Product Recall: A Challenge for the 1980s

Product recalls are no longer in the realm of theoretical possibilities; it is a regular fact of business life among manufacturers of both industrial and consumer products. Machine tools, automobiles, television sets, appliances, cosmetics, clothes — no product is immune and the list is virtually endless. The actual number of product units recalled every year among the various classes of products is mind‐boggling, and the cost of recalling them runs into millions of dollars. And as for the future, the prognostication from the evidence so far is that the number and types of products as well as the companies involved will continue to grow. The principal reasons for this prognostication are: