[geeks] this is where the mac should be

[Mike Meredith]

On Tue, 17 Oct 2006 13:24:56 -0400, Phil Stracchino wrote:
> Jonathan C. Patschke wrote:
> > On Tue, 17 Oct 2006, Patrick Giagnocavo wrote:
> >> Dell does the same thing.  They call it the "revolver" (apparently
> >> aimed straight at vendor's heads).  They issue multiple purchase

I don't think it's a new thing ... "just in time" production has been
around since at least the early 1980s (when I was introduced to it).

> 
> What a godawful way to run a business.  I wonder if Dell even knows
> which machines got which parts, in the event of a recall?

There's good points and bad points to the jit-method of production.
You've come across one, but a possibly more serious problem is that it
leaves a company very vulnerable to supply chain problems ... possibly
with very nasty consequences.

Imagine Dell's supplier of a certain plastic widget goes out of business
for some reason ... for the length of time it takes to find a new
supplier, Dell won't be making or selling PCs, and their other suppliers
won't be getting orders. If this happens at an economically bad time,
Dell could find a cascade of suppliers going to the wall.

-- 
Mike Meredith (http://zonky.org/)
  One test is worth a thousand opinions.