On Friday, September 6, 2013 7:42:42 PM UTC-4, Wayne. B wrote:
On Fri, 6 Sep 2013 19:28:13 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"

wrote:



She probably typed the technical proposal. We didn't have computers

or word processors then so they were all written in longhand on legal

pads. I'd do the electrical. process and control sections and another

guy did the writing for the mechanical hardware. I'd utilize the

original "cut and paste" method for all the boilerplate sections.

Then they went to Mrs.E. and another typist and typed up on IBM

Selectric typewriters that had that rotating font ball.



That's when I got in the habit of getting up at about 2 am when Mrs.

E. and the mud rats (kids) were sleeping and I'd make a pot of coffee,

sit down at my desk and start writing. I could finish my part of a

40-50 page technical proposal by 8 or 9 am if it was similar to

something we had built before.



Here's a long winded story. Delete and skip if you're not interested

but it was quite a big deal for me back in 1990:



The longest proposal .... and the one that took the most time .... was

for a unique, large system for the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at

the University of Rochester. They had a huge program called "Omega"

funded by the DOE and the DOD for building a laser system consisting

of 60 beams that focused their energy onto a "target" the size of a

piece of rice. The "official" goal at the time was to produce energy

by nuclear fusion by compressing deuterium ... an abundant element

found in sea water with very high powered lasers. There were also

defense applications, allowing nuclear research without having to blow

stuff up.



I had just incorporated my company when this project came along. As

"newbies" in the industry, we typically got the scraps of contracts

that the big boys weren't interested in. The UofR request for

technical proposals and price quotations went out world-wide to all

the major manufacturers of custom vacuum deposition systems ... about

13 companies in total. We were not on the original bidder's list

because we were so small and unknown at the time. A friend in

another company called me and said his company was going to "no-bid"

the project and asked me if I wanted the technical specifications to

look at. I said, "sure" ... and then called the UofR purchasing

department to see if they would accept a proposal and quotation from

us. He welcomed all comers, and said yes.



I had absolutely no allusions that we would ever get the contract,

but I figured it was an opportunity to submit a strong technical

proposal, get our name out there, and maybe get on the bidder's list

for future, smaller contracts. With that in mind, I suggested to

Mrs. E. that she take the kids on a vacation to Disneyworld with some

friends and I spent over a week researching the requirements and

writing the best proposal I could.



It was submitted and I basically put it out of my mind and

concentrated on getting contracts that were more realistic for the

size of the company.

About 3 months later we received notice that a more detailed

specification was being forwarded to a small group of the original

bidders.

We had 48 hours to respond to it.



When I reviewed the new spec, I realized that they had now included

some specific process criteria that the successful bidder would be

obligated to achieve. Now I was getting a little nervous. I read

the requirements and felt that some were beyond current state of the

art and were probably not achievable.



After much thought, I called the assistant to the project leader at

the UofR and respectfully withdrew our bid. He thanked me for the

time and effort and said he'd forward my withdrawal to the program

leader.



A half hour later, the project leader called. He wanted to know why I

withdrew our bid. I explained that there were two parts of the

process (had to do with the uniformity of coating over a very large

optic) that I did not feel was possible to achieve. He wanted to

know why and we talked a bit about this.



He then told me that he knew they weren't achievable and that we were

the only company out of three that made the final "cut" that took

exception to that part of the spec. He *strongly* encouraged me to

send a revised proposal taking exceptions to any part of the spec that

I didn't feel comfortable with. He then told me that our price had

"plenty of room" for adjustment and told me to make sure I was

comfortable with it.



So, I did as he instructed ... took exceptions a couple of the

spec's requirements and added another $100k to the price for

"insurance". Two weeks later I received a call from one of the other

companies that had bid, offering congratulations. "About what?" I

asked. "You don't know? ... You won the UofR project".



I called the project leader and he confirmed it. He asked to keep it

quiet for a couple of days because they were contacting and thanking

all the other bidders before making a formal announcement.



