Ottawa Canada Well outsourcing manufacturing is not really new for Humanware.
The Victor Reader line of products is physically manufactured in South Korea and I'm not sure what other products of theirs are actually manufactured off-site. The firmware for the Victor Reader line of products was developed and tested in their Montreal, PQ Canada facility. These days, you can send the latest firmware for a V. R. CD player or Stream from the developers in the Montreal, PQ area, to Seoul, South Korea, in a matter of seconds over the Internet. Humanware also incorporates components made by other firms into their products and from time to time has had very bad quality control problems with the other firms. A friend was told her My Reader CCTV upgrade from version I to II was awaiting the arrival of parts, cameras in particular, as an entire shipment of cameras had been received from the Far East, and every camera in the shipment was found to be defective upon arrival! Globalization and outsourcing is great, just as long as your suppliers live up to their contractual obligations. If they don't, or a ship sinks on its way from Seoul, Yokohamma or Shanghai to San Francisco, you can be waiting for a long time for replacement goods to arrive. People that want to globalize the world's production of everything to the country where it is the cheapest to manufacture forget that this looks great on paper, but very long supply lines are more susceptible to interruption by earthquakes, floods, typhoons, hurricanes and tsunami waves! There's a lot to be said for having the factory just down the road in your own country. And while the sales rep for the friendly contract electronics manufacturer in Seoul, Shanghai or wherever will promise you their work force is well trained, motivated and they have excellent quality control, this may or may not be true. North America, Germany, the UK and Japan have excellent engineers, but their factory staff do expect to make good money and benefits. Generally, this quality shows in the work they do. Brian Brian K. Lingard e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: +1 (613) 247-0665 NYC Tel: +1 797-2862 FAX: +1 (613) 247-9998 Skype: ve3yiab2ji15 No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.11/1243 - Release Date: 1/25/2008 11:24 AM ___ Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the list as well. To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
