At 06:53 PM 5/11/00, you wrote: >"William K. Borsum" wrote: > > A couple of thoughts come to mind--- > > The part you are cloning--is it very expensive? > >Relatively > > > What is the profit margin like? > >Worth the trouble > > > Once developed, can you sell the result at a competitive price, recover > > your investment, and still make a profit? > >Certainly, if the market is interested (the big if). > > > Will the manufacturer of the original part offer it as an OEM product with > > your client's name one it? > >Very unlikely >The trouble here is that the market is cornered by the competition, and there >is a large installed base. If we cannot offer a plug repacement, offering >lower cost (there is room), then we will not get the market acceptance to play >the game at all. So even if we do not make a killing in the first round, we >would position ourselves for the second round (entire systems). Reminds me of s system I designed and built some years ago--complete laboratory servo hydraulic control and data acquisition system to replace the antiquated stuff that MTS was selling at the time. Project was funded by a major aerospace company--tune of about $1.2 million. I kept the rights to the design and could sell as many systems as possible. Performance was an order of magnitude better than the competition (truly!) and the price was about 25-30% lower. A real plug-and-play replacement for about $25K. Couldn't sell a one of them to anyone other than our original client. Usual response was something to the effect that if we were still around in 10 years, they'd consider buying. Competitor had VERY deep pockets, and did not mind "spending" some money in the right places. Ended up with a priceless learning experience called Chapter 7. Couldn't even sell our better design and lower cost units to the competitor to sell under their own name. Be very wary. Kelly William K. Borsum, P.E. -- OEM Dataloggers and Instrumentation Systems & San Diego, California, USA