That project was a huge success, both for us and the UofR and it put

my little company on the "map" so to speak. Good memories.



===



Great suuccess story, thanks for sharing. It's always nice to see

honesty and hard work pay off in the end.

I agree. The company I work for is a family owned business that I started with over 30 years ago. Their success story is similar... winning contracts with large entities that just wanted someone to partner with to get the job done. We've been very successful in doing that over the years, but it's coming to an end.

We're now hooked up with some very large companies that we are integrating to, and the large direct sell companies that we've been doing business with are changing as well. The bigger and more sucessful you are, the less fun it is.

Among other things, this country was built on the small business men who did the very things that our company does (or did). The excessive regulations that are now in place stifle that free enterprise.

On Friday, September 6, 2013 4:01:52 PM UTC-4, John H wrote:

So your Mac blew a hard drive. What's to brag about? I've never had a computer blow a hard drive.


It just COULDN'T take any more Krause **** lies...it " imploded"..

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

On Friday, September 6, 2013 7:28:13 PM UTC-4, Mr. Luddite wrote:
"F.O.A.D." wrote in message

news


On 9/6/13 5:42 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:

an amorphous hard carbon coating as well that protected and added

lubricity





Does Mrs. Luddite know you talk like that?



--------------------------



She probably typed the technical proposal. We didn't have computers

or word processors then so they were all written in longhand on legal

pads. I'd do the electrical. process and control sections and another

guy did the writing for the mechanical hardware. I'd utilize the

original "cut and paste" method for all the boilerplate sections.

Then they went to Mrs.E. and another typist and typed up on IBM

Selectric typewriters that had that rotating font ball.



That's when I got in the habit of getting up at about 2 am when Mrs.

E. and the mud rats (kids) were sleeping and I'd make a pot of coffee,

sit down at my desk and start writing. I could finish my part of a

40-50 page technical proposal by 8 or 9 am if it was similar to

something we had built before.



Here's a long winded story. Delete and skip if you're not interested

but it was quite a big deal for me back in 1990:



The longest proposal .... and the one that took the most time .... was

for a unique, large system for the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at

the University of Rochester. They had a huge program called "Omega"

funded by the DOE and the DOD for building a laser system consisting

of 60 beams that focused their energy onto a "target" the size of a

piece of rice. The "official" goal at the time was to produce energy

by nuclear fusion by compressing deuterium ... an abundant element

found in sea water with very high powered lasers. There were also

defense applications, allowing nuclear research without having to blow

stuff up.



I had just incorporated my company when this project came along. As

"newbies" in the industry, we typically got the scraps of contracts

that the big boys weren't interested in. The UofR request for

technical proposals and price quotations went out world-wide to all

the major manufacturers of custom vacuum deposition systems ... about

13 companies in total. We were not on the original bidder's list

because we were so small and unknown at the time. A friend in

another company called me and said his company was going to "no-bid"

the project and asked me if I wanted the technical specifications to

look at. I said, "sure" ... and then called the UofR purchasing

department to see if they would accept a proposal and quotation from

us. He welcomed all comers, and said yes.



I had absolutely no allusions that we would ever get the contract,

but I figured it was an opportunity to submit a strong technical

proposal, get our name out there, and maybe get on the bidder's list

for future, smaller contracts. With that in mind, I suggested to

Mrs. E. that she take the kids on a vacation to Disneyworld with some

friends and I spent over a week researching the requirements and

writing the best proposal I could.



It was submitted and I basically put it out of my mind and

concentrated on getting contracts that were more realistic for the

size of the company.

About 3 months later we received notice that a more detailed

specification was being forwarded to a small group of the original

bidders.

We had 48 hours to respond to it.



When I reviewed the new spec, I realized that they had now included

some specific process criteria that the successful bidder would be

obligated to achieve. Now I was getting a little nervous. I read

the requirements and felt that some were beyond current state of the

art and were probably not achievable.



