On 9/22/2008 Michael Tope wrote:
> A company that services just the ham radio market like Elecraft will by
> definition remain small (the ham radio market is not a big market). <snip>
The thing is, there are a LOT of job shops out there. It's been a LOT of years
since I was in the field, but as a for instance - let's say you need 1000 piece
lot of K3s made. It's NOT all that hard to buy your parts "on the reel" (in
fact probably easier than buying loose). The pick and place machines have to
be programmed (one time setup fee) - you deliver the reals (or have the job
shop order them), you deliver the boards, and the machines pick and place all
the components, and you send the boards off to be reflow soldered. These "Job
shops" specialize in 2 things - doing small runs for companies like the one my
friend works for, where making 200 of something is a LOT, and filling out your
"pulses" in production
When I was working in electronics, during out peak periods, we'd bring in "Job
Shoppers" - they were basically self employed "hired guns" - in fact, we
usually kept some around all the time because they often were more skilled than
our regular employees. We had one tech (not production, but test) who we only
hired every 3-4 years. He was THE expert in this one product we built. When
we got the (rare) order for one, or an order to overhaul one of these units, he
got hired (at HUGE $$/hour) to make that unit work, and when he was done, he'd
go off to another company. As we usually had 10-12 months lead from
"pre-order" to the time the unit was ready to test, this wasn't a problem (The
unit went in an aircraft carrier - 2 per carrier, and the only time you needed
a new one was when a new carrier got built. The existing units got overhauled
when a carrier got SLEPed)
--
73 de KG2V
For the Children - RKBA!
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always
possess arms,
and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them..."
-- Richard Henry Lee, 1787
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