ULD Air Cargo Containers - Quality versus Redundancy – Where's the Argument?

In the engineering and manufacturing process, we think of a system failure backup as ‘redundant’.   However, in many cases, the development, installation and use of redundant systems can backfire and produce less, not more, reliability.  This may happen in several ways: First, redundant components may result in a more complex system that is more prone to errors and accidents. Second, redundancy may lead to decreased production quality pressures, resulting in a system that is prone to quality issues.  Third, the system may not perform as well and may become reliant on the backup systems.  In any case, cost, in addition to performance, are inevitable additional concerns.

The question of redundancy was a topic of conversation after a presentation made at a recent conference.  The discussion centered on how having multiples of a system was presented as better than having one system of the highest quality.  To acknowledge that a lesser system is present and acceptable, and thus requiring several redundant systems, versus having the best system focused on perfect achievement, seemed a surprising position to defend.