After much thought, I called the assistant to the project leader at

the UofR and respectfully withdrew our bid. He thanked me for the

time and effort and said he'd forward my withdrawal to the program

leader.



A half hour later, the project leader called. He wanted to know why I

withdrew our bid. I explained that there were two parts of the

process (had to do with the uniformity of coating over a very large

optic) that I did not feel was possible to achieve. He wanted to

know why and we talked a bit about this.



He then told me that he knew they weren't achievable and that we were

the only company out of three that made the final "cut" that took

exception to that part of the spec. He *strongly* encouraged me to

send a revised proposal taking exceptions to any part of the spec that

I didn't feel comfortable with. He then told me that our price had

"plenty of room" for adjustment and told me to make sure I was

comfortable with it.



So, I did as he instructed ... took exceptions a couple of the

spec's requirements and added another $100k to the price for

"insurance". Two weeks later I received a call from one of the other

companies that had bid, offering congratulations. "About what?" I

asked. "You don't know? ... You won the UofR project".



I called the project leader and he confirmed it. He asked to keep it

quiet for a couple of days because they were contacting and thanking

all the other bidders before making a formal announcement.



That project was a huge success, both for us and the UofR and it put

my little company on the "map" so to speak. Good memories.

............ what a whole lot of **** ALL !!!!! .........................

On 9/6/13 7:28 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:


"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
news
On 9/6/13 5:42 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
an amorphous hard carbon coating as well that protected and added
lubricity


Does Mrs. Luddite know you talk like that?

--------------------------

She probably typed the technical proposal. We didn't have computers or
word processors then so they were all written in longhand on legal
pads. I'd do the electrical. process and control sections and another
guy did the writing for the mechanical hardware. I'd utilize the
original "cut and paste" method for all the boilerplate sections. Then
they went to Mrs.E. and another typist and typed up on IBM Selectric
typewriters that had that rotating font ball.

That's when I got in the habit of getting up at about 2 am when Mrs. E.
and the mud rats (kids) were sleeping and I'd make a pot of coffee, sit
down at my desk and start writing. I could finish my part of a 40-50
page technical proposal by 8 or 9 am if it was similar to something we
had built before.

Here's a long winded story. Delete and skip if you're not interested
but it was quite a big deal for me back in 1990:

The longest proposal .... and the one that took the most time .... was
for a unique, large system for the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at
the University of Rochester. They had a huge program called "Omega"
funded by the DOE and the DOD for building a laser system consisting of
60 beams that focused their energy onto a "target" the size of a piece
of rice. The "official" goal at the time was to produce energy by
nuclear fusion by compressing deuterium ... an abundant element found in
sea water with very high powered lasers. There were also defense
applications, allowing nuclear research without having to blow stuff up.

I had just incorporated my company when this project came along. As
"newbies" in the industry, we typically got the scraps of contracts that
the big boys weren't interested in. The UofR request for technical
proposals and price quotations went out world-wide to all the major
manufacturers of custom vacuum deposition systems ... about 13
companies in total. We were not on the original bidder's list because
we were so small and unknown at the time. A friend in another company
called me and said his company was going to "no-bid" the project and
asked me if I wanted the technical specifications to look at. I said,
"sure" ... and then called the UofR purchasing department to see if they
would accept a proposal and quotation from us. He welcomed all
comers, and said yes.

I had absolutely no allusions that we would ever get the contract, but I
figured it was an opportunity to submit a strong technical proposal, get
our name out there, and maybe get on the bidder's list for future,
smaller contracts. With that in mind, I suggested to Mrs. E. that
she take the kids on a vacation to Disneyworld with some friends and I
spent over a week researching the requirements and writing the best
proposal I could.

