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Subject:RE: Most annoying word From:mlist -at- safenet-inc -dot- com To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Wed, 1 Mar 2006 15:27:32 -0500
Jason A. Czekalski [mailto:topsidefarm -at- mva -dot- net] just had to say:
> Ramp up.
[....]
> The opposite is Ramp Down, and they are both valid phrases if you
> work
> in a foundry or heat treat shop. They refer to the processes of
> running a crucible or oven up and down from its operating
> temperature.
> Both of these processes have to be done in a slow, steady, controlled
> manner, or things get damaged. The terms are also used in industries
> like plastics and ceramics, and they use them the same way.
>
> What annoys me is to hear the term Ramp Up used by management types
> to
> denote the starting of a new project, especially since such startups
> are seldom slow, steady, or controlled.
Lots of companies use "ramp up" (and even "ramp down") in
a perfectly reasonable manner when they refer to getting
a product ready for full-volume production.
It's a process called "pre-production", and it involves a
lot of steps, mostly careful and well-thought-out, to get
a product from "we built 28 of these for in-house testing"
to "we are building 10,000 units per day with a rejection
rate less than 0.001%."
Similarly, there's the phase-out, where you relegate to
a smaller production line that will run for the next few
years supplying just enough units to satisfy demand for
replacements and a few re-orders by big customers who
already have a large installed base of the product.
That's less likely than in past years, since your suppliers
are likely to be going "end-of-life" on the parts that
you would need, so instead of a low-volume production,
you just run off an amount that you hope will last
until EOL of your own product, without cluttering your
warehouse (?? who keeps warehouses these days?) with
more units than you'll ever need.
Or something like that.
Kevin
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