Re: Small proto boxes with LCD and buttons?

Hello Steve,

$125 selling price doesn't imply a $5 case/display/switches, that
company was offering a variety of different instruments all with the
same case/display/switches, but with a large difference in price.


This display will be more since it's much larger than what I am looking for.

The display is probably custom, 1000 units of a custom display is not
pretty, I have no idea what volume these guys are doing, lets assume
1000's.

It clearly has to be custom. I would think the volumes would be in the 1000's. The market for analyzers is pretty small.

I suspect the case/display/switches/assembly are about $35, with the
electronics/sensors in the lower priced instruments less then $10,with
a 3x parts markup for selling price. So the lion share of the cost is
the case/display.

If that was $35 the company would most likely not exist anymore. The old rule is that a unit's cost (all the cost) should be about 1/3 or less of the final sales price. Since the smallest unit retails for 100 Euros and contains a lot of other stuff including RF the case/display/sw/assy can't possibly be $35. And 100 Euros is the price if you buy only one.

For the $500 instruments the lion share of the cost is the
electronics/sensors, reusing the case/display/switches.


But how then do they make money with the 100 Euro version?

The only way display/case/switches cost less then $5 is when you make
millions, like pagers, cell phones, electronic toys etc, here I am of
course assume China manufacturer not US/Germany.

Mfg in China is pretty much a must, or maybe elsewhere if the Yuan appreciates too much after they unleashed it from the Dollar. But there must be a way to achieve low prices through the adoption of standard parts. IOW live with what's already there for other higher volume applications. I do not recall the details since I am not active in that environment but I have seen small scuba diving gadgets with graphics LCD (to display depth profiles) that didn't cost much at the store at all. pretty small market, too.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
.