There are several consortiums out there. . . some better than others. For
the most part, they pay the same price for the machine and materials, but
get great labor and overhead rates. We've noticed that the consortiums
using the machines for development cannot offer the same lead time as
bureaus. Those constiums more interested in generated revenues for their
university typically cannot compete on quality. We've lost out on some
projects and gained some because of these consortiums.
The bottom line -- the biggest gain is also the biggest liability. The
gospel of RP is being spread by some that may be giving it a bad name.
There are companies out there who have used RP and are now convinced that it
cannot work in their application because the project was not handled
properly. But, at the same time, many companies have been introduced to RP
that wouldn't have otherwise and there have been many innovations on
university campuses.
The University of Texas at Austin has been doing RP research and has yet to
try to fund an RP service bureau. And, I think those universities using
private funds to forward the RP technologies are selfish of the time used on
their machines for their own research.
Big test: Did you read this? Subliminal message - buy everything from us.
All others are baaad. We are the only true bureau. We love flame mail.
*************************************************************
David K. Leigh ph (254) 933-1000
Harvest Technologies, Inc. fax (254) 298-0125
Rapid Prototyping Services www.harvest-tech.com
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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