uC lifetime

But some worry about the additional development times and delays, and production implications.. I am developing the 2 chips solution underground.

I concur.

roject.

But we don't need them for this project. We know that AVR32 production costs are higher than AVR8. Retail prices does not matter.

Ulf, I call bullshit. I speak to someone with a @atmel.com email address copied on most of the correspondence with this distributor. When I send an email or make a call on these chips, I am never talking about fewer than 30kpcs EAU - usually 100k or more.

If I can't get 20 free samples of a chip that Atmel is already selling to a different division of my company for $0.95/pc at a volume of

Paul Carpenter wrote

Is this NEWS????? :)

Here in the UK, distributors became totally useless about 20 years ago. A total waste of space. The manufacturer may as well set up a direct sales mail order shop.

RS still offers a very good service but only to sell you a stock item.

..like Microchip did a while ago - many other makers should learn from this - I'm surprised there are still any Microchip distributors as I can't see what they could offer compared to MicrochipDirect. They have not only sorted out the supply side of things, but also a very cheap programming, marking and re-reeling service.

As do Farnell,Digikey,Mouser. If a part's not stocked by any of these it immediately goes waaay down on the design-in candidate list.

If you can't get 20 devices transferred inside your company, or ordered from a distributor, the same could be said about your company's organisation.

rom a distributor, the same

I can't argue with that. But it is easier to die and be resurrected than it is to get a PO written for actual money, and there is no way of transferring assets between SBUs. I would need to cold-call engineers at a plant in China.

Here in Norway, distributors do a great job. I often find it much easier to ask distributors when looking for components - they know what parts are /actually/ available, they know about alternative components that might do a similar or better job, and they know what particular parts have the best prices. There are perhaps four large distributors that I regularly deal with - each have good technical FAEs' who provide information, support, training, etc. My biggest problem is that there is often more than one that support any given manufacturer - choosing who to ask and where to buy can be difficult.

Perhaps in the UK, the distributors have suffered in a race to the bottom on prices, taking quality and service down with it. I've certainly seen that in other fields in the UK (such as ISPs and telephone companies).

Not really a comment.

About the time if it is not a PDA/laptop/MP3/Bluetooth/Phone you are making we are not interested started.

I'm surprised there

compared to

programming, marking

immediately goes waaay down

You have to watch that, as I have been bitten by Farnell/RS haviung stock codes where they obviously got one batch in then mad it no longer stocked in about 6 months! Then it is special order.

from a distributor, the same

That should not be a problem, if you offer to send a courier pickup and with a gift exchange. I am sure they will do it. Sometimes, you have to be flexible.

Have you ever seen the movie "Office Space"? Or read Dilbert? That's where I work. Unless I personally paid for it, there would be no way to authorize the courier charges. And even if I could find the right person to talk to in China (and assuming they speak good English) they would have no legitimate way to remove stock from their inventory system. Additionally reels of components can't be opened except to put on a pick-n-place machine, because removing a part or two removes the leader.

Believe me, you can't get there from here. We've tried, and given up. Not going to happen. Most vendors we deal with are very understanding

- TI, Freescale, Microchip all hand out samples like candy.

ou

Yes, we do that, for big and small companies.

You have no idea how innovative they could be. I needed a small amount of parts from a store. They only sell the whole reel and refuse to cut at first. I started raising the bid and she (the employee) unreels the whole strip and cut some from the end. I am sure so has to reel it back after I left. All these work for a couple of dollars more.

When you cut 10 parts off the end, you also cut off the leader. The first 12" or so of the reel is wasted - the cover sheet is removed quite early on in the mechanism... that is why our factories are very reluctant to hand-cut reels. It is possible to splice on a new leader, but it's work.

No, she did not cut the leader. She cut the trailer. That's why she unreel/rereel the whole thing. Yes, it was lot of work, but quite cheap for me.

If you were my customer I would have no problem requesting that you get those 20 samples, and I doubt they would be refused by the people I usually talk to about those issues. Actually I do not remember ever getting refused.

Very hard to judge why you are not getting them. If I were you, I would want to talk to the Atmel contact directly, and understand why there is a problem. Obviously you don't want to go through this each and every time, but maybe things can be cleared up once and for all.

There is usually an issue at introduction, when volume can be limited regardless of end customer.

Are you talking to only one distributor about this?

I'll order some, and see if I am lucky.

I'll send you a message with the project detail. Is your email usamuelsson at atmel dot com? My email to atmel got no response. Who is the contact person in Southern California? You can email me linnix at live dot com. Thanks.

larwe wrote

a distributor, the same

Most of my customers with a need to "get stuff" just buy it on their credit card and stick it in their expenses.

A company banning that option is run by idiots, IMHO.

... and your point? ;)

Our motto is "There's a process for that".

a distributor, the same

Which isn't to say that there aren't plenty of companies run by idiots...