Inge,

I am talking to customers daily about these issues and life is not easy.

Disclaimer: I'm not talking about all the designers, since many of the members of this forum are very sensible to quality and reliability.

But a typical OEM seems to only be concerned with function and cost. And most don't even design their own PCBs, but sub-contract this as much as assembly. Moreover, they do not budget in a person with assembly or PCB background, so they have no idea what happens after the schematic is being pushed out!
The only thing that exists after the design is finished is a desire of quality, that they can't even assess, as many have no idea IPC standards exist. Therefore they believe their PCB design subcontractor, PCB house and EMS produce quality by default and the only thing an OEM has to do is to push for price reduction.
In this world, reliability is not even known. The life of a product is assessed in terms of component MTBF, joints and vias cannot fail.

So how to convince your customers to pay for quality and the quasi-unknown reliability, when they don't know this exist? Find the answer to this question and you will win, not the war, but a battle.

Good luck,

Ioan Tempea, ing.
Ingénieur Principal de Fabrication / Senior Manufacturing Engineer
T | 450.967.7100 ext.244
E | [log in to unmask] 
W | www.digico.cc

N’imprimer que si nécessaire – Print only if you must



-----Original Message-----
From: Inge <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sun, May 9, 2010 5:06 pm
Subject: [TN] Quality & Capability


Werner, 
Selbstverstandlich (german ae). That's why we have spent lots of money on concurrent engineering, LEAN, 6S and lots of other technical religions.  Q is: how do we convince customers to select and pay for these two? German understand and appreciate such arguments, but they are not our only customers.  Let's take a dream example.  The scientists needed thousands of very advanced detectors to get one or two 'pings' when a neutrino hit the detector. All but cost was discussed. Imagine to get such an order!  I have been involved in some SPACE affairs.  Could never stop marvel about what they are willing to pay.  A 90 degree SMA launcher is 10 times std ones. But in the whole SPACE is a small market. I think Cornflakes is 100 times bigger.  I  disassembled my two Creative Ipods to see what was in.  They seem to be in the Q&C world today.  Art of the state, but to reasonable price.  But take a typical nose radar.  If you really want adapt best Q&C and disqualify all craps, the total will frighten the customers.  (Those who work with MIL know that the quality demands are not on the same high level as they were 20 years ago).  Not an easy equation to solve.  If I go to our Q and tell him to 'cast put these potentiometers, because they are shit' , then he sends me to the purchaser and he will tell the project manager and he will tell the economist who will say nay.  They TALK about best Quality, but it does not mean: it's an order.  I know. I'm stuck in the past. Incurable. Methusalem. 
Thanks anyway for debating, Werner. I use to find a golden grain here and silver seed there speaking with you all.  Bev's 0105s,  0.3 mm pitch  etc were such findings. 
 
Inge 
 

______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System.
For more information please contact helpdesk at x2960 or [log in to unmask] 
______________________________________________________________________