Disclosed herein are methods and compositions useful for evaluating, selecting, identifying, or making a cell or cell line that has improved production capacity for generating higher yields of products and/or improved capacity to produce higher quality products. Products, as described herein, can include a polypeptide that is endogenously expressed by the cell, a recombinant polypeptide that is not endogenously expressed, or a non-naturally occurring recombinant polypeptide. The methods described herein include modulating, e.g., inhibiting, the protein degradation pathway by using a proteasome inhibitor, an ER-associated degradation (ERAD) inhibitor, or a ubiquitin pathway inhibitor.