It was submitted and I basically put it out of my mind and concentrated
on getting contracts that were more realistic for the size of the company.
About 3 months later we received notice that a more detailed
specification was being forwarded to a small group of the original bidders.
We had 48 hours to respond to it.

When I reviewed the new spec, I realized that they had now included
some specific process criteria that the successful bidder would be
obligated to achieve. Now I was getting a little nervous. I read the
requirements and felt that some were beyond current state of the art and
were probably not achievable.

After much thought, I called the assistant to the project leader at the
UofR and respectfully withdrew our bid. He thanked me for the time and
effort and said he'd forward my withdrawal to the program leader.

A half hour later, the project leader called. He wanted to know why I
withdrew our bid. I explained that there were two parts of the process
(had to do with the uniformity of coating over a very large optic) that
I did not feel was possible to achieve. He wanted to know why and we
talked a bit about this.

He then told me that he knew they weren't achievable and that we were
the only company out of three that made the final "cut" that took
exception to that part of the spec. He *strongly* encouraged me to
send a revised proposal taking exceptions to any part of the spec that I
didn't feel comfortable with. He then told me that our price had
"plenty of room" for adjustment and told me to make sure I was
comfortable with it.

So, I did as he instructed ... took exceptions a couple of the spec's
requirements and added another $100k to the price for "insurance". Two
weeks later I received a call from one of the other companies that had
bid, offering congratulations. "About what?" I asked. "You don't
know? ... You won the UofR project".

I called the project leader and he confirmed it. He asked to keep it
quiet for a couple of days because they were contacting and thanking all
the other bidders before making a formal announcement.

That project was a huge success, both for us and the UofR and it put my
little company on the "map" so to speak. Good memories.




Thank goodness you went to Amity Regional!

Got an email that came in after 11 pm last night from Apple...my iMac is
ready to be picked up. One of the reasons why I like Apple is that the
company from a customer point of view is run the way companies used to
be run...on the basis of good service and keeping customers happy.
Naturally, there are times when Apple fails but for the most part, it
has done well by me. Yes, that service is reflected in its prices...as
well it should be.

On 9/7/2013 7:22 AM, F.O.A.D. wrote:
On 9/6/13 7:28 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:


"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
news
On 9/6/13 5:42 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
an amorphous hard carbon coating as well that protected and added
lubricity


Does Mrs. Luddite know you talk like that?

--------------------------

She probably typed the technical proposal. We didn't have computers or
word processors then so they were all written in longhand on legal
pads. I'd do the electrical. process and control sections and another
guy did the writing for the mechanical hardware. I'd utilize the
original "cut and paste" method for all the boilerplate sections. Then
they went to Mrs.E. and another typist and typed up on IBM Selectric
typewriters that had that rotating font ball.

That's when I got in the habit of getting up at about 2 am when Mrs. E.
and the mud rats (kids) were sleeping and I'd make a pot of coffee, sit
down at my desk and start writing. I could finish my part of a 40-50
page technical proposal by 8 or 9 am if it was similar to something we
had built before.

Here's a long winded story. Delete and skip if you're not interested
but it was quite a big deal for me back in 1990:

The longest proposal .... and the one that took the most time .... was
for a unique, large system for the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at
the University of Rochester. They had a huge program called "Omega"
funded by the DOE and the DOD for building a laser system consisting of
60 beams that focused their energy onto a "target" the size of a piece
of rice. The "official" goal at the time was to produce energy by
nuclear fusion by compressing deuterium ... an abundant element found in
sea water with very high powered lasers. There were also defense
applications, allowing nuclear research without having to blow stuff up.

I had just incorporated my company when this project came along. As
"newbies" in the industry, we typically got the scraps of contracts that
the big boys weren't interested in. The UofR request for technical
proposals and price quotations went out world-wide to all the major
manufacturers of custom vacuum deposition systems ... about 13
companies in total. We were not on the original bidder's list because
we were so small and unknown at the time. A friend in another company
called me and said his company was going to "no-bid" the project and
asked me if I wanted the technical specifications to look at. I said,
"sure" ... and then called the UofR purchasing department to see if they
would accept a proposal and quotation from us. He welcomed all
comers, and said yes.

