Engineering vs sales dept - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Circlotron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2016, 11:14:03 pm
content: Saw ads for this thing appearing recently.http://en.devialet.com/phantom/#discoverFairly fancy piece of equipment that the engineers probably laboured long and hard to design and produce. No problems there. Then the sales and marketing people have their say... to a technical person the "white paper" is so cringe-worthy.Stuff like: "In practice, the output current of the highest performance DAC on the market (Texas InstrumentPCM179X series) is directly converted into high-voltage without any processing in between:no operational amplifier, no current mirror. Instead, the very elaborate leak-less path of the“Magic Wire” carries the original current of the DAC to an ultra-high linearity resistor (0.01%precision), which operates the current/high-voltage conversion before entering into the class A.The magic comes from the fact that the guiding elements within the “Magic Wire” do not processthe music, whilst providing high-voltage output. Besides, these guiding elements work at a stablepower rate, hence constant temperature, which reduces thermal distortion to a non-measurablequantity. In a simplified view, the “Magic Wire” can be considered as the dream of every audiophile:a straight wire with gain."Oh dear.For your reading pleasure ->http://en.devialet.com/assets/V3/pdf/White-Paper-Phantom-en.pdf

author: SL4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 01:08:46 am
content: To the guys in 'mahogany row'...Bottom line -SALES is aprofitcentre.ENGINEERING is acostcentre.

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 01:23:50 am
content: QuotePardon me for correcting you but I thinkOh Shitis more in order.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 02:13:14 am
content: Quote from: SL4P on May 09, 2016, 01:08:46 amIndeed,& even though Engineering,through application of their expertise,may save the Company Thousands or even Millions of Dollars,this is never allowed for in evaluating the cost of operating that Department.I guess it's a case of the old saying:-"Do a little bit more every day,& soon that extra work will be expected of you!"

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 03:06:11 am
content: No, not at all. Little labor went into such a product. I have it on good account that amplifiers from $200 to $10000 all have crappy engineering behind them.I suggest paying no mind to audiophoolery such as this; if you allow it to, you will loose what little mind you have.Tim

author: lowimpedance
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 03:09:53 am
content: Soooo.. the 'Magic Wire" is basically a suitable size copper track !!,otherwise.

author: Tinkerer
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2016, 03:10:24 am
content: Quote from: vk6zgo on May 09, 2016, 02:13:14 amActually that is entirely true.I used to work with a guy that worked at the Canon printer factory near me(would never work there, if for some reason I wasnt in engineering, after hearing things). Draconian working conditions and policy. However, they would end up saying things like 'make this mile stone and we will reward you' with something like cake party or something. Then of course that milestone becomes the default afterwords.

author: sarepairman2
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 02:33:39 am
content: LOLa normal sales guy wishes they were operating out of a "boiler room"a "good" (in the biblical sense) sales guy wishes they were a middle manno sales guy wants a engineering department to exist. ever.why can't we fire those nerds again?

author: iampoor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 04:54:27 am
content: Quote from: sarepairman2 on May 10, 2016, 02:33:39 am"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 05:52:26 am
content: In fairness,my son is in property sales.He growls that the "suits" have no idea what is involved in sale & provision of actual "blocks of land" in a new subdivision,compared to that for high rise apartment sales,which is where their experience lies.It seems those at the "sharp end" always have such problems.

author: Circlotron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 01:04:39 pm
content: Quote from: vk6zgo on May 10, 2016, 05:52:26 amSo, unlike them, he actually "gets his hands dirty".

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 01:19:25 pm
content: QuoteIt sounds to me very "engineering-ish", probably because of the target clientele: people who buy technical-sounding things because they don't understand it, or because it sounds sophisticated.

author: dferyance
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2016, 02:27:04 pm
content: Quote from: sarepairman2 on May 10, 2016, 02:33:39 amQuote from: iampoor on May 10, 2016, 04:54:27 amIn my experience it comes down to how they are compensated. When you get a nice commission on a sale but not much of a salary, you are incentivized to make the sale no matter what. If you consider how little commission you get off of a small sale vs a big sale, you want to make the biggest sale possible. This often means selling something you don't have or cannot exist. Often sales doesn't frankly care because of this. While this costs the company a ton of money and can destroy engineering departments, people respond to incentives, and that is the system that is setup. The failure is often having checks in place that review and approve of what is being sold. But people don't like to hear bad news so good news travels up and no one wants to be the bad guy keeping things in line.

author: Galenbo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2016, 10:10:51 am
content: Quote from: SL4P on May 09, 2016, 01:08:46 amMARKETING is acostcentre.

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2016, 12:29:44 pm
content: Quote from: sarepairman2 on May 10, 2016, 02:33:39 am