Re:

From: Bathsheba Grossman (sheba@protoshape.com)
Date: Wed May 02 2001 - 01:48:52 EEST


On Tue, 1 May 2001, B. J. Arnold-Feret wrote:
> How does the rest of the RP-ML feel about a research institute/educational
> facility directly competing against standard service bureaus. It would seem
> to be a problem for many firms that do service bureau work as their main
> source of income.

Not very worried, is how I feel. If they charge below market for
parts, then they're giving away money, and they'll get tired of that
pretty soon, just as the rest of us would.

Plus, running a service bureau is fairly labor-intensive: talking to
customers, processing files, sending parts out, keeping the accounts,
all takes time. Not to mention building the actual parts. I doubt
many research institutions will hire the full-time technicians and
support people that are necessary to do high-volume business; and a
professor running off a few parts a week in her spare time isn't going
to cut significantly into anyone's service bureau.

-Sheba
Bathsheba Grossman (831) 429-8224
Creative prototyping www.protoshape.com
Microsculpture microsculpture.com
Bronze sculpture bathsheba.com

For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/

For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/



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