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Non-Tech : Iomega Thread without Iomega -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BeachBum who wrote (4807)	12/4/1998 4:51:00 PM
From: David Colvin	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10072

I know it takes awhile to become a standard as long as it takes longer to disappear then I guess it'll be alright. Momentum does seem to be picking up, I just hope the profits follow soon. 1. The 3.5" floppy disk was introduced in 1984 and took quite a while to start becoming standard in computers. I bought a computer in late 1992 and it came with both a 5 1/4" 360 Kb and 3.5" 1.44 Mb drive. By the time I bought my current computer in April of 1996 it was hard to even find a 5 1/4" drive anymore. In the meantime, the best solution for the big OEMs, IMHO, is to ship computers with both an obsolete $20 3.5" 1.44 Mb floppy disk drive and an Iomega zip drive until the transition starts to become complete. To recap, it took nearly 10 years for the 5 1/4" 360 Kb floppy disk drives to really disappear. The zip drive was originally marketed in March of 1995. We are now 3 1/2 years into the cycle. It's very difficult to kill of something as ubiquitous as the 3.5" floppy disk drive, if for no other reason, because of the shear numbers of them in existence. 2. Iomega wasn't used to being a "big-time" company with $1.7 billion in revenues. Such a large operation requires very efficient processes in the procurement, engineering and manufacturing arenas that wring the last bit of costs possible out of producing products on such a large scale. Scott Flaig (who virtually established DELL's extremely efficient business model) is now implementing the processes (in procurement, engineering and manufacturing) required to run an extremely lean and mean operation. Along with this, early this year Iomega took a charge of $10 million for the cost of Oracle software that will enable an extremely cost efficient business...the result being "just-in-time" delivery of components and vast improvements in inventory turns. They have said that they are two years away from full implementation of the "virtual enterprise model" that is their goal. Converting the warehouse in Utah to a manufacturing facility is part of this goal. They will succeed and profits will eventually become overwhelming based on immense volume in the future. I have lots of patience and don't day trade stocks so I can wait. Dave