On the surface, Mark Gammage's job sounds a little dull. As the group manager of Amway's Reliability Lab, Gammage oversees a team of four engineers who design complex product-testing equipment and software. But the group's real directive is to invent ways to torture and destroy everything the company makes. Tests in the lab, known as "the Room of Doom," include exposing cookware, medical devices, and other products to extreme temperatures and zapping them with 8,000 volts of electricity to simulate a lightning strike. Gammage says his favorite test is to detect weaknesses in water-treatment tanks, which involves pressurizing them until they blow up. "You can hear it and see it as it explodes inside a protective clear case," he explains. "Many times, guests do the honors and dial up the pressure. That always brings a smile to their face."
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