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November 27

Name for a production/marketing concept ?

Electrical resistors may be mass produced, aiming for a certain ohm value, but with low-cost production methods that don't guarantee a close match to the target. The resistors produced are then tested, and the best matches are sold, at a higher price, as X ohms ±5%, the next best as ±10%, and the worst as ±20% (any worse than that may be discarded). So, is there a general term for this strategy, and are there other examples ? That is, where if the item you produce isn't quite what you wanted, you still sell it, as something else. StuRat (talk) 18:54, 27 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I haven't a reference, StuRat, but I believe that 3.5" floppies were manufactured on the same principle: those that met the higher standard were packaged and sold as double density, those that didn't were single density. --ColinFine (talk) 00:23, 28 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Good example. Did they have a name for this practice ? StuRat (talk) 17:00, 28 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

That was true for some resistors, notably from the USSR. (If it's off by 20%, then it may be within 10% of another marketable value.) This also meant that If you purchased a "10%" resistor, it was certain to be off by at least 5%, so the "10%" resistors did not show the expected normal distribution, but instead had a bimodal distribution, so you could not hand-select a precise resistor from a lot of less-precise resistors. But on to your question: a whole lot of products are sold by grade: eggs, cotton, most vegetables sold to cannerys, cuts of meat, etc. I think the term "grade" may be what you are looking for. -Arch dude (talk) 01:19, 28 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Not quite the same, as with produce, it just isn't possible to get the plants and animals to produce the same size and quality every time. With electronics it is, but this is expensive, hence this alternate strategy. StuRat (talk) 17:03, 28 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

For ICs, binning is the general term. Nil Einne (talk) 12:47, 28 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, is this term used outside the IC industry ? StuRat (talk) 17:02, 28 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It's used for LEDs. These results suggest it's also used for resistors [1] [2] [3]. Although the last link suggests binning may not happen with resistors anymore possibly because manufacturing technology is advanced enough and production costs low enough it isn't worth it. Anyway it may be accurate to say it's used for most or all electronic components. I've never heard and somehow doubt it's used for food or manufactured items that are far from electronics, but I don't know for sure. Nil Einne (talk) 21:37, 28 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]