No, it happens a lot in companies that don't employ:
1. standard work
2. design reviews
3. design checklists
4. instructions inserted in their CAD system
5. timely corrective and preventive action
I speak from a 35+ year career in electronics manufacturing engineering. Where did Uniden fail on that list? That is what you need to ask yourself in order to improve.
As for Uniden, I would say, a little of each, but some more so than others. That being said, the SDS100 and SDS200 are amazing receivers that do some really fantastic things, not just at that price, but at
any price. With the number of features and the ability to do so much configurable stuff, one would be hard pressed to get bored with the radio's capabilities in any short order.
Paul Opitz was a genius. Uniden, on the other hand, got a "little" sloppy with the finished product. Sadly, I fear that much of Paul's best work was yet to come, and those ideas and designs likely went to the grave with him.
R.I.P.