Bob Axtell wrote:
> If I were Motorola, I probably would have make the same decision, but 
> instead of halting production on a mature product, I would  have put in 
> a NEW plant for the new cellphone chips. It was a bad decision on their 
> part, and they are now living with the consequences.

It was probably more like:
   Engineer: "We've got the designs for the cellphone chips done, but our 
current factories can't produce the production quantities we need without 
stopping production of other products."
   Manager: "OK, I'll pass that on to my manager."
[ the request works its way up the chain of command ]
   CEO: "OK, those, whatchamacallits..."
   CEO's assistant: "Microcontrollers, sir."
   CEO: "Yeah, macro-ma-controller-mators. Stop production, and start 
production of the cellphone parts."
   CEO's assistant: "Sir, with all due respect, we've got over 60,000 
customers who have orders placed for those chips..."
   CEO: "I know how many customers we have, but the cellphone chips are more 
important. People need cellphones!"
   CEO's assistant: "People need cars too - those parts are in use on a lot of 
car ECU modules..."
   CEO: "Don't you think I know that? Stop questioning me! Switch production 
NOW, or I'll have your head!"
   CEO's assistant: "*sigh*... Yes, sir, I'll let the customers know they're 
going to have to wait."
   CEO: "Good. Let my secretary know that I'm going to be out for the morning. 
Actually, make that the rest of the day. I've got a very important golf game 
to attend."
   CEO's assistant: "Yes sir..."

"If in doubt, blame the management" - IWFM...

-- 
Phil.                         | Kitsune: Acorn RiscPC SA202 64M+6G ViewFinder
philpem@dsl.pipex.com         | Cheetah: Athlon64 3200+ A8VDeluxeV2 512M+100G
http://www.philpem.me.uk/     | Tiger: Toshiba SatPro4600 Celeron700 256M+40G
-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist