Assembly Planbook - June 2008 - (Page 45)

time chasing down signatures from suppliers, assemblers should have no illusions that such costs won’t be tallied up in the final bill. Do systems integrators ever think their customers’ secrecy requirements are unwarranted? Diederich gives a wry chuckle. “In today’s world, where everything is about being just half a step ahead, I would have a hard time saying to anyone, ‘Is that really necessary?’ We understand what secrecy is all about, and it’s the small details that make a big difference in terms of being ahead in your marketplace,” he says. “You have to look at it in terms of maintaining relationships with your customers,” adds Ensminger. “You don’t want to sour that. You could [leak a secret] one time, and you’d never get work again.” A Most NDAs expire once the product reaches the marketplace, but some are enforced for years. Photo courtesy Paquette & Associates Inc. “In a couple of cases, when we’ve developed something truly unique, the customer granted us a release, and we have some patents pending,” says Diederich. “Customers are usually willing to grant us that, as long as it doesn’t take away any advantage they might have in the marketplace.” On a personal level, confidentiality requirements cannot prevent engineers at systems integrators from seeking employment with other integrators. (Indeed, one integrator describes his industry as “quite incestuous.”) However, NDAs can prevent engineers from disclosing how their previous employer solved particular assembly challenges or what projects their previous employer is working on. “As an engineer, you’re constantly learning things. Once you have knowledge in your head, how do you turn that off?” concedes Beduze. “Sharing secrets, however, would be morally wrong, even if it wasn’t legally prohibited. It would put both integrators at risk. An engineer who did that would not be in the profession long.” Of course, security has a price. If integrators have to erect temporary walls on the shop floor or spend Improve your traditional manual production process with Liquid Control™ Benchtop Automated Dispensing Systems Let our dispensing experts and application engineers help automate your production needs from start to ﬁnish. Simply contact us with your part speciﬁcations and we’ll provide the automation and dispensing solutions for your applications. Liquid Control C-402 and C-404 of Liquid Control for complicated patterns option Automate your small parts production today. © 2008 Graco Inc. 339817 Rev. A www.assemblymag.com June 2008 / ASSE M B LY 45 http://www.graco.com/benchtop http://www.graco.com/benchtop http://www.assemblymag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Assembly Planbook - June 2008

Assembly Planbook - June 2008 Contents Editorial Bonding Lines Quality in Assembly Assembly Lines Assembly in Action Fastening or Bonding? Loose Lips Sink Assembly Systems DFMA Cuts Downstream Costs Robots Lend a Hand Products Advertisers Index Classified Leading Lean

Assembly Planbook - June 2008

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