Unass'bl'd Heathkit Transistor Tester on Ebay

[Michael Black]

legg (legg@nospam.magma.ca) writes:

On 14 Aug 2005 18:12:25 GMT, et472@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Michael Black)
wrote:


"Watson A.Name - \"Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\"" (NOSPAM@dslextreme.com) writes:
An unassembled Heathkit transistor tester alreadty has 9 bids and is
over $200. Looks like kitbuilding is still a hobby with some folk.
Too bad Heathkit isn't around any more.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5796969240&rd=1&sspa
gename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

No.

Things become collectible, and hence valuable, when they are scarce.
Since people didn't normally buy kits to leave on the shelf, there are
a very limited number of unbuilt Heathkits lying around. Plenty can say
they have Heathkits lying about, few can say they have one that's never
been built.

But the moment it is built, it moves from one category to the other.
When it's built, it's just a Heathkit, and unless it's a rare item
it's no longer valuable.

They pay the price not to build it, but so they can boast about
having an unbuilt kit.

Michael

The switches, pots, capacitors and other components in this thing will
age, even without use ( ....particularly without use).

RL


But if the point is to never build it, it doesn't really matter if

the parts have gone bad. There are antique radio collectors who don't
restore the electronics, so I gather, because they want the radios
to be completely original, so they simply keep the radios on display
and never use them.

Again, once it's built it's less valuable than as a kit because
the kit is the rarity. You can't point to a built Heathkit and
say "this is what it looked like out of the box".

Micahel

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Terry Given wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:
Spehro Pefhany wrote:

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 23:29:13 GMT, the renowned "Michael A. Terrell"
mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:


They didn't like my suggestion of using a digital camera on a stand
to take good color photos of each step and use an old PC to let the
operator hit page up or down to scroll through each page as needed to
place parts or verify their work. It would have helped the techs and QC
as well, but they complained it would cost too much to implement.

That's an excellent idea, Michael.

An old PC, maybe a new 17" LCD display and ACDSee would be all you'd
need. Probably $300 total. You can hardly buy a good soldering iron
for that.



Don't forget a decent two way foot switch so the operator doesn't have
to let go of their tweezers or other tools to change images. Today you
can buy a $ 29 US DVD player that will display JPEGs on a TV or
composite monitor


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany



We had a 10' * 10' room half full of 100 Mhz or faster pentiums and
17" or large monitors they finally threw away. They had a Sony digital
camera with a decent macro capability and a stand that would work. On
the other hand, they had an even bigger case of N.I.H. in the M.E.
office. No matter what the problem was, they wouldn't listen to anyone
about anything, until they were forced into a corner. Their standard
answer was, "That's ok for your little shop at home, but it won't work
here".


Like the day the pressure sensor froze on the air compressor and they
almost lost a 5 HP 3 phase motor. I had had a similar failure on my
compressor so I suggested a modification that let them use a quick
disconnect on the air line and a plug to disconnect the wiring so it
could be repaired in a couple minutes, rather than wait three days for
someone to arrive and repair it. I also added a second sensor to my
compressor set 10 PSI higher to sound an alarm if the first failed, and
remove power from the contactor and controls. As usual, I got the
standard answer, and we lost the rest of the day for production, that
weekend's overtime and part of Monday waiting for the tech to arrive for
15 minutes work. They would lose $1000 from extra labor and material
costs instead of spending a few dollars to fix a problem.

I managed to get them to switch from Alpha solder to Ersin by getting
a sample roll of .015" SMD rework solder sent to engineering. I gave a
couple feet to each of the assembly and rework people. Two days later
that had a whole line of people demanding a roll of "That good solder!"
They figured out where it came from and threatened to fire me, but it
was too late. Everyone who soldered SMD parts wanted a half pound roll
for their bench so the M.E.s had to order 100 spools while I continued
to give out small amounts.

Hi Michael,

sadly that sort of brain-dead behaviour is all too common. Its a great
pity one cannot beat stupid people with a large stick. It must have
driven you bonkers.....

Cheers
Terry

I got the last laugh. They are losing customers and orders after
they moved the plant and laid off all the older employees to save money.

--
Link to my "Computers for disabled Veterans" project website deleted
after threats were telephoned to my church.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Terry Given wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:
Robert Baer wrote:

Mistake!
Never tell a boss how to do anything better.
Cannot change anything, it has *always* been done this way.
Do not confuse me with the facts.



