many pet stores worldwide, shelf stable and always smells the same to the dog, it is used in detection dog programs for security, police and military around the world. They cut up pieces of kong into incredibly small shavings to train the dogs to find before moving onto other target odors, as well as using the kongs themselves as a reward toy.

The one exception to the “red kong material” is the red kong keychain. For whatever reason Kong changed the formula for that one, so it can’t be chopped into pieces and used in place of other kong rubber.

wreckoning , Taylor Sondgeroth / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

ADVERTISEMENT
#19

Tabasco. Their factory on Avery Island is the most immaculate industrial facility I've ever seen. The grounds are beautiful and the people are great. The "Disney" of hot sauces.

cshotton Report

Add photo comments
POST
Stygtand
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Make up your mind. First you call them the greatest, then you compare them to disney. Which is it?

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#20

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones Ball the jar company. They make satellites.

Pyrowrx , Jen Theodore / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

#21

OXO brand cleaning supplies. I buy the scrubbers and scrub brushes for home use and they hold up way beyond anything else I've ever tried.

whitesquirrle Report

Add photo comments
POST
Bunzilla
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Honestly, their kitchen stuff is really good too. They actually listen to customer feedback to improve their products, and their stuff LASTS. We have a peeler that's... uh... 25 years old? Still works, though the old design wasn't the best. But they improved it, and the new one is maybe 15 years old, and still looks and works like new.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#22

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones YKK zippers. The best.

RockerElvis , Anne Nygård / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Add photo comments
POST
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

LOOK AT YOUR ZIPPER RIGHT NOW! Like 90% of zippers in the whole damn world are YKK. If you are wearing a pair of pants with a zipper or a jacket with a zipper, I can guarantee it is stamped YKK. It's crazy how big they are and all they do is zippers.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#23

Stanley thermos flasks.

Yeah I know they became a big Tiktok craze. I don't know how that model holds up. I do know that my regular Stanley's have been solid as a rock. I have one that I got from my grandmother's house which is (I am pretty sure) older than I am. It still keeps my drinks hot for 10+ hours at a time. Despite now looking like it was dug out of a fallout shelter.

Edit:
Honestly I don't even care if they're everywhere. Stanley trucked along turning out sensible quality products for 100 or so years. If they invested in some fresh R+D, found a smart marketing guy and in response genX 10x their sales - well good on them. At least the fad chasers end up with a decent thermos. Likely better than whatever influencer branded tat Tiktok will latch on to next.

Alternative_Boat9540 Report

Add photo comments
POST
Apatheist Account2
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thermos flasks are a con. They're supposed to keep cold things cold and hot things hot, but I put a cup of tea and some ice cream in there, and neither survived...

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#24

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones Most Kirkland products from Costco.

mshaef01 , Urban Versis 32 / Wikipedia (not the actual photo) Report

Add photo comments
POST
Ben Churchill
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's because Costco partners with brand name labels to sell under the Kirkland brand. For example, their Kirkland vodka is made by Grey Goose. So, the quality is the same as the name brand, but for a fraction of the price and under the Kirkland label.

View more commentsArrow down menu
#25

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones They’re super expensive, but Herman Miller chairs.

I sit in mine for several hours every day and it is by far the most comfortable, least back pain chair I’ve ever had.

Autumn1eaves , Jonatan Balderas Cabañas / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Add photo comments
POST
Gogubaci
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have one, bought about 5 years ago. used daily for multimple hours. still good as new and very comfortable. the price is eye watering but you will never buy another office chair again.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#26

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones In terms of temporary adhesives, anything 3M. Especially post-it notes and command strips. Somehow their materials science is so far above every other sticky note company that it’s barely comparable, and I don’t know if there’s any alternative to 3M command strips.

platyboi , Acroterion / Wikipedia (not the actual photo) Report

Add photo comments
POST
Jeremy James
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Last year, 3M was ordered to pay $10.3 billion to settle claims of PFAS contamination in soil and water around the US. Good sticky stuff, though.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#27

Totes umbrellas have a lifetime warranty.  You can return them back to the manufacturer and they'll send you a brand new one.

FrankieBennedetto Report

ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#28

Uniqlo.

A friend of my wife manages material supply chains for Uniqlo across Asia. While almost every single economy company chooses the lowest bidder, Uniqlo will always choose density, familiarity and quality over cost every time. The standards they post are extremely strict.

Through this, most Uniqlo products maintain consistency across the world and generally the same reliability.

Sure, it would be a push to claim that Uniqlo is a "buy it for life" brand with colours that don't eventually fade, but as a mid-tier basics brand it's generally a really reliable, high quality choice.

mrminutehand Report

Add photo comments
POST
SCamp
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Many Japanese companies have a high dedication to quality assurance - if you make sh!t in Japan you don’t sell

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#29

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones Electronic products from IKEA. They use good quality components and have good electrical separation of the high voltage side and the low voltage side.

Search the bigclivedotcom channel on YouTube for teardown videos of IKEA products. For example, the [IKEA SMÅHAGEL](https://youtu.be/lOJbxhA0E3E) USB charger.

