I don't get the Capitalism bashing aspect of the article. You can find reinforced glassware, its just more expensive so you don't hear a lot about it. It's not planed obsolescence, its customer preference.
I make pumps that are 5 to 10 times expensive than Chinese pumps and 5 to 10 times durable, I sell 1/10 as much as Chinese pumps. This is restricting research in improving pump, instead all research goes in reducing the cost.
Doesn’t this represent equal market share with the Chinese in terms of revenue?
In this article, the author makes the claim that very hard glass could not have been invented under capitalism, because capitalists are too focused on things breaking and having to be replaced. Which is ridiculous for any number of reasons, as is the implication that products developed under the economic model of the GDR were typically durable and long-lasting. It seems to be common for people to be both confused about what capitalism and socialism are, and very confident about what they represent.