Manufacturing technicians and engineers favor product teardowns, the time-honored practice of dismantling products–their own firm's and its competitor...
GMAT Reading Comprehension : (RC) Questions
Manufacturing technicians and engineers favor product teardowns, the time-honored practice of dismantling products–their own firm's and its competitors'–to spark fresh thinking. Yet few manufacturers get the full value that teardowns afford. Many senior executives discourage the practice, and by viewing teardowns as unsupervised exercises for engineers or cost-cutting tactics for the purchasing department, they retard creativity and leave the ideas generated in teardowns unexplored.
Not so for a medical products company that used teardowns to improve its electronic medical device. To foster new ideas, the company's senior executives invited employees from the purchasing, marketing, engineering, and sales departments to compare their product to rival products. Seeing the products together allowed the purchasing department to quickly identify simple design changes that, while invisible to customers, significantly lowered manufacturing costs.
Additionally, seeing the configurations of competitors' electronic circuit boards spurred the team to discuss the manufacturing implications of the company's modular approach to design. The engineers had long assumed that letting customers, when purchasing, select various options was advantageous and had emphasized this in the product's design. Yet the salespeople reported that customers rarely took advantage of the capability. The conversations ultimately led to simplifications in the product's circuitry, significantly lowering costs, and also helped marketers identify a new customer segment where the product might command a higher price.
Which of the following actions does the passage most strongly suggest helped the medical products company lower the cost of manufacturing its electronic device?
1. Passage Analysis:
Progressive Passage Analysis
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| Manufacturing technicians and engineers favor product teardowns, the time-honored practice of dismantling products-their own firm's and its competitors'-to spark fresh thinking. | What it says: Engineers like to take apart products (both their own company's and competitors') to get new ideas. What it does: Introduces the main concept and establishes a positive view of teardowns. Source/Type: Author's statement of fact about industry practice. Connection to Previous Sentences: This is the opening - sets up our central topic. Visualization: Think of 50 engineers taking apart smartphones, cars, or medical devices piece by piece, comparing Company A's design to Company B's design to spark innovation. Reading Strategy Insight: Simple, positive introduction - we're starting with something engineers LIKE doing. What We Know So Far: Teardowns are popular with engineers and generate fresh thinking What We Don't Know Yet: Any problems or complications with this practice |
| Yet few manufacturers get the full value that teardowns afford. | What it says: Most companies don't get the maximum benefit from teardowns. What it does: Introduces the central problem - there's untapped potential. Source/Type: Author's claim about industry performance. Connection to Previous Sentences: This contrasts with sentence 1. Sentence 1 said teardowns are good; sentence 2 says companies aren't fully capitalizing on this good thing. Visualization: If teardowns could provide $100 worth of value, most companies are only capturing $30-40 of that potential. Reading Strategy Insight: Classic GMAT pattern - introduce something positive, then point out the gap/problem. What We Know So Far: Teardowns are valuable but underutilized What We Don't Know Yet: WHY companies aren't getting full value |
| Many senior executives discourage the practice, and by viewing teardowns as unsupervised exercises for engineers or cost-cutting tactics for the purchasing department, they retard creativity and leave the ideas generated in teardowns unexplored. | What it says: Senior executives often don't support teardowns and see them as just random engineering activities or simple cost-cutting, which kills creativity and wastes good ideas. What it does: Explains WHY companies don't get full value (answers the question from sentence 2). Source/Type: Author's explanation of executive behavior and its consequences. Connection to Previous Sentences: This builds on sentence 2 by providing the cause. Sentence 2 said "few get full value" - now we know it's because executives don't support it properly. Visualization: Executive thinking: "Just let the 5 engineers play around in the lab" vs. "Let's organize this properly with marketing, sales, and purchasing involved." Reading Strategy Insight: Feel relieved here - this isn't adding complexity, it's answering the natural question "why?" from sentence 2. What We Know So Far: Teardowns are valuable but executives limit their potential by treating them too narrowly What We Don't Know Yet: What the RIGHT way to do teardowns looks like |
| Not so for a medical products company that used teardowns to improve its electronic medical device. | What it says: Here's a company that DID get full value from teardowns (specifically a medical device company). What it does: Introduces a positive example - the contrast to the problem described in sentences 2-3. Source/Type: Author introducing a case study/example. Connection to Previous Sentences: This directly contrasts with sentence 3. "Not so" means "this company didn't make those mistakes." Visualization: Company A (from sentence 3): Limited teardowns, wasted potential. Medical Company B: Did teardowns right, got full value. Reading Strategy Insight: Classic transition to positive example. We're about to see HOW to do teardowns correctly. What We Know So Far: Most companies waste teardown potential, but this medical company found the right approach What We Don't Know Yet: Exactly what this company did differently |