Not always true. I made a lot of changes there in a little over four
years, to the point that some of the test techs could write an updated
test procedure and engineering had 72 hours to either approve it, or
come to a compromise. If they didn't, we shut down production on the
related parts or systems while management fought it out. They told me
that as a tech I couldn't have a soldering iron on my bench or do my own
rework. I had three Edsyn "Loner" irons on my bench when I left the
company. I also had a stereo microscope on my bench which were
supposedly only allowed in the assembly area. I was allowed to design
and build new test fixtures, write test software and do a lot of other
things that weren't allowed the day I was hired.

On the other hand, I was banned from engineering for a month or so
because I don't take "NO" for an answer, and sometimes I call people a
liar when they say yes but I know they don't mean it. If I found a
design problem I found what was needed to fix the problem, then I
checked to see if we already stocked the right parts before limping into
design with a stack of papers. It was funny because a couple times
someone must have called them from the production floor because they
were all running out the other end of the department as I limped into
the room.

They soon realized that all they had to do was review the changes,
put it on the proper forms and sign it off, because all the design work
as already done. I worked on a number of products that had no one in
design who was familiar with, and the techs on the floor knew those
products better than the current engineers. In fact, there was one
circuit using the old MC1496 that was designed by one of the founders of
the company and I had to talk to him to get it changed, because I was
the only full time employee who understood the circuit and what needed
to be done. It was used as a diversity combiner for a dual receiver
telemetry system and it could track within .01 dB across the entire
linear 0 to 5 VDC AGC range after the changes were made.

BTW: The M.E. that had the bad N.I.H. attitude is working part time
at a local hardware store now that the plant is closed. The second M.E.
is working for the county's technical division, and the third just
retired when the plant closed.

The last change was in the way a couple people acted in the plant.
We had a 300 pound bully that thought it was funny to sneak up behind
someone and slap them hard on the back while they were working,
including an old man who worked on 1500 VDC power supplies. I saw him
coming one day and warned him that it wasn't a good idea to try it on
me, or any of the other veterans, because he would probably find himself
laying in the floor, bleeding. He turned to our boss and said I was
threatening him. The boss shrugged and said, No, it sounds like he gave
you good advice. I pointed to my HP 331 distortion analyzer and then to
the heavy bench stool and reminded him that either would make a good
weapon if assaulted, and that there were six or seven other vets that
might do the same thing so he stopped his sneak attacks.


I'd have fired his ass on the spot, for dangerous behaviour around high
voltage stuff, he could easily have killed the OM working with high
voltage. why the hell didnt they?

Personally I think your warning should have been demonstrated rather
than vocalised.

Cheers
Terry

He did have his uses when you needed something heavy moved. If you
asked for help he would just laugh and walk away, so i would make sure
he could hear me while I told someone else that he couldn't lift
something. It worked, every time.

Not only that, but the best things to hit him with were in short
supply in the Cal Lab. I had the last working H-P 5245L counter in the
plant, and I needed its excellent time period measurement capabilities
for several tests. I'm sure it would have at least snapped off both
handles as it hit the back of his fat head.


--
Link to my "Computers for disabled Veterans" project website deleted
after threats were telephoned to my church.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Joerg wrote:

They needed to replace the carpet where he did the test.

Regards, Joerg

They proably needed clean underware as well! ;-)

--
Link to my "Computers for disabled Veterans" project website deleted
after threats were telephoned to my church.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Terry Given]

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Terry Given wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Spehro Pefhany wrote:


On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 23:29:13 GMT, the renowned "Michael A. Terrell"
mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:



They didn't like my suggestion of using a digital camera on a stand
to take good color photos of each step and use an old PC to let the
operator hit page up or down to scroll through each page as needed to
place parts or verify their work. It would have helped the techs and QC
as well, but they complained it would cost too much to implement.

That's an excellent idea, Michael.

An old PC, maybe a new 17" LCD display and ACDSee would be all you'd
need. Probably $300 total. You can hardly buy a good soldering iron
for that.



Don't forget a decent two way foot switch so the operator doesn't have
to let go of their tweezers or other tools to change images. Today you
can buy a $ 29 US DVD player that will display JPEGs on a TV or
composite monitor



Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany



We had a 10' * 10' room half full of 100 Mhz or faster pentiums and
17" or large monitors they finally threw away. They had a Sony digital
camera with a decent macro capability and a stand that would work. On
the other hand, they had an even bigger case of N.I.H. in the M.E.
office. No matter what the problem was, they wouldn't listen to anyone
about anything, until they were forced into a corner. Their standard
answer was, "That's ok for your little shop at home, but it won't work
here".


