On 25 Oct 2004 08:28:16 GMT, wrote:

Andy Hall wrote:
On 23 Oct 2004 19:51:40 GMT, wrote:

It's trivially easy with a ready made chip that does all the hard work
for you. They can be bought 'off the shelf' now. One off price is
only a dollar or two and I'm pretty sure they'd be a lot cheaper in
quantity. The most well known manufacturer is Dallas/Maxim.

Yes I know.

However, consider the impact of a dollar or two on the costs and
margins for a Chinese factory making a power tool that will end up in
B&Q for a few tens of pounds. The ex-works price is probably around
£10-15 tops so anything that does not need to be there is likely to be
left out. Every cent counts.

I knew you were going to say that which is why I added the bit about
"they'd be a lot cheaper in quantity".

Of course they would, but the other factor is the skill level in
assembly.

One of the major advantages of an IC base solution is that very little
skill is required to assemble and test. Stick the components on a
PCB, slap it all together and it just works, no set up or anything is
required.

I think that's the point. Is the product slapped together with
unskilled labour at minimal cost and no quality control, or is it done
properly with the manufacturer running the factory with his quality
control and staking his brand reputation on it?



..andy

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