Paul, I was really referring to the Web based ordering, not the engineering of the production process by it's self.
I would argue however, that putting PC's together isn't brain surgery, a little bit like a jig saw puzzle that low paid hourly workers and machines can handle just fine. Oddly enough, SCI systems in Huntsville build many of the machines for Dell in the same factory that they make them for IBM, CPQ and AAPL.
Nuclear science, I don't think so, it's amazing what a few billion dollars laying around can do to a manufacturing plant. I don't want to belabor the point, but there really aren't many secrets to the BTO model, just a difference in opinion and resources by supporting the corporate customer direct and supporting the reseller channel who does their own little version of BTO.
One other point (and don't worry I am not a compaq fan, even though I have many good friends who work there) Compaq should gain very much leverage in some very huge corporate accounts from the DEC merger. All of these existing DEC customers are going to be either forced, convinced, bought out, or even black mailed into purchasing compaq computers along with their DEC services. May not make much of a dent, should just add about 25% of the fortune 500 list to Compaq's customer base.
Regards,
Phillip |