Like the day the pressure sensor froze on the air compressor and they
almost lost a 5 HP 3 phase motor. I had had a similar failure on my
compressor so I suggested a modification that let them use a quick
disconnect on the air line and a plug to disconnect the wiring so it
could be repaired in a couple minutes, rather than wait three days for
someone to arrive and repair it. I also added a second sensor to my
compressor set 10 PSI higher to sound an alarm if the first failed, and
remove power from the contactor and controls. As usual, I got the
standard answer, and we lost the rest of the day for production, that
weekend's overtime and part of Monday waiting for the tech to arrive for
15 minutes work. They would lose $1000 from extra labor and material
costs instead of spending a few dollars to fix a problem.

I managed to get them to switch from Alpha solder to Ersin by getting
a sample roll of .015" SMD rework solder sent to engineering. I gave a
couple feet to each of the assembly and rework people. Two days later
that had a whole line of people demanding a roll of "That good solder!"
They figured out where it came from and threatened to fire me, but it
was too late. Everyone who soldered SMD parts wanted a half pound roll
for their bench so the M.E.s had to order 100 spools while I continued
to give out small amounts.

Hi Michael,

sadly that sort of brain-dead behaviour is all too common. Its a great
pity one cannot beat stupid people with a large stick. It must have
driven you bonkers.....

Cheers
Terry



I got the last laugh. They are losing customers and orders after
they moved the plant and laid off all the older employees to save money.

I always loved that line by Gore Vidal - "It's not enough to succeed,
others must fail"

I really dont understand this ageist behaviour. Yeah sure, some older
people dont like doing things differently, but that has nothing to do
with age - in fact its almost mandatory for entry into management.
Experience, however, invariably does.

I guess the bean counters cant see past the low wages young (stupid)
people are prepared to work for.

Cheers
Terry

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Terry Given wrote:

I always loved that line by Gore Vidal - "It's not enough to succeed,
others must fail"

I really dont understand this ageist behaviour. Yeah sure, some older
people dont like doing things differently, but that has nothing to do
with age - in fact its almost mandatory for entry into management.
Experience, however, invariably does.

I guess the bean counters cant see past the low wages young (stupid)
people are prepared to work for.

Cheers
Terry

70% of the employees were close to retirement age. A lot of them had
health problems, but we were the most productive group in the parent
corporation. We rarely had a month go by that someone wasn't retiring,
out of a little over 200 people. It wasn't a typical manufacturing
company, instead if was a "Engineer to order" shop. In a single day I
might work on a dozen different items for a half dozen different
products. What they couldn't see was that the people had learned to be
flexible, and could stop mid job to do a rush order, then switch back
without missing a beat.

Schedules were never set in stone. An emergency order by an important
customer might have to be rushed through, or the delivery of the next
batch of receivers on a long term contract might be pushed back by the
customer because they were changing a schedule, or rebuilding a site and
didn't want the new equipment sitting there where it could be stolen or
damaged.

--
Link to my "Computers for disabled Veterans" project website deleted
after threats were telephoned to my church.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Terry Given]

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Terry Given wrote:

I always loved that line by Gore Vidal - "It's not enough to succeed,
others must fail"

I really dont understand this ageist behaviour. Yeah sure, some older
people dont like doing things differently, but that has nothing to do
with age - in fact its almost mandatory for entry into management.
Experience, however, invariably does.

I guess the bean counters cant see past the low wages young (stupid)
people are prepared to work for.

Cheers
Terry



70% of the employees were close to retirement age. A lot of them had
health problems, but we were the most productive group in the parent
corporation. We rarely had a month go by that someone wasn't retiring,
out of a little over 200 people. It wasn't a typical manufacturing
company, instead if was a "Engineer to order" shop. In a single day I
might work on a dozen different items for a half dozen different
products. What they couldn't see was that the people had learned to be
flexible, and could stop mid job to do a rush order, then switch back
without missing a beat.

Schedules were never set in stone. An emergency order by an important
customer might have to be rushed through, or the delivery of the next
batch of receivers on a long term contract might be pushed back by the
customer because they were changing a schedule, or rebuilding a site and
didn't want the new equipment sitting there where it could be stolen or
damaged.