I had absolutely no allusions that we would ever get the contract, but I
figured it was an opportunity to submit a strong technical proposal, get
our name out there, and maybe get on the bidder's list for future,
smaller contracts. With that in mind, I suggested to Mrs. E. that
she take the kids on a vacation to Disneyworld with some friends and I
spent over a week researching the requirements and writing the best
proposal I could.

It was submitted and I basically put it out of my mind and concentrated
on getting contracts that were more realistic for the size of the
company.
About 3 months later we received notice that a more detailed
specification was being forwarded to a small group of the original
bidders.
We had 48 hours to respond to it.

When I reviewed the new spec, I realized that they had now included
some specific process criteria that the successful bidder would be
obligated to achieve. Now I was getting a little nervous. I read the
requirements and felt that some were beyond current state of the art and
were probably not achievable.

After much thought, I called the assistant to the project leader at the
UofR and respectfully withdrew our bid. He thanked me for the time and
effort and said he'd forward my withdrawal to the program leader.

A half hour later, the project leader called. He wanted to know why I
withdrew our bid. I explained that there were two parts of the process
(had to do with the uniformity of coating over a very large optic) that
I did not feel was possible to achieve. He wanted to know why and we
talked a bit about this.

He then told me that he knew they weren't achievable and that we were
the only company out of three that made the final "cut" that took
exception to that part of the spec. He *strongly* encouraged me to
send a revised proposal taking exceptions to any part of the spec that I
didn't feel comfortable with. He then told me that our price had
"plenty of room" for adjustment and told me to make sure I was
comfortable with it.

So, I did as he instructed ... took exceptions a couple of the spec's
requirements and added another $100k to the price for "insurance". Two
weeks later I received a call from one of the other companies that had
bid, offering congratulations. "About what?" I asked. "You don't
know? ... You won the UofR project".

I called the project leader and he confirmed it. He asked to keep it
quiet for a couple of days because they were contacting and thanking all
the other bidders before making a formal announcement.

That project was a huge success, both for us and the UofR and it put my
little company on the "map" so to speak. Good memories.




Thank goodness you went to Amity Regional!

Got an email that came in after 11 pm last night from Apple...my iMac is
ready to be picked up. One of the reasons why I like Apple is that the
company from a customer point of view is run the way companies used to
be run...on the basis of good service and keeping customers happy.
Naturally, there are times when Apple fails but for the most part, it
has done well by me. Yes, that service is reflected in its prices...as
well it should be.

We don't need to know every time you or one of your toys hiccups.

"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
m...


Got an email that came in after 11 pm last night from Apple...my iMac
is
ready to be picked up. One of the reasons why I like Apple is that the
company from a customer point of view is run the way companies used to
be run...on the basis of good service and keeping customers happy.
Naturally, there are times when Apple fails but for the most part, it
has done well by me. Yes, that service is reflected in its prices...as
well it should be.

----------------------------------

My daughter works in a dentist's office and she inherited one of those
27" iMac systems (the ones with the computer guts built into the
display) when the office updated their equipment. Mrs.E. saw it
and has been "hinting" around .. i.e. birthday, Christmas,
anniversary, full moon, whatever ... about how much she likes it and
wants one. The only concern I have is I know nothing about Macs
having used PCs all my life and since I am the resident IT department
in our house, I really don't want to get involved with maintaining and
upgrading a computer system that I am not familiar with or use. I
really am not into computers that much.

On 9/7/2013 8:08 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:


"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
m...


Got an email that came in after 11 pm last night from Apple...my iMac is
ready to be picked up. One of the reasons why I like Apple is that the
company from a customer point of view is run the way companies used to
be run...on the basis of good service and keeping customers happy.
Naturally, there are times when Apple fails but for the most part, it
has done well by me. Yes, that service is reflected in its prices...as
well it should be.

