>> and more likely those problems have to be fixed in house or by the
designers. Nobody has successfully challenged my thesis. <<
Mike get real. This really shows your lack of broad based experience. Perhaps your naivete. Two of the three largest domestic tobacco companies would send thier printed circuit boards (some with Embedded Controllers) to us for functional diagnostic program development that would run on GenRad Automated Test Systems (they had a few systems in-house). Thier "Engineers" did not have a clue on how to develop comprehensive diagnostics so they "contracted" out. The machinery these boards came out of was mostly manufactured in Europe; Germany, Italy, England. It was more cost effective to pay thousands per program for in-house Functional Testing (so they could repair them in-house) than to send them to the OEM overseas at a cost of min. $500.00 to $1,000.00 or more per board. Turnaround time? 8-16 weeks plus tariffs. For the most part these overseas OEM's did not send them comprehensive supporting documentation only schematics and maybe some block diagrams. No source code, no EPLD equations, no PROM tables, No Theory of Operation etc. There is no way they could even Assess potential Y2K problems much less remediate them. Think they are the only company in this situation? Think again. Some of this machinery dates back to the late 70's, early 80's. Ever hear of a 2708 EPROM?, How about a 8031, 8038, 8048, 8049, 8051 MicroController? Ever work with one? You obviously are not a Mfg. or test engineer. The only thing that you have said that makes any sense with me is that the vast majority of Embedded Controllers are date insensitive. However, when you are talking about 10's of millions of Embedded Controllers that still represents a tremendous amount of Assessment work and considerable Remediation work. Don't forget Wonderware has integrated the PlantOneY2k" CD within their Wonder 2000 solution and has distribute this to thier 20,000 client factory sites that they support. Mike why would they do this without some validation and performance testing of the application? Do you think they are simply doing TPRO a favor? Perhaps they want to look like fools to the 20,000 factory base they represent? Get real! Your background may be technical but it is most certainly not broad based or application diversified. Also stop trying to play the "shareholder advocate". I find that insulting. I have done my DD and I am quite certain of what I have invested in. If I'm wrong its my ass not yours. So go find a board who cares. |