I guess results just didnt count then.

I've worked with several different "young" production lines, but mostly
they have been staffed with 40+ workers. Far more reliable for a start.
The younger workers seemed far more interested in planning their social
lives than actually working, let alone doing a good job. and nowadays
"ecky tuesday" is an issue too.

It reminds me of the joke about the old bull and the young bull, which
contains a sizeable grain of truth.

FWIW, I was astonishingly stupid when young. I've wised up a lot since
then, all the way to a bit dim

Cheers
Terry

 

[RST Engineering (jw)]

Beats the hell out of the alternative.

Jim




"John Fields" <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message
news:im42g15oohrupddfl464o1f07krveks61t@4ax.com...

> Getting old's a bitch, ain't it?

 

[John Fields]

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 16:19:59 -0700, "RST Engineering \(jw\)"
<jim@rstengineering.com> wrote:

Beats the hell out of the alternative.

Jim

---
Getting younger?^) Yup!
---

"John Fields" <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message
news:im42g15oohrupddfl464o1f07krveks61t@4ax.com...

Getting old's a bitch, ain't it?

--
John Fields
Professional Circuit Designer

 

[Tom Del Rosso]

"Chuck Harris" <cf-NO-SPAM-harris@erols.com> wrote in message
news:YMudnZ1689jAh5zeRVn-pQ@rcn.net...

Schlumberger wanted to buy a semiconductor manufacturer to round out its
"portfolio", so it noticed that Heath was buying 90% of Fairchild's
production,

Thanks for the great story! But can that 90% be right?


--

Reply in group, but if emailing add
2 more zeros and remove the obvious.

 

[Chuck Harris]

Tom Del Rosso wrote:

"Chuck Harris" <cf-NO-SPAM-harris@erols.com> wrote in message
news:YMudnZ1689jAh5zeRVn-pQ@rcn.net...

Schlumberger wanted to buy a semiconductor manufacturer to round out its
"portfolio", so it noticed that Heath was buying 90% of Fairchild's

production,

Thanks for the great story! But can that 90% be right?

No, I misremembered that section. I just looked it up, and here is the quote:

"In 1978 Schlumberger... decided that it would be nice to have an "in-house"
source of semiconductors and began looking around for a nice semiconductor
manufacturer to swallow. It didn't have to look very far. Heath was buying literally
millions of semiconductors every year from a company called Fairchild. Heath was,
in fact, Fairchild's single largest consumer of both discrete and integrated devices.
Additionally, Schlumberger owned a lot of other companies that used semiconductors,
and it used a lot itself. This, it reasoned could be a sweet deal. By acquiring Fairchild,
Schlumberger would control not only the source and the devices, but also the
products in which they were used. Funny... that is exactly how the Federal Trade
Commission saw it..." - excerpt from Chuck Penson's book on Heathkit.

 

[Tom Del Rosso]

"Chuck Harris" <cf-NO-SPAM-harris@erols.com> wrote in message
news:18WdnQegS6jqLp_eRVn-jQ@rcn.net...

"In 1978 Schlumberger... decided that it would be nice to have an
"in-house"
source of semiconductors and began looking around for a nice
semiconductor
manufacturer to swallow. It didn't have to look very far. Heath was
buying literally
millions of semiconductors every year from a company called Fairchild.
Heath was,
in fact, Fairchild's single largest consumer of both discrete and
integrated devices.
Additionally, Schlumberger owned a lot of other companies that used
semiconductors,
and it used a lot itself. This, it reasoned could be a sweet deal. By
acquiring Fairchild,
Schlumberger would control not only the source and the devices, but also
the
products in which they were used. Funny... that is exactly how the
Federal Trade
Commission saw it..." - excerpt from Chuck Penson's book on Heathkit.

It's a wonder they never broke up IBM or Tektronix for making their own
components.


--

Reply in group, but if emailing add
2 more zeros and remove the obvious.

 

[Robby]

On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 09:56:17 -0700, Jim Thompson <thegreatone@example.com>
wrote:

My first kit was an EICO VTVM.

...Jim Thompson

Mine was an EICO ST 40K 40 watt stereo amp kit. I still have it, but
mice built a nest in the multi section selector switch (between and around the
wafers) when it was stored in a basement many years ago and I have to clean it
up before I can use it again. Very strange place to build a nest. The tubes
(7591's) are priced out of this world when you can find them these days.

