I have developed some new technology for an automotive
electronics application.
Part of creating a solid business plan, is to get an
accurate idea on how much an
electronics device will cost to build, including cost
for hardware such as ICs, capacitors etc.
There however seems to be a few obsticles I am
encountering.
  1. Distributors like Digikey, Arrow and others will
easily provide quotes for up to 10,000 pieces. But
most distributors won't provide quotes for quantities
above this. And for my situation, I need quotes for up
to 1 million pieces per device. It is as if,  my
company is too small to be taken seriously.
Distributors that WILL provide quotes for up to 1
million pieces,
come back with quotes that are BARELY any cheaper than
the 10K quotes. Something just doesn't seem right.
 2. For quantities as high as 1 million, I assumed
that I can bypass the distributor and talk directly to
the component manufacturer, such as Microchip,
National Semiconductor etc.
 However I have the same problem with Manufacturers.
National Semiconductor for example provides a straight
quote online for 1000 pieces or above and by
phone,fax,e-mail , won't provide better quotes for
quantities as high as a million.
 3. I just don't get it. I go out to circuit city and
I see a Walkman for $10, or a Computer mouser for $10
and wonder, how they get the price of thing so low,
considering the quotes I get for many of the
components  I am using. Now I know, some can say,
these Walkmans are made by large corperations and make
millions of these a year. But how about those
realtively low volume electronics devices, like a $40
(retail price) Golf Score Keeper device which included
an LCD display.  Some collegues have told me to look
oversees for the best quotes. Thats fine for common
devices like capacitors and resistors, made perhaps by
generic companies. But for components like PIC
microprocessors, specialised ICs, I just don't see how
an oversees vendor can get better prices than whats
offered direct from the manufacturer in the United
States.

I guess I don't really have a specific question. I
would just like to get some insight on how electronics
device makers, find ways to get electronics
components, including ICs so inexpensively.  Perhaps I
am missing something.


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different
ways.  See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.