| To foster new ideas, the company's senior executives invited employees from the purchasing, marketing, engineering, and sales departments to compare their product to rival products. | What it says: The executives actively organized a cross-departmental teardown session with purchasing, marketing, engineering, and sales people all comparing products together. What it does: Shows the KEY difference - multi-departmental involvement with executive support. Source/Type: Factual description of the company's approach. Connection to Previous Sentences: This builds on sentence 4 by showing HOW they did it differently. Contrasts perfectly with sentence 3 - instead of executives discouraging and isolating teardowns to one department, these executives encouraged and included multiple departments. Visualization: Conference room with 12 people: 3 engineers, 3 marketing people, 3 salespeople, 3 purchasing people, all examining 4 different medical devices side by side. Reading Strategy Insight: This is the "solution" - notice how it directly addresses the problems mentioned in sentence 3. What We Know So Far: The right way = executive support + multiple departments together What We Don't Know Yet: What specific benefits resulted |
| Seeing the products together allowed the purchasing department to quickly identify simple design changes that, while invisible to customers, significantly lowered manufacturing costs. | What it says: When purchasing people could see all the products side-by-side, they spotted easy design tweaks that customers wouldn't notice but that would save manufacturing money. What it does: Provides the first concrete benefit of the multi-departmental approach. Source/Type: Factual result from the case study. Connection to Previous Sentences: This builds on sentence 5 by showing one specific outcome. "Seeing the products together" directly refers back to the comparison activity described in sentence 5. Visualization: Purchasing person: "Look, Company C uses this simple plastic clip instead of the metal one we use - saves $2 per unit, customer never sees it." Reading Strategy Insight: First concrete payoff - this is why including purchasing people mattered. What We Know So Far: Multi-departmental teardowns yield cost savings invisible to customers What We Don't Know Yet: What other departments contributed |
| Additionally, seeing the configurations of competitors' electronic circuit boards spurred the team to discuss the manufacturing implications of the company's modular approach to design. | What it says: Looking at how competitors designed their circuit boards made the team talk about how their own modular design approach affected manufacturing. What it does: Introduces the second major benefit/discovery area - questioning their own design philosophy. Source/Type: Factual description of team discussion triggered by observations. Connection to Previous Sentences: This builds on sentence 6 with "Additionally" - showing another benefit of the same "seeing products together" approach from sentence 5. Visualization: Team looking at Circuit Board A (simple, fixed design) vs. their Circuit Board B (complex, many optional modules): "Hmm, should we reconsider our approach?" Reading Strategy Insight: "Additionally" signals this is the second example of benefits, not a new concept. What We Know So Far: The teardown revealed both cost-saving opportunities AND questions about design philosophy What We Don't Know Yet: What they discovered about their modular approach |
| The engineers had long assumed that letting customers, when purchasing, select various options was advantageous and had emphasized this in the product's design. | What it says: Engineers believed giving customers lots of purchase-time options was a good thing and built the product around this idea. What it does: Explains the engineering team's original assumption about customer preferences. Source/Type: Background information about engineers' design philosophy. Connection to Previous Sentences: This builds on sentence 7 by explaining what "modular approach" meant and what engineers thought about it. This is elaborating on "the company's modular approach" mentioned in sentence 7. Visualization: Customer ordering: "I want Model X with Option A, Feature B, and Upgrade C" - engineers thought this flexibility was great for customers. Reading Strategy Insight: Setting up for a revelation - when engineers "assume" something, we're often about to learn they were wrong. What We Know So Far: Engineers designed for customer choice/flexibility What We Don't Know Yet: Whether this assumption was correct |
| Yet the salespeople reported that customers rarely took advantage of the capability . | What it says: Sales team said customers almost never actually used all those options the engineers provided. What it does: Reveals that the engineers' assumption was wrong - provides crucial market reality. Source/Type: Sales team's field observation/market feedback. Connection to Previous Sentences: This directly contradicts sentence 8. "Yet" signals the contrast - engineers thought options were valuable, but sales data shows customers don't use them. Visualization: Sales data: 500 customers, 485 bought the basic model, only 15 customized anything. Engineers' complex option system was mostly unused. Reading Strategy Insight: Classic "assumption vs. reality" revelation - the multi-departmental approach revealed this disconnect. What We Know So Far: Engineers built complexity customers don't want What We Don't Know Yet: What they did with this insight |
| The conversations ultimately led to simplifications in the product's circuitry, significantly lowering costs, and also helped marketers identify a new customer segment where the product might command a higher price. | What it says: These discussions resulted in: (1) simpler circuit design that cost less, and (2) marketing discovering a new customer group willing to pay more. What it does: Provides the final outcomes - shows the concrete business value of the multi-departmental teardown. Source/Type: Summary of business results from the teardown process. Connection to Previous Sentences: This builds on sentences 7-9 by showing the final results. "The conversations" refers back to the team discussions about modular design sparked by the teardown. Visualization: Before: Complex circuit costing $200, sold for $500. After: Simple circuit costing $150, sold for $500 to regular customers + $650 to premium segment. Reading Strategy Insight: This completes the positive example - shows how proper teardowns generate multiple types of value (cost reduction AND revenue enhancement). Final Summary: The passage makes one main point: teardowns are valuable but most companies limit their potential by not involving multiple departments. The medical device example shows how to do it right and what benefits result. |
2. Passage Summary:
Author's Purpose:
To explain how companies can get better results from product teardowns by showing what goes wrong with the typical approach and demonstrating a better way through a real example.