----------------------------------

My daughter works in a dentist's office and she inherited one of those
27" iMac systems (the ones with the computer guts built into the
display) when the office updated their equipment. Mrs.E. saw it and
has been "hinting" around .. i.e. birthday, Christmas, anniversary,
full moon, whatever ... about how much she likes it and wants one. The
only concern I have is I know nothing about Macs having used PCs all my
life and since I am the resident IT department in our house, I really
don't want to get involved with maintaining and upgrading a computer
system that I am not familiar with or use. I really am not into
computers that much.


If it hiccups then just carry it in to your neighborhood Apple store.
The friendly folks there will bend over backwards and jump through hoops
to cure it's hiccups, or so we've been led to believe.

On Fri, 6 Sep 2013 19:28:13 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:



"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
news
On 9/6/13 5:42 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
an amorphous hard carbon coating as well that protected and added
lubricity


Does Mrs. Luddite know you talk like that?

--------------------------

She probably typed the technical proposal. We didn't have computers
or word processors then so they were all written in longhand on legal
pads. I'd do the electrical. process and control sections and another
guy did the writing for the mechanical hardware. I'd utilize the
original "cut and paste" method for all the boilerplate sections.
Then they went to Mrs.E. and another typist and typed up on IBM
Selectric typewriters that had that rotating font ball.

That's when I got in the habit of getting up at about 2 am when Mrs.
E. and the mud rats (kids) were sleeping and I'd make a pot of coffee,
sit down at my desk and start writing. I could finish my part of a
40-50 page technical proposal by 8 or 9 am if it was similar to
something we had built before.

Here's a long winded story. Delete and skip if you're not interested
but it was quite a big deal for me back in 1990:

The longest proposal .... and the one that took the most time .... was
for a unique, large system for the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at
the University of Rochester. They had a huge program called "Omega"
funded by the DOE and the DOD for building a laser system consisting
of 60 beams that focused their energy onto a "target" the size of a
piece of rice. The "official" goal at the time was to produce energy
by nuclear fusion by compressing deuterium ... an abundant element
found in sea water with very high powered lasers. There were also
defense applications, allowing nuclear research without having to blow
stuff up.

I had just incorporated my company when this project came along. As
"newbies" in the industry, we typically got the scraps of contracts
that the big boys weren't interested in. The UofR request for
technical proposals and price quotations went out world-wide to all
the major manufacturers of custom vacuum deposition systems ... about
13 companies in total. We were not on the original bidder's list
because we were so small and unknown at the time. A friend in
another company called me and said his company was going to "no-bid"
the project and asked me if I wanted the technical specifications to
look at. I said, "sure" ... and then called the UofR purchasing
department to see if they would accept a proposal and quotation from
us. He welcomed all comers, and said yes.

I had absolutely no allusions that we would ever get the contract,
but I figured it was an opportunity to submit a strong technical
proposal, get our name out there, and maybe get on the bidder's list
for future, smaller contracts. With that in mind, I suggested to
Mrs. E. that she take the kids on a vacation to Disneyworld with some
friends and I spent over a week researching the requirements and
writing the best proposal I could.

It was submitted and I basically put it out of my mind and
concentrated on getting contracts that were more realistic for the
size of the company.
About 3 months later we received notice that a more detailed
specification was being forwarded to a small group of the original
bidders.
We had 48 hours to respond to it.

When I reviewed the new spec, I realized that they had now included
some specific process criteria that the successful bidder would be
obligated to achieve. Now I was getting a little nervous. I read
the requirements and felt that some were beyond current state of the
art and were probably not achievable.

After much thought, I called the assistant to the project leader at
the UofR and respectfully withdrew our bid. He thanked me for the
time and effort and said he'd forward my withdrawal to the program
leader.

