Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1506834
60 SMT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2023 Editor's note: Indium Corporation's Ron Lasky continues this series of columns about Maggie Benson, a fictional character, to demonstrate continuous improvement and education in SMT assembly. Paul LaCroix had worked hard on his profit- ability potential analysis of component place- ment machines (CPMs). He was comparing CPMs from Excel and Pin- nacle. e Excel machines only cost $599,000, whereas the Pinnacle machines were $999,000. Paul was able to talk to five assemblers that had What is the Profit Potential? used both brands of CPMs. e Excel custom- ers were happy with the low sales price but were disappointed in the performance. e machines were slow in their assembly speeds and constantly needed repairs. In addition, the service teams were usually late and required more time than they estimated to repair the machines. As a result, the assembly lines were oen down. e assemblers that used Pinnacle CPMs told the opposite story. Although the original purchase price was much higher than the oth- ers, the machines assembled much faster. ey Maggie Benson's Journey by Dr. Ronald C. Lasky, INDIUM CORPORATION