For my technical friends, and the guy enjoying our via in pad issues though haveing no problems himself now knowing him to be a technical non combatant (totally unarmed in any sense), I wish to tell a little story. Once upon a time there was a MoonMan. He talked the talk and sometimes even walked the walk. A true hero he but for haveing much trouble with his love life (a never ending saga not to be sharred with faint of heart) and complete envy of Bev and Chris having found true bliss. On to his "technical" life. The MoonMan wanted to place orders with "Big Steve's" organization but my boss and I both decided the price was too steep though the cost would have been much lower than what happened later. By the way, Big Steve should be very happy never having to put up with our designs though I wish we could have gone there with all fantastic references I received about him and his abilities. You folks ever heard of him and them? Worth the price I tell you. Anyway, we went to another assembly capability and did well until, just after they closed the doors, we no longer were able to do business with them. Never knew what hit us or them. Everyone was laid off without notice to them or us. How could this have happened in such an improving economy? We had to go out and find another assembly house. Luck would have it I had visited MPI (in CT) over two years ago and was impressed. We just received some of the best assemblies ever including valuable DFM input, with attendant solder joints, ever even though the designs were still screwed up though the before mentioned TI parts held together. These folks have a separate prototpye capability using the same processes they use down stairs. They even tape and reel. They are terrific and I hope they stay in business forever. I wish there were more like this. I don't have a clue where this story is going. I'm just hoping we face no more door closures and have to search for another capability. I must say, I'm looking for a backup and a major player to do our volume but I doubt my original large company will fill the bill. Hell, I was going to "can" all the data and documentation from their tech center and send it to them for volume production. That will now not happen. Sob, sob, I cannot continue with this tragedy. I need a quiet place to contemplate. When the bears come out of their winter sleep, maybe I'll return to the cave. WHERE HAVE ALL THE ASSEMBLERS GONE - LONG TIME PASSING? MoonSobMan --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------