nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelect
Guest
|
 Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 7:43 am Post subject: Panel mounted USB power ports for Apple devices? |
 |
|
At 08:40 AM 8/14/2014, you wrote:
Here's a classic demonstration of effects for burdens placed
on TC aviation by the regulatory processes. If the
commercial manifestation of this product can be retailed
for $10, certainly a 'robust' version tailored to aviation
could be retailed for $20. This presumes, of course, that
that the two markets offer similar production opportunities.
So even in aviation-volumes, it shouldn't need to sell for
more than $60.
I'm presently wrestling with a product that was added to
the TC of some production airplanes 40+ years ago in a time
when the demands for production and spares was perhaps
300 units a year. The device had a design fault that
masqueraded as an intermittent failure in associated
equipment. For decades. the manufacturer of the no-fault
equipment was called into 'fix' the problem . . . seems
that from time-to-time, they had demonstrable quality
control issues . . . so it just seemed likely that the
intermittent behaviors (especially on new airplanes)
was their fault also.
Every time the problem rose to the surface of problem stew
pot, a tiger-team would assemble to gather data, analyse,
deduce root and ancillary causes, and recommend remediation
and make the problem go away.
It wasn't until about 14 years ago that I was both
a member of such a team for perhaps the third time
in previous 20 years or so. At least I was now considered to be
a tiger with some juice. I saw the deficiency of design and
even offered to redesign the device for supplier
at no charge.
No joy. The product flow hand dwindled to much smaller
numbers and the paper-thrashing costs for bringing a
new product to market would have more than doubled the
price to the OEM . . . It was one of those cases where
the perceived expenses against returns just didn't
instill warm-fuzzies in powers that be several layers
up the chain of command. But the sum-total of costs
over time continued to peck away at both OEM and consumer
pocket books.
Last winter, a rash of events in brand new airplanes
emerged. I helped craft a no-cert band-aid which
somebody decided to cut in half. The band-aid went
on the airplane and everybody relaxed. The half-a-
band-aid had a manufacturing cost on the order of $10
but the market price was $hundreds$ . . .
Now, the half band-aid isn't working and a new
pride of tigers are under the gun to 'fix it this
time' but don't spend any more money on that piece
of crap gizmo from the guys who actually have
nothing to do with the real problem.
This time, an opportunity presented for taking the
already qualified guts out of one box and putting
it into the enclosure for the problem child. Simply
a matter of exploiting a 30-year old gizmo with a high
volume production rate and long successful track
record by making it form, fit and function replacement
for the 40 year old gizmo that should have been
replaced decades ago.
There's a constellation of factors that have made
it close to impossible for aviation to evolve with
the agility and economics enjoyed by most other
high-tech products. Suffice it to say, that the
price of the 'approved' USB power supply is not
terribly surprising. If this product surfaced say
30 years ago for the same price (adjusted for
inflation) a dozen companies would have
jumped in and kick-(at)$$ to compete with it and the
price would go down.
All of this and a million more examples were predicted
over a century ago . . .
Bob . . .
| | - The Matronics AeroElectric-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?AeroElectric-List |
|
|
|
Get Email Distribution Too!
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
