Excuse me here when I say this, but......
You do realize that a very large portion of the HiFi scene is made in small workshops like this.
Many speaker and amp operations are made in converted basements or garages. Those looks like pretty standard work benches to me (maybe need a bit more cleaning and organizing). That says nothing to the quality of the product.
Truth is that Grado is a small operation.
How many high end headphones will you sell in a day? How many turntable cartridges? It is a small market.
Like many of you, I would like to see the durability go up of Grado. At the same point in time, it seems to work fine as most people do not have many problems. In fact, it is less than the Denon problems with breakage.
Not everyone loves headphones and it is just a job on what is basically a small assembly line. Hand crafted, Hand inspected, and sound good? Sounds more legitimate to me than many of the large operations who use all machine made in countries not known for giving fair pay or hours.
Also, there isn't anything particularly high tech about headphones or cartridges.
Be Reasonable!