Whats up with all the IC manufactures, and their ever increasing packaging quantities? In the days DIPs the MOQ were only 20 or 25, then came SOP and MOQs jumped to 100 pieces (quite acceptable for small production runs) , but now with all the micro sized SMD, such as SOT23-8/ MSOP/uSOP, the MOQs are like 1000 or 3000 pieces. Whats the deal with the massive jump between the sample quantities, and package quantities ? What is supposed to happen to all the manufactures who do small production runs and are stuck in this middle gap ? Is it just normally accepted a part suddenly becomes 10 times the listed price simply because 90% of the component reel will just go to landfill ?
Understandably, none of the OZ distributors hold stock on parts unless they have multiple customers buying them. Also, with so many ICs around, the probability of any two customers buying the same part becomes increasingly lower. I would like to know how other people cope with purchasing, or am I just in the wrong country with the wrong profession ?
Adam