At 11:46 15/07/99 +1200, you wrote:
>I shouldn't comment on prices but for SMD
>I'd guess at $US1.18 for LM324, 9 resistors, 3 caps & a zener - (or $NZ2.40
>max) overall cost very dependent on pcb size, shape etc.
>
>Displays, PCB, connectors and metalwork are the major cost items. Standard
>electronic component costs are pretty well negligable by comparison.
>
>
>Of course if you buy everything from RS......
>
>By the way - what temperature are you running at. We have had to change to
>LM224s to meet high temperature requirements (and we pay more as a
>consequance).
>

Rubbish!
The cost of any component is always to be considered. It seems that you may
be stuck in a less than 1000 production run world.
It is the total cost of the electronic components that has to be cinsidered
including the cost of one off components, size and other formfactot
problems that such may induce incluing manufacture and test cost. If an IC
costs $14 and the sperate components cost $2.40 (This indicates that you
have not had real exposure to large scale production), then one can expect
that the other costs including kitting storage and procurment will add
arounf %10, or $.24 for one case and $1.4 for the otehr case. This is then
altered by teh cost to manufacture $.02 per component, say $15.42 and $2.9,
then add the test cost (Around 40% of the manufatured cost (Complete) and
one can see that the componsnt cost is signifficant. To this assume that
the otehr compents eg metal work etc increase by %1, so if the case cost
$20 and the PCB $10, and packaging $3, the extra cost is now $6.2 vs $15.42
add test cost. I think that the difference is still large, around 1/2 the
cost.
Take this to the extrame with good component buying, and you can save the
company over $1M per year

Dennis