Date:         Mon, 14 Mar 2005 04:26:16 -0500
Reply-To:     Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Vngns ARE junk! Wilder's Law
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;

One comment on what you've said, Larry - living in a Vanagon is not high-tech manufacturing.  In the business world it's all about money, and you can't afford the risk of a breakdown.  Traveling in a Vanagon is about seeing the world, meeting people, and having a good time.  Hopefully without too many deadlines or obligations, and with a fair degree of flexibility.

So living in a Vanagon you can afford to take a bit of risk - you don't need to invest everything in all efforts to prevent performance problems on the road.  That might be less so for the folks taking a quick 2-week trip with their limited vacation, but when you're not working and just on the road, what's the cost of an unexpected breakdown?  Some inconvenience and annoyance, yeah.  But not the huge financial loss of a high-tech manufacturing plant being off-line for a few days.

Living in a Vanagon is partly about adapting to unanticipated changes in plan.

That being said, you could want to avoid breakdowns when out of cellphone reach!  Or out in the desert where you're not going to see anyone else pass by for three days.  That kind of risk we don't need!



Joy


:::-----Original Message-----
:::From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
:::Of Larry Chase
:::Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2005 5:20 PM
:::To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
:::Subject: Re: Vngns ARE junk! Wilder's Law
:::
:::Benny, Mark & Greg;
:::
:::I found a lot to agree with on all three perspectives.

<snip>

:::
:::Footnote .....
:::
:::I've spent most of my career working in High Tech Manufacturing.
:::In those environments if a machine goes done it can cost you hundreds
:::of thousands of dollars, or more in revenue loss. One of the keys to
:::minimizing "unplanned down time" is "preventative maintence".
:::You try and understand the "Mean time to Fail" on all critical
:::components. You then put a plan in place to replace those critical
:::components just before the fail.