Rob

 

[Watson A.Name - \"Watt Su]

"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:42FFE6B1.DF488603@earthlink.net...

Spehro Pefhany wrote:

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 23:29:13 GMT, the renowned "Michael A. Terrell"
mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:

They didn't like my suggestion of using a digital camera on a
stand
to take good color photos of each step and use an old PC to let the
operator hit page up or down to scroll through each page as needed
to
place parts or verify their work. It would have helped the techs
and QC
as well, but they complained it would cost too much to implement.

That's an excellent idea, Michael.

An old PC, maybe a new 17" LCD display and ACDSee would be all you'd
need. Probably $300 total. You can hardly buy a good soldering iron
for that.


Don't forget a decent two way foot switch so the operator doesn't
have
to let go of their tweezers or other tools to change images. Today
you
can buy a $ 29 US DVD player that will display JPEGs on a TV or
composite monitor


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany


We had a 10' * 10' room half full of 100 Mhz or faster pentiums and
17" or large monitors they finally threw away. They had a Sony digital
camera with a decent macro capability and a stand that would work. On
the other hand, they had an even bigger case of N.I.H. in the M.E.
office. No matter what the problem was, they wouldn't listen to
anyone
about anything, until they were forced into a corner. Their standard
answer was, "That's ok for your little shop at home, but it won't work
here".


Like the day the pressure sensor froze on the air compressor and
they
almost lost a 5 HP 3 phase motor. I had had a similar failure on my
compressor so I suggested a modification that let them use a quick
disconnect on the air line and a plug to disconnect the wiring so it
could be repaired in a couple minutes, rather than wait three days for
someone to arrive and repair it. I also added a second sensor to my
compressor set 10 PSI higher to sound an alarm if the first failed,
and
remove power from the contactor and controls. As usual, I got the
standard answer, and we lost the rest of the day for production, that
weekend's overtime and part of Monday waiting for the tech to arrive
for
15 minutes work. They would lose $1000 from extra labor and material
costs instead of spending a few dollars to fix a problem.

I managed to get them to switch from Alpha solder to Ersin by
getting
a sample roll of .015" SMD rework solder sent to engineering. I gave
a
couple feet to each of the assembly and rework people. Two days later
that had a whole line of people demanding a roll of "That good
solder!"
They figured out where it came from and threatened to fire me, but it
was too late. Everyone who soldered SMD parts wanted a half pound roll
for their bench so the M.E.s had to order 100 spools while I continued
to give out small amounts.

A friend of mine worked at a place that rewarded their employees with
$50 for submitting a suggestion that saved the company money. That's
the way it should be, some reward for improving the company. Your story
above makes one wonder why you would still be working for them after
they threatened to fire you. If I were you, I would have been looking
for another job, since it's doubtful they would remain in business with
that attitude.

Unfortunately, it's these true stories, sadly, that give so much meaning
to the Dilbert cartoons, with thier PHBs.

--
Link to my "Computers for disabled Veterans" project website deleted
after threats were telephoned to my church.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Watson A.Name - \"Watt Su]

"RST Engineering (jw)" <jim@rstengineering.com> wrote in message
news:11fvamqjtm1om7a@corp.supernews.com...

Heathkit's downfall was an ill-advised policy that "We will not let
you
fail". You could send a kit that didn't work when you got through
with it
and for a fixed fee (10% of the price of the kit, as I vaguely recall)
they
would fix the kit, no matter how bad you screwed it up. That is
absolute
insanity.

Nonsense. I agree with the others, your statement doesn't hold water.

BTW, that Heathkit finally sold for almost $230.00. Wow, still ssomeone
out there that wants to enjoy building a good quality klt.

My company has been making kits for avionics for 33 years and guess
what? I
**WILL** let you fail. Didn't put it together right? Sorry, ten
thousand
other folks have done just fine. I'll help you troubleshoot it, but
I'll be
damned if I will fix it for peanuts.

Jim

"Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover"" <NOSPAM@dslextreme.com
wrote
in message news:11fuuv8jel207c4@corp.supernews.com...

An unassembled Heathkit transistor tester alreadty has 9 bids and is
over $200. Looks like kitbuilding is still a hobby with some folk.
Too bad Heathkit isn't around any more.

