Vitaliy wrote:
>> When I switched from a Chinese manufacturer to Djula, my overall
>> cost went down even though Djula's price per unit was a bit higher.
>
> How do you know this? Is this a gut feeling you get, or have you
> actually crunched the numbers?
>
> This is a real question. The hardest thing about doing these sorts of
> estimates, is that a lot of times, the data is simply not available.
> How do you convert "ease of communication" to US dollars?

Some of it I can measure directly, such as number of working units received,
number of units that were repaired, time to repair them, and number of units
that were ultimately scrapped.

The frustration of carefully wording a question and them having them answer
what they felt like, usually raising more questions that wouldn't get
answered next go around, is harder to measure.  Considerable time was spent
and reception of finished product delayed.  Selling physical stuff like PIC
programmers and development boards is just a sideline.  Embed's main
business is engineering services.  I've got plenty of work and always have
stuff I can do for billable time.  Having to screw around with a contract
manufacturer takes away from billable time and therefore has a direct cost
equal to my bill rate, which is currently $125/hour.  I also feel my
aggrevation is worth something.


********************************************************************
Embed Inc, Littleton Massachusetts, http://www.embedinc.com/products
(978) 742-9014.  Gold level PIC consultants since 2000.
-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist