kaihp said:
CanonFanBoy said:
Nobody ships prototypes out to sell to customers. Prototypes aren't manufactured in large numbers. Never.
I agree with a lot of your points, even though I'm from the R&D corner rather than manufacturing.
However, I wonder what you define as 'large numbers'. I come from a regulated business (medical devices) and we've had thousands of prototypes manufactured for validation purposes.
Novo Nordisk produces in excess of 1 billion (1E9) prefilled insulin pens every year. When they do prototypes, they don't manufacture just one or two units
But they don't make a billion prototypes either do they? Maybe they do. Are the prototypes sold to consumers? Of course I have no idea. I'd just hate to know that a prototype insulin pen was being beta tested on me (And that is the sort of thing people suggest Canon, Nikon, et al do all the time). I would think validation is company testing and for FDA approval insulin pens, food, etc. Not Cameras which are regulated by other entities.), but not to sell to consumer. Those are just my thoughts. I have no idea what goes on in the world of diabetic products. Seems a prototype insulin pen sold to a consumer for validation (unwitting beta testing) could spell death.
I don't think I said or implied that prototype = 1 or 2 units though. I just quoted the definition. I just don't believe any company ships prototypes to sell to consumers as unwitting beta testers.
From the printed circuit board perspective, prototype boards never get to end users to unwittingly beta test the product. It just doesn't happen. It could spell doom for a company. If the board is a multilayer (sometimes up to 50-60 layers back then) on a back plane with embedded components and micro-vias that cost tens of thousands of dollars (sometimes more than $100,000+) each to manufacture (materials only), they were done one at a time until the process was right. Once the process was validated and the product could be produced consistently... then it was produced for the customer who sold their product (containing our boards) to the end user.
Even software companies notify the user that a piece of software is "beta". Usually the beta product is free or at nominal cost.
There are people that think Canon or Nikon sell cameras to unwitting consumers to beta test. I just don't believe it and would like those folks to show documentation for such. Until then, I guess that is just a rumor (conspiracy theory?).
I also worked in the food industry for several years (Proctor & Gamble). We had test panels or focus groups for products. However, we never manufactured a product, sent it to store shelves, and hoped for the best.
We even had to flavor test the product every 30 mins at the production line to make sure it was right. We even flavor tested the oil used in the processors (Pringles) during manufacturing to make sure it was right.
Proctor & Gamble enlisted employee families to test diapers (Pampers, etc.). The volunteers were given free diapers, but had to weigh each one at change time to see how they "held up". Never did P&G manufacture a prototype for end users to beta test.
At any rate, the sales and finance guys never came along and said, "Good enough. let's start shipping and test it out on consumers." What a nightmare that would be.
I just do not believe Canon or Nikon, or Sony, etc. do any beta testing on end users. I might get flamed for saying so by somebody that just got off the phone with a friend of a friend who works at Canon. I hope not, but oh well.
I hope all of you have a wonderful day!