 

[John Fields]

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 03:28:37 -0700, "Watson A.Name - \"Watt Sun, the
Dark Remover\"" <NOSPAM@dslextreme.com> wrote:

BTW, that Heathkit finally sold for almost $230.00. Wow, still ssomeone
out there that wants to enjoy building a good quality klt.

---
I doubt it, since it's a collector's item now. They'll prob'ly just
hold it for a while and then put it back on ebay.

--
John Fields
Professional Circuit Designer

 

[Sal Brisindi]

Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover" wrote:

A friend of mine worked at a place that rewarded their employees with
$50 for submitting a suggestion that saved the company money. That's
the way it should be, some reward for improving the company. Your story
above makes one wonder why you would still be working for them after
they threatened to fire you. If I were you, I would have been looking
for another job, since it's doubtful they would remain in business with
that attitude.

Unfortunately, it's these true stories, sadly, that give so much meaning
to the Dilbert cartoons, with thier PHBs.






IBM had a sugesstion form you submitted and if the company saved money,

you received 10 percent of the savings during 1 year up to $100,000.
Many people I knew won $1000's and I knew 1 person who won $100,000 and
another who won $87,000. I myself won a couple of hundred... drats,
never made it to the 100K club. But when Lou Gerstner took over, he
ended that policy and changed it to $5,000 max, now I am not sure what
the max is but sugesstions went way way down after that.

Regards,
Sal Brisindi

 

[Chuck Harris]

Tom Del Rosso wrote:

Schlumberger would control not only the source and the devices, but also

the

products in which they were used. Funny... that is exactly how the

Federal Trade

Commission saw it..." - excerpt from Chuck Penson's book on Heathkit.


It's a wonder they never broke up IBM or Tektronix for making their own
components.

It's always a mystery to me what triggers the FTC to act. For instance, GM
made their own busses in the '40s-60s. They also made the engines for the
busses. They wouldn't sell the engines to anyone who made busses. FTC
called it a trust, and made them sell the engines to their bus making competitors.

Tektronix made their own special IC', CRT's and transformers, and wouldn't
sell them to competitors (is this true?) And AFAIK, FTS left them alone.

Schlumberger owned Fairchild, who sold to anyone, and Heath who bought
mostly Fairchild parts, and FTC broke them up.

And now, the baby Bells have merged, and mixed with their competition,
creating fewer companies than there was during the hay day of the "trust",
and it is a really good thing.

And all of the military contractors have merged together into Boeing/Macdonald
Douglas/Grumman/Martin... and it is a really good thing.

A mystery!

-Chuck Harris

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 09:32:41 -0400, Sal Brisindi
<salb203@optonline.net> wrote:

[snip]

IBM had a sugesstion form you submitted and if the company saved money,
you received 10 percent of the savings during 1 year up to $100,000.
Many people I knew won $1000's and I knew 1 person who won $100,000 and
another who won $87,000. I myself won a couple of hundred... drats,
never made it to the 100K club. But when Lou Gerstner took over, he
ended that policy and changed it to $5,000 max, now I am not sure what
the max is but sugesstions went way way down after that.

Regards,
Sal Brisindi

That's the usual game around the Phoenix area, 10% of the first year's
savings.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[Don Bowey]

On 8/16/05 9:42 PM, in article zkzMe.1064$EZ5.70@fe08.lga, "Tom Del Rosso"
<ng01@att.net.invalid> wrote:

"Chuck Harris" <cf-NO-SPAM-harris@erols.com> wrote in message
news:18WdnQegS6jqLp_eRVn-jQ@rcn.net...

"In 1978 Schlumberger... decided that it would be nice to have an
"in-house"
source of semiconductors and began looking around for a nice
semiconductor
manufacturer to swallow. It didn't have to look very far. Heath was
buying literally
millions of semiconductors every year from a company called Fairchild.
Heath was,
in fact, Fairchild's single largest consumer of both discrete and
integrated devices.
Additionally, Schlumberger owned a lot of other companies that used
semiconductors,
and it used a lot itself. This, it reasoned could be a sweet deal. By
acquiring Fairchild,
Schlumberger would control not only the source and the devices, but also
the
products in which they were used. Funny... that is exactly how the
Federal Trade
Commission saw it..." - excerpt from Chuck Penson's book on Heathkit.

It's a wonder they never broke up IBM or Tektronix for making their own
components.

I don't believe there is a restraint of trade problem if you control
component manufacturing only for your own products. This would not affect
other markets.

Don