Paula Ryan asked:

>Does anyone know where I could obtain a copy of a standard called;
>
>SMEMA
>
>It is associated with input and output conveyors (I think)
>
>Thank you for any information that you can supply.


Of course, the official name is Surface Mount Equipment Manufacturers
Association.

But after doing this work a few years, you may find the real organizational
structure more like this:

SMEMA = Selling Machines Everywhere Money is Available.

They write standards and other fictional depictions of the miraculous
nature of their products, the more technically obscure; the better.

Then you have two other shady organizations:

STIGMA = Subscription Technical Information Gazette - Mainly Advertising

The SMEMA communicates with the target market with STIGMA. You will get
piles of these in the mailbox every month full of nifty pictures and
smiling people. If you believe STIGMA, SMEMA can solve all your problems
for approximately $2.5 million, and everyone else in the world has already
purchased and installed all the stuff to make production a piece of cake.
There are confusing little stories included every month, which explain how
your problems could all be solved by contacting SMEMA.

Then when you buy any of the SMEMA stuff and try to make it do what the
STIGMA claimed, you will become:

SMEGMA = Struggling Manufacturing Engineer, Going Mad Alone. Members of
this organization automatically become President of their own chapter and
attend meetings daily where they wonder what they did wrong and curse their
fate for not being part of SMEMA or STIGMA.

Even SMEGMA members usually deny the shortcomings of the SMEMA stuff, as it
can be dangerous to let anyone know that the STIGMA was not true. After
all, it is eventually going to be SMEGMA's fault even if they were gullible
in their review of SMEMA STIGMA. Sometimes, a SMEGMA will even write some
technobabble for STIGMA. This is usually to reinforce the allegation that
the SMEGMA was correct in choosing which SMEMA to spend a fortune with.

It can get complex, but just remember SMEGMA members rarely drive BMW's,
play golf, attend trade meetings in Hawaii, or leave work at 5 PM.


;-) happy holidays


Jerry

p.s. that's a wink, I'm only joking...



***************************************************************************
* TechNet mail list is provided as a service by IPC using SmartList v3.05 *
***************************************************************************
* To unsubscribe from this list at any time, send a message to:           *
* [log in to unmask] with <subject: unsubscribe> and no text.        *
***************************************************************************