Araya did produce some turds imo, starting with their welded (and sometimes over-machined) aluminum rim seams that produced gross, incurable thumping while braking. This was too common to ignore, imo, but some of the later, welded Weinmann Concave rims, as used by Raleigh and others, suffered the same severe issue.
This appeared to be hand-work, using perhaps a powered sanding drum, rather than a true machining operation.

There were also Araya's Red and Blue-label racing clinchers, which again suffered brake pulsation at the seam, not from over machining but in this case from a too-tight-fitting sleeve by all appearances.
I've fixed these using a vice, and then sanding to a final consistent thickness, but it took me years to get proficient enough at it so as not to want to toss these rims outright. Sanding aluminum produces neuro-toxic dust.

Even as late as the very late 1980's, Araya's racing clinchers also tended to spit off tire beads, owing to a pleasantly loose tire fit combined with but a semi-circular nub of a bead hook. I lost both wired and folding tires off of CTL-series rims after extended downhill braking, but at least the tire always gave warning by thumping the fork leg several times before releasing the tube's pressure with a bang.

But most of the 27" Araya rims of the 70's were certainly well designed and were a compliment to millions of bikes that they adorned.

The Araya steel rims were a revelation to me, some of Ukai's as well, and I've bought an entire bike at Goodwill to snag a virgin pair.
These Japanese steel rims are in the 730-gram range iir, as are the lumpier French Chrolux rims made by Rigida.
Schwinn's steel rims, bare, were more like 1100-grams, as a comparison.