Highest quality is lowest cost

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"Highest quality is lowest cost" is a Japanese manufacturing philosophy based on the premise that the highest quality manufacturer will earn a reputation that makes buyers prefer, price being reasonably similar, to buy its goods. This means that the manufacturer will produce more than its competitors, and thus will both have economies of scale and be able to accept a lower profit per unit - thus the highest quality goods will have a lower cost by driving other goods from the market.

From the purchaser's point of view the highest quality goods will have the fewest problems, and the cost of dealing with a problem far outweighs the slightly extra purchase cost.