01-07-2015, 06:00 PM | #11 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Freedonia!
Posts: 1,703
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Quote:
With regards to making transmissions in-house at Segway, it seemingly appears on what one defines the term "making". INC has been an assembly-only operation ever since I got involved. They can specify and outsource components as easily as specifying an entire transmission, but if they're just assembling outsourced components, then assembly is the only part of the operation for which they have direct control. |
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01-07-2015, 06:56 PM | #12 | |
Glides a lot, talks more...
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Pelham, NH, USA.
Posts: 10,356
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Quote:
If they outsourced the transmissions, as they did in the beginning, their quality control would extend to the transmission itself, and they would have little direct involvement in the interior details, on a quality control basis. They have transmissions coming into the building assembled, and their quality control would consist of a pass or fail on the whole transmission. They surely can affect and instruct on how they want them built, but unless they want to dis-assemble and then re-assemble (and therefore waste a lot of money and time), they will be quality controlling the entire transmission. If they outsourced the components of the transmission, each gear, each shaft, each bearing, all seals and all seats, and all housings get quality controlled individually. It is still assembly, but there is a great deal more control on the finished transmission, than the other way around. This control may be a good thing, if their processes are tighter than those of their vendor, but may also be a bad thing, if they cannot support as rigorous a standard as that vendor uses... This is not at all uncommon. We all know that Segways use motors, and while we know that they assemble the segways in Bedford, and happy to continue that to the motors, I do not believe there are any motors being made in Bedford. There are no collections of wires to be wrapped, magnets to be bound, and the various other components that make up the motors... I currently work for a company that manufactures Inverters for use in the Solar power industry. I am a field service professional, and while I do clearly diagnose and repair these machine, I do not really make them. But, my company does buy cart loads of assemblies, and then from those components, they assemble inverters. Most of the circuit boards and other components are designed by our engineers in house (a separate department from mine) and even a few prototypes are made from time to time, but mostly they are made off premises. Still, we make inverters...
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Karl Ian Sagal To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. "Well done is better than well said." (Ben Franklin) Bene factum melior bene dictum Proud past President of SEG America and member of the First Premier Segway Enthusiasts Group and subsequent ones as well. |
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