Does anyone care if Americans supply equipment to our industry.

Don't forget Mydata, the Swedes that dominate the lower end and flex placement market now. Yeah, many bought the Omni from old UIC but what did they develop? "Support", the equip mfg?s are suppose to support the customer. UIC got a lot of good constructive feedback from Omni users. What did they do? Come up with the Omni II, another disaster. Look at them now with the GSM. That's it. It?s all they have. UIC is basically a one dimensional placement machine supplier. Our companies seem to be too interested in fast profits and lack the insight and commitment to design a competitive machine for the long haul. Not to mention the negative corporate culture- owners looking for big profits and subsidiaries on a choker leash from the parent (oh, you can?t spend that much money on development!). This is not the case w/ the Euros and Asians, they spend more on development and wait longer for the returns. In the 80's it was the Japanese invasion. Now it?s the Euro invasion. Our equipment companies basically are not challenging the Euros and Asians. Don't blame our users that want to buy the best machine. Quad, Amistar (remember the PlaceMaster) and Contact Systems....are you kidding? Rinky dink shite. Its one failed product after another with these guys. ?Support?, ha!

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I feel like such a "nit-wit" now.

Diversity is what makes America great. Freedom of choice.

The last I remember Multitronics is a UK based company ..OPS thats right Multitronics was purchased by a Bermuda based company... silly me.

Let me guess..You own a Motorola Cell phone (built in China), an IBM computer (built in canada) and a Chevy Malibu (a Toyota product).

Lets not forget Amistar (oh thats right they private labeled TENYRU from asia).

I guess I feel bad driving a BMW (made in Alabama where there are 1,000s of people employed)

I feel great looking out at my factory at Siemens Equipment knowing this German equipment I paid $500k for is running no stop error free Netting me more $$. More product it pumps out the more US $ I get and better I feel. I can sleep at night knowing if it was not for Siemens running in my factory.....the 100 people I employ would be out on the street. If you do not have competition you never know where you stand.

I guess you are writing this from your prison Library with Ted Kaczynski and Timothy McVee (oh thats right he is currently potting soil) on either side of you.

I feel great being a pawn .....If it was not for the pawns 250 years ago leaving Europe and coming to America.....where would we be??

Hopefully me drinking German beer will not cause American (Coors) beer companies to fold.

Also the last I check English is the Global language

Disturbing knowing people like you can reproduce."Yuz Gots Perty White Teef, Squeal like a pig fer me"(Meanwhile Banjo Music plays in my head).

"The non-communist think of the Big picture Cal"

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It could be that it's been a long time since Siemens has sold a machine. Is it true that they licensed that twirly head S20 wachajigger from UIC?

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Is this revisionist history? Have you been breathing deeply, while eating corn doodles? Let me knock-down a couple of Zoloft. OK. Here�s the way I remember things � * UIC, Dynapert, and Amistar made the best PTH insertion equipment on the planet. No one purchased equipment from anyone else. * When SMT began to gain acceptance UIC, Dynapert, and Amistar told us to forget about that SMT stuff, that it would never be mainstream, and to focus on PTH. They concentrated on PTH machinery development. Other equipment manufacturers focused on other things. * To their credit, UIC realized that the bright point of light was not the end of the tunnel and focused their resources to develop a world-class SMT placement machine. * Dynapert and Amistar, being the weaker sisters of the PTH insertion world, never recognized their miscalculation, never recovered, and became distributors of other companies� machines. * Early on, Quad developed a rinky-dink SMT placement machine, but struggled to capitalize on their unique position. In the first 2/3 of their life Quad Systems built machines that were not very good. The Quadstar and 4C were two exceptions. In the last 1/3 of their life they built pretty good machines, but by then, their flawed approach to marketing and pricing and their inability to escape the past sins of their product development became millstones to their ever developing a substantial market presence. * Contact Systems built the best semi-automated, guided PTH assembly machine on the planet. After 10 years of declining business, while watching the SMT world pass them by, in the mid-1990s they developed an entry machine with which to go to battle in a zero margin market against Quad and the lower end Japanese and Korean machines. Stop. * Multitronics??? They never built placement machines. Initially, they were a US distributor for Royonics, Europlacer, and a donut filling machine made in Chicago and a couple of years ago they purchased UK-based Dynapert.

What we buyers have done? What are you talking about? I can generalize too. It�s the sales-types that: * Worked for these companies that caused this situation. * Were so focused on getting their BIG commission check that they did a lousy job of informing their management about their customers desires and needs. * Never made their bosses understand the need to develop better and more market oriented products. * Rushed products to market early, before they well fully developed and troubleshot. * Concocted and told their customers fictional stories about the capabilities and capacity of their machines. * Created the adversarial environment by telling stories about other suppliers in hopes of undermining them and winning a sale. * Talked their management into cutting margins in-order to get the sale to such a degree that there was no money left for proper product development.

We purchase to best equipment that we can afford. We determine the �best� equipment by assessing the capabilities of the equipment available to us. We prefer purchasing from local suppliers, but that is only one element in the equation that we use to determine the best equipment.

As a case in point: I bought a Panasert line in 1991, because they had a good machine and a functional CIM. Universal had a good machine, but their CIM was in beta. Siemens and Fuji had good machines, but few CIM capabilities. Philips and TDK didn�t make it past the first round because they had no CIM capabilities. Quad, Dynapert, Sanyo, and Amistar had a variety of technical problems that excluded them early in the analysis.

Now, I understand APEX was a bummer this year. Please put your energy into putting together a top-notch line card and selling the hell out us.

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We do need to buy American. I only run Universal Instruments machines in my facility. Mind you the chip shooter is manufactured by Sanyo but the GSM machines are made in NY. I have purchased over 200 systems over the years while working for a major Contract house. Many from Japan, a few from Germany and some from the US. I can tell you this. The Universal GSM was by far the most stable machine. It was easy to run and program. Parts never have a long lead time and the support from UIC was great. Even if you have prototype or small job's to rum why by a low cost machine from overseas when you can buy used GSM's with feeders for about 35K each. You can have the best machine ever built for short money. I only whish the company I worked for allowed me to buy GSM's in 94 instead of 98. We would have made more money and would have been more productive. Freedom of choice is part of what makes America great. You must always have that freedom. I just hope when we as Americans have the choice to buy a quality American product we do it. God bless Continental, American and Delta airlines for now buying an all Boeing fleet instead of the socialist built Airbus.

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Did anyone check where UIC aquired there cameras from. The control cards - where did the components come from. I would go on, however.......

Sorry to say - there is nothing "Made in America". Many items are "Manufactured in America" with compoents from all over the world.

We could debate the virtue of that forever

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