[Robotgroup] New domain

[Robo Al]

Brooks, I understand your frustration and I can honestly say I've
had similar experiences.

Having said that, there is more to it that just saving money on
hardware. A lot has to do with liability and whether or not the
risk is worth the cost savings. Being an engineer myself and
dealing with the products on which hundreds of thousands of lives
are at risk on a daily basis keeps me up at night. When it comes
down to spending $4k or $100K on hardware for those product lines
I look more on certifications and reliability than on costs. But when
it comes down to product lines where I can validate process data
instead of hardware controllers the game is different.

A lot of manufacturing and industrial controls has to do with
perceived value and trust. It is that perception that takes so
much to earn and the reason why it is really hard to get in the
door. Keep in mind that solutions that cost less don't mean that
they are the right choice.

Anyway, let me know when you are back in Austin and we'll talk
more on the subject.

Alberto


On Mon, 2008-02-18 at 01:33 -0500, brooksdesign wrote:
> Alberto, 
>   thanks for the offers and I will probably need a lot of help and advice. I'm hoping to get a lot of biz from my brother who has been dumpnig a bunch of projects that they can't seem to find solutions of their own for but since he has been getting more and more upset at me not wanting to move up here and be a company yesman he sometimes refuses to let me in on ANY of the jobs they don't want. It is tough sitting here and knowing a solution can be found with a short trip to Tractor Supply and a few hours in my home shop but they this engineers mentality that somehow a spring, motor or switch that does not come from somewhere far far away and cost 4 times as much is so much better yet the mere idea I would consider the TSC option means my whole solution concept is so totally insane that they shoot it down without a thought. If I'm seeming a little tick off its because although the customer liked my concept for our sensor vibration test fixture that has to have a slow turning gear motor to drive the test parts (my design included vibration isolation via shock mounts and flex shaft)the project manager nixed it because the only shaft system I could find that could handle the heat part of the test was a flex coupling used for PTO shafts on tractors..TRACTORS?...Brooks and his crazy ideas...I don't think we need to worry about that do we?...
>   If they didn't read it in their collage text books....One of the things that the boss seems to forget is that not only have I been doing the robot group thing longer than his company has been around but also he got his very first big job with a big help from the fact that when he went in for the interview the customer was impressed when they found out he was the brother of that creative guy in that cool group down in Austin that was in the latest issue of Newsweek that just happend to be on the table opened to our page.
> -brooks 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: Robo Al <sp-18561884 at ggsys.net>
> >Sent: Feb 17, 2008 11:39 PM
> >To: The Robot Group Mailing List <robotgroup at puremagic.com>
> >Subject: Re: [Robotgroup] New domain
> >
> >www.ggsys.net
> >
> >But I don't actually describe the control system projects 
> >there. 
> >
> >Basically there are two sides to my business: IT and control
> >systems. They actually overlap a lot more that most people
> >think.
> >
> >On the controls systems end, I've done things like PIDs, PLCs
> >HMIs, full software solutions for real time controls of heat
> >treating furnaces, data collection, reporting, monitoring, and
> >a bunch of other stuff.
> >
> >I'll be more than happy to give more details off list as I don't
> >want to use the list for a lengthy business discussion.
> >
> >Alberto
> >
> >On Sun, 2008-02-17 at 22:27 -0600, Andre Lamothe wrote:
> >> Alberto,
> >> 
> >> What's the url of your website, so I can check out some of your projects?
> >> 
> >> Andre'
> >> 
> >> ----- Original Message ----- 
> >> From: "Robo Al" <sp-18561884 at ggsys.net>
> >> To: "The Robot Group Mailing List" <robotgroup at puremagic.com>
> >> Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2008 10:15 PM
> >> Subject: Re: [Robotgroup] New domain
> >> 
> >> 
> >> Brooks, glad to hear about your new endeavors. As I already do
> >> control systems consulting I'll be happy to join forces on any
> >> projects that you see fit.
> >> 
> >> The biggest problem I found (at least for me) is getting your
> >> foot in the door. After that, things get easy. I was lucky in that
> >> all of my core clients came from referrals.
> >> 
> >> Let me know if you need help with any of the other administrative
> >> things. I'll be happy to talk to you about things like liability
> >> insurance, phone systems, corp establishment, etc. Things can get
> >> expensive, but there are cheap solutions to most of these, specially
> >> when you start with a small budget like I did.
> >> 
> >> Alberto
> >> 
> >> 
> >> On Sun, 2008-02-17 at 15:06 -0500, brooksdesign wrote:
> >> > Hey all you good boys and girls,
> >> >    I just registered my new domain name.....drum roll please..............
> >> > ...dogjoblabs.com
> >> >   When everyone else has given up..call in the dogs.
> >> >
> >> >    I'm going to start doing consulting,designing and fabrication of 
> >> > creative solutions for difficult problems that the standard solutions will 
> >> > not apply. All the projects that I've seen fail in the past few years that 
> >> > just needed a viewpoint that does not come from those engineering text 
> >> > books and off the shelf products. It won't be cheap or totaly risk free (a 
> >> > standard fee for investigation and seperate fees for testing ideas are non 
> >> > refundable) but considering what I've seen big companies pay for stuff 
> >> > that does not work, my last resort fees will be a drop in the bucket. At 
> >> > times I may be inviting some of you to bid on control systems and that 
> >> > kind of stuff that I just do not know enough about or have time to develop 
> >> > myself so anyone interested just let me know.
> >> > -brooks
> >> > (the top dog)
> >> >
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