(He also does teardowns of dodgy electronics products that will straight up kill you. Those are always exciting!).

FansForFlorida , Alexander Isreb / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#30

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones In the tool world/construction it’s hard to beat Hilti but they are expensive.

PutPuzzleheaded5337 , Gomapixs / Wikipedia (not the actual photo) Report

Continue reading with Bored Panda Premium
Unlimited content
Ad-free browsing
Dark mode
#31

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones Carter’s clothing for babies and children.

I still have onesies and pajamas that were thoroughly put through all the stains, strains, and antics of each one of my kids.

Yet my 4 month old can wear my 4 year old’s old clothes and there’s not a tear at all. The colors are faded a bit and there’s some paint, berry, and spaghetti in places but overall they’ve held up well.

Same can be said of New Balance. I’ve worn the same pair for about a decade and the worst thing about them is the grass stains.

sexywallposter , WhisperToMe / Wikipedia (not the actual photo) Report

#32

Michelin tires for sure.

Stereosun Report

#33

Speed Queen washers and dryers.

adamarchitect Report

Add photo comments
POST
JelliTate
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’m going to remember this and check out this brand when we get a new washer. I’m so sick of the planned obsolescence with GE.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#34

Hanna Andersson pajamas, I always slept naked but bought one pair and they've lasted two years of wearing every night and are still like new. They're so comfy that when I put them on it gets me ready to sleep.

rammer39 Report

Add photo comments
POST
Corvus
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Two years is a pretty short period. I have pyjamas from more than 10 years ago and they are *almost* like new :P

View more commentsArrow down menu
#35

King Arthur and Gold Medal are my only bread flours. Gold Medal is what the small village grocery store carries. King Arthur when in the bigger city, 45 miles away. I used to get King Arthur delivered by Amazon before they got so greedy on Prime.

cwsjr2323 Report

Add photo comments
POST
JelliTate
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I agree about flour AND especially about Prime. I rarely use it anymore.

#36

EDIT: company is Caterpillar (I misread this as what products have higher quality standards than expected)

Tractor gears. I used to be a fine grind machine operator and I don't remember the exact tolerances but these giant gears (sometimes several feet in diameter) had to have their center bore ground down to a specific size within about the size of a particle of smoke. Then if it passed size tests, it then had to pass tests for the finish texture and then a test where we dunked the whole gear into hydrochloric acid which the operator who trained me said was to test for chemical changes from burning the steel with the fine grinding wheel, but I wouldn't put money on either of us actually knowing why that test was done.

EngryEngineer Report

Add photo comments
POST
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#37

Thermopro thermometers! Their quality control is fantastic, and they have remained accurate for years. I've had the same digital probe thermometer for ten years, and now and then, I bring it into my lab to test its accuracy - still spot on after all this time. You can absolutely tell the difference between this and a cheap, nearly identical knockoff from Amazon that sells 1/4 of the price. We've bought a few to test them, and the accuracy ranges are STRIKING (± 15° F - quite possibly the difference between safe and very dangerous for certain foods).

ProfessorPunslinger Report

Add photo comments
POST
Javelina Poppers
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't know about lab use, but when smoking a brisket or a pork roast, they're indispensible.

View more commentsArrow down menu
#38

Hanks Belts.

I needed a new belt And I decided I wanted to spend the money and get an actual quality one that was full grain leather because im tired of the cheap $45 genuine leather belts that I was replacing every year because they fall apart so I looked for the best belt that existed because I was looking for something that would last me until I couldn’t remember how much I paid for it and I found hanks belts and they have a customer for life.


Absolutely exactly what you pay for the one of the Best purchase of my life I would never buy a belt from anyone else. 100 year warranty and the customer service is truly amazing and hassle free
I do a lot Construction type work and ive hung framing nailers on it, drag across the concrete working on cars and I have ruined and worn through countless pairs of jeans because I’m rough on whatever I’m wearing and the its still in perfect condition no matter what I get on it or what I throw on it with a little care and conditioning it is back to lookin like the day I got it. I have one belt and that’s all I need. I can work all week in it and then throw it on a pair of nice jeans and go.

garyoldman25 Report

Add photo comments
POST
Eat Dirt Crow
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'll have to look into Hank's but I've always had good luck with Docker's belts. I'm a welder/fabricator and wear Perry's suspenders (they hook to the belt) and have had the same belt for several years.

ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#39

People Share The Companies That Have Super High Standards, Here Are The 30 Most Unexpected Ones Rolls Royce. I worked for a company who for 2 years tried to produce exhaust vanes for their jet engines. Every time an inspector came, we failed.

lespaulstrat2 , untldshots / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

#40

Maybe this is just my local ones but Kroger bakeries. I live in an area with a ton of specialty bakeries but when it comes to your basic breads Kroger does it best.

PhreedomPhighter Report

#41

I remember reading an article about McDonald's having some crazy amount of quality assurance, as this ensures the product is exactly the same at all locations. This was a long while ago but it's the first thing that comes to mind.

Sestomatic Report

ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda