Re: Smith Chart Amusements

Joel Koltner wrote:
Hi Joerg,

"Joerg" <notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:hAl%j.2553$jI5.1438@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
They are usually pulling 10hr days already.

What in the world are they doing? Tech support to end users or something? Once servers and workstations are set up, if it's done right, everything is quite reliable and IT guys should require very little time each day accorded to "maintenance." The bulk of their hours should be "new projects" and "tech support" (although, by hiring the right employees, hopefully you can minimize that as well... and at all the engineering companies I've worked at, "IT tech support" was always restricted to Windows, Office, and similar applications that pretty much everyone used -- never the EDA tools, understandably enough...).


What they were doing? It was two guys for a company of 300+ people. In the morning the accounting guys needed new fiber strung from they old digs to their new digs. The PC for the new tech needed configuration. Numerous memory upgrades here and there. Then around 11:00am a scream, compressor #3 blew a gasket and took part of the back server room with it. Lunch had to be eaten on the go in that server room. And so on.


Also, why re-invent the wheel?

Same as with EDA software... you might be able to do it cheaper and better in-house than what the commercial guys provide. Or maybe not. (But I can hire some pretty darned good programmers for much less than the $240/hr that Epicor gets for consulting, you know?)


I'd never design my own EDA. It would be like building my own pliers and wrenches. Ok, if I was stranded on a remote pacific island with nobody else there I'd probably do that.


Interesting that in my case I think spending $10k on EDA software often makes sense but I'm tempted to roll my own MRP system whereas in your case it seems like you'd rather roll your own EDA tools and spend the $10k on the MRP system. For a small business I expect that the answer to the MRP question is to start with something like much smaller, like Parts & Vendors or MS-Works as you did: No way could you pay someone to implement all that functionality for the three-digit price tag they demand... but the question is no longer so clear-cut when we're on to five-digit price tags.


It is amazing how fast a business blows through $10K when attempting a full-custom solution on their own. If you have three guys on that project you'll be at that point in well under two weeks. So typically a business only does that if there really is no off-the-shelf solution.


(I seem to recall John Larkin mentioning that he occasionally contemplates dropping his own home-rolled MRP "system," as much as it is, and puchasing something like P&V...)




My father's comment was "Brotgelehrter", a German expression for someone who would only put his brains to something when there is an immediate return on investment.

Haha... You could tell him that right then you needed a job and not a hobby! :-)


I already did that when electronics was my hobby, only building stuff when there was no off-the-shelf solution or where the industry was IMHO too freaking stupid to do it right ;-)

So when I wanted my first ham radio transceiver I looked at the complexity and parts costs, then decided to sign up for six weeks of grueling work at a meat factory so I could buy a heavily banged up used unit.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
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