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Maggie Benson’s Journey: The Big Reveal

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.

Professor Patty Coleman looked in the mirror and she could definitely see it. She had gained 15 pounds. Actually, it had been 17 pounds, but she had lost two pounds in the past two weeks after she stopped eating ice cream. She was a victim of the gelato and ice cream shops that had opened in Ivy University’s hometown of Hanover, New Hampshire. She found coconut gelato and peach ice cream irresistible. However, she knew she had to stop after the day she had one of each. To make matters worse, she hadn’t been exercising as regularly because she was so busy with several research proposals and helping her twin sons in the adventure of applying to colleges. It was still hard for her to believe that they were seniors in high school.

In no time at all, Patty was heading out of the door for the 30-minute trip to Ivy U. She was excited to see how Paul LaCroix made out in developing his “profitability potential” analysis. However, she was a bit concerned about Hal Lindsay, the Excel salesperson.

As Maggie Benson pulled into the parking lot of the engineering school, she felt a bit sentimental. Could it already be 10 years ago that she had graduated? She saw a few students and was shocked at how young they looked. Oh well, time marches on. Maggie was excited to see how Paul had done his cost of ownership analysis. Hal was sure persuasive in his pitch that his component placement machines had the lowest cost of ownership.

Patty had arranged for a large conference room as there was quite a crowd to review the proposals from Hal and Paul. Maggie, the executive from Benson Electronics (BE), would be there, as would Andy Connors and Sue March. Several students and some BE process technicians were also in attendance. Patty asked Maggie to kick off the meeting.

“I would like to thank everyone for coming, Maggie began. “Now, let’s get down to business. BE needs to install a new assembly line as our business is booming. Obviously, we would like to minimize the cost of the new line, but we want it to have the capacity to meet the growing needs of our customers. I have asked Hal Lindsey to be the first to share with us his perspective on how Excel component placement machines (CPMs) are the best solution. Then, student Paul LaCroix will present his analysis comparing Excel to Pinnacle. Hal, the floor is yours.”

“Thank you, Dr. Benson,” Hal said. “I performed a cost of ownership analysis between Excel and Pinnacle CPMs as seen in this spreadsheet. The price of the Excel is $599,000 and the Pinnacle is $999,000. I assumed a five-year amortization. I calculated the electrical power consumed at $0.20 per Kwh. In addition to rent, I added in utilities other than electricity. For repairs, I used 6% of the CPM’s sale price. Note that the Excel’s cost of ownership is $167,600 per year and the Pinnacle’s is $266,000 per year. So, clearly the Excels are the best buy.”

Upon looking at the spreadsheet, Sue, Andy, and many of the others were surprised by how amateurish it looked (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Hal Lindsay’s cost of ownership calculations. Some of the students were surprised at the “bare bones” appearance of the spreadsheet.

There was murmuring in the audience, until Patty interjected.

“Paul, do you agree with Mr. Lindsay’s conclusions?”

“Yes, Professor Patty,” Paul said. “Excel, clearly has the lowest cost of ownership.”

The murmuring increased.

At this, Hal was ecstatic. Maybe Professor Patty Coleman wasn’t so bad after all. She was certainly teaching these young kids, like Paul, how to be successful engineers.

Hal opened his briefcase, reached in, and felt the purchase order he had filled out for Maggie Benson to sign. It was going to be a good day, indeed.

Initially, Patty was disappointed in Paul. Clearly, she thought, he did not do a thorough job. That was, until Paul continued to speak.

“Yes, Excel’s cost of ownership is lower, but when profitability potential is considered, Pinnacle’s potential is much greater,” Paul elaborated.

At this, the murmuring increased to an unsettling point. Hal started to fume.

What will Paul’s profitability potential reveal? Will Hal stay calm? Stay tuned to find out.

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