[time-nuts] Re: Materials for a Rubidium Standard

[glenlist]

Hi Jim

as a manufacturer of high tech complex electronics, but without yield 
issues (like a Cs tube) I wouldnt quite agree with those numbers. , 
especially in modern times.

for something high tech, generally 3 to 5 x mfr cost, depending on how 
much software is in it these days.....

Certainly once you reach reel quantities, prices fall, and with clever 
design, you can maximum quantity of common parts on boards to more 
quickly achieve reel quantities, which may be between 300 and 5000 
pieces per reel . An LDO you buy from digikey for $2 might be 20 cents 
on reel.  Although it depends on the mfr. Some parts at Digikey that are 
$2 might only be $1.50 on reel.

So, very much horses for courses.

For something that involves a poor yield, like the Cs tube, with a high 
manual labour, the multiplier might be quite high- yes. and wouldnt 
change much with quantity unless process improves

-glen


On 6/09/2023 12:24 am, Lux, Jim via time-nuts wrote:
> On 9/3/23 7:20 AM, Bob Camp via time-nuts wrote:
>> Hi
>>
>> It is not uncommon for outfits to make some of the parts themselves. 
>> Not everybody
>> makes the same decisions, but they all do a fair amount of “local 
>> fab” on this or that.
>> They also may custom tool “captive” sources for some parts.
>>
>> Next up is the simple issue of bulk buying. When you are buying a 
>> thousand parts a
>> month for years, you get a *much* better deal than somebody going out 
>> to buy one
>> or two pieces. Indeed, a lot of OEM’s won’t even return your emails 
>> unless you are buying
>> above some "may thousands of dollars worth a year” kind of level.
>>
>> There really isn’t a lot of market for some of these