Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Maggie Benson’s Journey: A ‘Cost of Ownership’ Project

Editor’s note: Indium Corporation’s Ron Lasky continues this series of columns about Maggie Benson, a fictional character, to demonstrate continuous improvement and education in SMT assembly. 

Maggie Benson was sitting in her office at Benson Electronics, marveling at how well things were going. Business was booming and she was most pleased with employee morale. Every week or so, an employee would talk to her about how rewarding it was to work at BE and that they were especially happy the company supported continuing education. Sometimes, the employees would get choked up when sharing with her how rewarding it was to work there.

As she was thinking these happy thoughts, the phone rang, jarring her into the current moment.

“Benson Electronics, Maggie speaking,” she spoke into the receiver. “How may I help you?”

“Maggie, it’s Patty Coleman,” was the reply.

“Professor Patty, it’s great to hear from you,” Maggie answered. “How can I help Ivy U’s most famous professor?”

“Not you, too,” she exclaimed, and started to laugh. “After Sue and Andy started calling me that, now everyone does. Even the dean of the engineering school called me ‘Professor Patty’ a few days ago.” She then explained the reason for her call: “I have a student who needs a project for a course. I was wondering if you could work with him. I was thinking of something on cost of ownership.”

“Wow, some of us were just thinking about that regarding component placement machines,” Maggie responded. “I have some great ideas, so send the student over.”

A Day Later
Paul LaCroix was nervous. He had an appointment to discuss a possible term project with the famous Professor Patty Coleman. Despite his nervousness, Paul felt amazingly blessed. As a young boy, he and his family had barely survived the 2010 Haitian earthquake, and then emigrated to the United States. Every day at supper, when the family says grace, they include a prayer of thanks to the Lord for their good fortune. Now, he was blessed enough to be a student at one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

As he approached her office, Patty went out to greet him.

“Paul, c’est bon de vous voir. Comment se passe l’année scolaire pour vous jusqu’à present?” Patty said in quite good French. (For those whose French is a little rusty: “Paul, it is good to see you. How is the school year going for you so far?”)

Paul, a little stunned, replied, “Très bien, mon professeur, merci de demander.” (“Very good, my professor, thank you for asking.”)

Patty’s effort to break the ice succeeded as they both laughed. “How is my French? I feel it is a little rusty,” Patty said.

“It is very good, with an interesting accent,” Paul responded kindly.

They both laughed again, and Patty said, “Yes, I learned my French in several places, so I have a muddled accent.” She then explained why she invited this student to meet with her.

“Paul, I have what I think is an exciting and useful project for you, and it will fulfill the project requirement for ENGS 127,” Patty said. Maggie Benson at Benson Electronics has a need to understand the cost of ownership methodology. She is expecting you to schedule a visit soon to discuss the project.”

Paul agreed to take on the assignment. He soon contacted Maggie and a few days later, he was sitting in her office at Benson Electronics.

Maggie asked Paul about his life in Haiti and coming to the United States. Maggie was touched by Paul’s story, especially hearing about the numerous times his family barely had enough to eat. What a story! Maggie felt blessed for her own life and all that she had.

After a few minutes of chatting, Maggie decided it was time to discuss the project. “We need to purchase a new component placement, or CP, machine,” she began. “A pushy salesperson is trying to convince us that their company’s CP machine is a better deal as it has a lower cost of ownership. I want you to perform an analysis to see if this is true compared to the other CP machines we are considering. It might help you to talk with two of my colleagues, Sue March and Andy Connors. They may be able to help you. I already told them you might contact them.”

Paul asked Maggie a few more questions about the project, took the contact information for Andy and Sue, and then was on his way. The next day, he met up with Sue and Andy at a local pizza shop to learn what he could about their previous experiences with this type of project.

“Maggie asked if we could help you with a ‘cost of ownership’ project related to the CP machine that BE plans to purchase,” Andy said. We think it should be related to how the CP machine affects the total profit of the assembly process.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Paul responded, “but how do I do that?”

Will Paul be able to determine the cost of ownership of the CP machine? Stay tuned to see.

This column originally appeared in the July 2023 issue of SMT007 Magazine.