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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (49858)	7/26/2001 9:45:22 PM
From: StanX Long	Respond to of 70976

I remember learning about this years ago. And yes your right, "I believe". But I would say that PARC was being run by or like Engineers, and not business men. Being in this high tech industry and managing price and cost for products, I learn that many great Engineers have little business understanding while they are in the "Science Project Associated Mentality" In the SPAM group, they just love to figure it out and design cool solutions. Many times as a Sustaining Engineer, I've given great Engineers real heartburn when I'll downgrade elaborate ideas into a product designed for cost (DFC). My best example of some 30-50 times I would DFC was to take a simple 1" spin gear need, this sat on a 1/4" shaft with half moon key", real standard stuff. In this example the Engineer knowing what he needed, and could not final an off the shelf solution, designed a gear using seven individual parts held together with three 40x40 screws. It came to my attentions as a reliability issue in the field. The designed gear cost $150.00 and required 15 minutes to install. One of my Sustaining Engineer found a direct replacement off the shelf for twelve buck. And it resolved the reliability issue of the original gear. Some great Engineers don't see the business in their great designs. Stan