Summary of Passage Structure:
The author builds their argument by contrasting common mistakes with a successful approach:
- First, the author introduces teardowns as a popular and valuable practice among engineers for generating new ideas.
- Next, the author points out the problem - most companies don't get the full benefit from teardowns because executives don't support them properly and treat them too narrowly.
- Then, the author presents a medical device company as a positive example that did teardowns the right way by having executives actively organize cross-departmental sessions.
- Finally, the author shows the concrete business benefits this company achieved, including cost savings and new market opportunities.
Main Point:
Companies can get much more value from product teardowns if executives actively support the process and include people from different departments rather than limiting teardowns to isolated engineering exercises.
3. Question Analysis:
The question asks which action most strongly helped the medical products company lower manufacturing costs. This is asking for a specific cost-reduction strategy that emerged from their teardown process.
Connecting to Our Passage Analysis:
- From our analysis, we identified two main cost-reduction outcomes from the teardown:
- Simple design changes invisible to customers (purchasing department's contribution)
- Circuit simplification resulting from discovering customers rarely used options (cross-departmental insight)
- The passage analysis showed the key revelation: engineers assumed customer options were valuable, but sales data proved customers "rarely took advantage of the capability"
- This insight led to "simplifications in the product's circuitry, significantly lowering costs"
Prethinking:
The passage structure moves from problem (unused customer options) to solution (circuit simplification). The most substantial cost reduction came from eliminating unnecessary complexity - specifically, scaling back the modular options that customers weren't using. While the purchasing department found some cost savings through invisible design changes, the major breakthrough was realizing they could simplify the entire circuit design by removing unused customer options.
Why It's Wrong:
• The passage focuses on cost reduction, not adding features
• Adding novel features would typically increase costs, not lower them
• The teardown led to simplification, not feature enhancement
Common Student Mistakes:
- Did the teardown help them innovate new features?
→ The teardown helped them identify what to remove, not what to add - Doesn't "spark fresh thinking" mean new features?
→ Fresh thinking here meant recognizing unnecessary complexity, not creating new capabilities
Why It's Wrong:
• The passage mentions competitors' circuit board configurations inspired discussion, but doesn't suggest copying designs
• The company developed their own solution (simplification) rather than mimicking competitors
• Using identical designs would create intellectual property and differentiation issues
Common Student Mistakes:
- Didn't they learn from competitors' circuit boards?
→ They observed competitors to question their own approach, not to copy designs - Isn't benchmarking the same as copying?
→ Competitive analysis provides insights for your own innovations, not templates to duplicate
Why It's Wrong:
• While the purchasing department did identify changes "invisible to customers," this was only one of two cost-reduction strategies
• The passage doesn't suggest customer invisibility was the primary cost-reduction principle
• The circuit simplification (the larger cost reduction) wasn't about hiding changes but eliminating unnecessary options
Common Student Mistakes:
- Wasn't the purchasing department's contribution about invisible changes?
→ That was one specific finding, but the larger cost savings came from circuit simplification - Don't all cost reductions need to be invisible to customers?
→ Some cost reductions involve changing what you offer customers (fewer options) rather than hiding changes
Why It's Wrong:
• Marketing strategies were a result of the process, not a cost-reduction method
• The passage mentions marketers identified "a new customer segment where the product might command a higher price" - this is about revenue enhancement, not cost reduction
• Redirecting marketing doesn't directly lower manufacturing costs
Common Student Mistakes:
- Didn't the teardown help marketing discover new opportunities?
→ Yes, but that discovery increased revenue potential rather than reducing manufacturing costs - Can't marketing changes indirectly affect costs?
→ The question asks what "most strongly" lowered costs - marketing changes were secondary to design simplification
Why It's Right:
• Directly supported by the engineers' realization that customers "rarely took advantage of the capability" for selecting options
• This insight led to "simplifications in the product's circuitry, significantly lowering costs"
• Represents the core cost-reduction breakthrough from the cross-departmental teardown process
Key Evidence: "Yet the salespeople reported that customers rarely took advantage of the capability. The conversations ultimately led to simplifications in the product's circuitry, significantly lowering costs"