Thanks TI, Freescale

Last week I ordered a bunch of parts from a distributor but noticed the next
day that I had forgotten some. Rather than cranking up our in-house
purchasing red-tape department for another order, I just ordered the missing
parts as free samples from TI and Freescale.

The TI samples actually arrived ahead of the paid-for parcel.

I wonder what the actual cost for the sample shipping is. The parts are
nominally worth $20 and arrived in Germany FedEx priority from Texas. At no
point during the ordering process did I leave the impression that I'm
expecting to generate sufficient business for TI to at least break even on
the sample shipment.

Anyway, since they only have a sample order for but no "Thanks" form, I
decided to use this group for that.

robert

 

TI is excellent in that respect. Had the same with a client where all
but one TI part was in stock at Digikey. The Digikey shipment arrived in
two days which was quite good already. The TI samples arrived the day
before! That blew everyone away because they were anticipating that we
wouldn't be able to test the prototype until that opamp came in.

Are you in Germany? Where about?

I wrote to one of the app engineers with whom I was in regular contact
at that time, hoping he'll pass that on to whoever should receive the
thanks.

 

While "Thanks" certainly seem in order here, let me at least point out
that (usually) getting the parts up-front during a design cycle isn't
the problem.

The problem comes later, when the manufacture either doesn't schedule
enough on-hand for anticipated demand (i.e., 10-14 week lead times!!),
or even worse, drops the product from production altogether. I for
one believe that if you're going to be in the business of making
semiconductors (or any material) - which others will rely upon in
their design, you have no business obsoleting it for a least a few
years.

In related news, we've all had similar experiences with the switch to
RoHS/lead-free, but at least for older parts, its understandable a new
lead-free variety might not be profitable, and hence the part is
retired.

That said, I have been BURNED by FreeScale (and a few others) enough
in the past that I will actually go out of my way to NOT specify their
components in our designs. (I realize many parts are second-sourced,
etc..). However, on-balance, we have found the experiences less than
thrilling....

I would note Maxim & Atmel are also very responsive when it comes to
samples & truthful delivery times.

-mpm

 

If I request TI samples before about 3 PM, they'll be on my desk when
I stagger in the next morning. The TI samples are actually shipped by
Digikey.

John

 

Now tell us the one about the Three Bears.
http://groups.google.com/group/sci....order-a-million-and-accept-16-week-lead-times
http://groups.google.com/group/sci....e.control+failed-utterly-and-reverted-to-type

 

I see your point, but my personal experience disagrees with the
collective experience here....
I have yet to see a Maxim advertisment or lead-time that wasn't "as
advertised".
If they say it's an 8-week lead, it usually is. And at least you can
get them on the phone.

A related, and perhaps more important point:
How many times has Digikey (or others) offered a product in onesies-
twosies and then a month or so later:
Bam!! - You have to buy 3,000 pieces just to make minimum.?!

There's your pig story.

BTW, I'm not picking on D/K. They all do this (with slow-sellers, I
guess?)
It can be pretty aggrevating.

-mpm

 

Hamburg.

 

Nice city. I used to live near Cologne before moving to the US.