Note that the labor intensive aspect of the RP/research is often done by
graduate assistants, which, as I recall, get paid almost nothing.
If the educational institution gets tax dollars, or is supported by the
government, it would seem to be in opposition to private firms in the same
market, and would place private firms at a disadvantage while charging them
through the taxation to support their competition.
B. J. Arnold-Feret
-----Original Message-----
From: Bathsheba Grossman <sheba@protoshape.com>
To: rp-ml@bart.lpt.fi <rp-ml@bart.lpt.fi>
Date: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 4:13 PM
Subject: Re:
>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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