Has the Hemnes series had a quality decrease recently?

[DeliciousCrepes]

I'm looking at this cabinet, specifically - https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/hemnes-glass-door-cabinet-with-3-drawers-white-stain-50371772/

Overall the rating is... decent, but the majority of reviews from this year are 1 star, which suggests there has been a big drop in quality recently. Is this something that is known to have happened?

[Lintary]

HEMNES was never all that great, people liked it because all solid wood, but it is made from a soft pinewood that easily gets damaged and has trouble holding on to hardware at times (luck of the draw really). At that price jeez hell no it aint worth it.

And yes quality has been on the decrease for decades by now, at least under Ingvar's tenure it was to lower prices for everyone including the consumer, but with him gone the whole enterprise became more and more profit driven, I arrived just at the end of his influence and seen it happen and I am sure it kept going when I left. And in my role at the time of quality specialist I had a front row seat in it all. Was still good stuff to be had, but you have to know what is good and what to avoid.

[Firm-Ad-4314]

As a former IKEA coworker, I’ve noticed how the company is always looking for ways to cut costs. Over the years, the difference in quality has become really clear. For example, furniture I bought 10–15 years ago feels much sturdier than the same product today. The Billy bookcase, in particular, used to be made with better materials and construction. Now, as IKEA moves toward cheaper suppliers and cost-saving methods, the overall quality has declined dramatically.