A half hour later, the project leader called. He wanted to know why I
withdrew our bid. I explained that there were two parts of the
process (had to do with the uniformity of coating over a very large
optic) that I did not feel was possible to achieve. He wanted to
know why and we talked a bit about this.

He then told me that he knew they weren't achievable and that we were
the only company out of three that made the final "cut" that took
exception to that part of the spec. He *strongly* encouraged me to
send a revised proposal taking exceptions to any part of the spec that
I didn't feel comfortable with. He then told me that our price had
"plenty of room" for adjustment and told me to make sure I was
comfortable with it.

So, I did as he instructed ... took exceptions a couple of the
spec's requirements and added another $100k to the price for
"insurance". Two weeks later I received a call from one of the other
companies that had bid, offering congratulations. "About what?" I
asked. "You don't know? ... You won the UofR project".

I called the project leader and he confirmed it. He asked to keep it
quiet for a couple of days because they were contacting and thanking
all the other bidders before making a formal announcement.

That project was a huge success, both for us and the UofR and it put
my little company on the "map" so to speak. Good memories.



Great story, but I didn't see how union involvement helped in any way.

John (Gun Nut) H.
--

Hope you're having a great day!

On 9/7/2013 9:24 AM, John H wrote:
On Fri, 6 Sep 2013 19:28:13 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:



"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
news
On 9/6/13 5:42 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
an amorphous hard carbon coating as well that protected and added
lubricity


Does Mrs. Luddite know you talk like that?

--------------------------

She probably typed the technical proposal. We didn't have computers
or word processors then so they were all written in longhand on legal
pads. I'd do the electrical. process and control sections and another
guy did the writing for the mechanical hardware. I'd utilize the
original "cut and paste" method for all the boilerplate sections.
Then they went to Mrs.E. and another typist and typed up on IBM
Selectric typewriters that had that rotating font ball.

That's when I got in the habit of getting up at about 2 am when Mrs.
E. and the mud rats (kids) were sleeping and I'd make a pot of coffee,
sit down at my desk and start writing. I could finish my part of a
40-50 page technical proposal by 8 or 9 am if it was similar to
something we had built before.

Here's a long winded story. Delete and skip if you're not interested
but it was quite a big deal for me back in 1990:

The longest proposal .... and the one that took the most time .... was
for a unique, large system for the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at
the University of Rochester. They had a huge program called "Omega"
funded by the DOE and the DOD for building a laser system consisting
of 60 beams that focused their energy onto a "target" the size of a
piece of rice. The "official" goal at the time was to produce energy
by nuclear fusion by compressing deuterium ... an abundant element
found in sea water with very high powered lasers. There were also
defense applications, allowing nuclear research without having to blow
stuff up.

I had just incorporated my company when this project came along. As
"newbies" in the industry, we typically got the scraps of contracts
that the big boys weren't interested in. The UofR request for
technical proposals and price quotations went out world-wide to all
the major manufacturers of custom vacuum deposition systems ... about
13 companies in total. We were not on the original bidder's list
because we were so small and unknown at the time. A friend in
another company called me and said his company was going to "no-bid"
the project and asked me if I wanted the technical specifications to
look at. I said, "sure" ... and then called the UofR purchasing
department to see if they would accept a proposal and quotation from
us. He welcomed all comers, and said yes.

I had absolutely no allusions that we would ever get the contract,
but I figured it was an opportunity to submit a strong technical
proposal, get our name out there, and maybe get on the bidder's list
for future, smaller contracts. With that in mind, I suggested to
Mrs. E. that she take the kids on a vacation to Disneyworld with some
friends and I spent over a week researching the requirements and
writing the best proposal I could.

It was submitted and I basically put it out of my mind and
concentrated on getting contracts that were more realistic for the
size of the company.
About 3 months later we received notice that a more detailed
specification was being forwarded to a small group of the original
bidders.
We had 48 hours to respond to it.

When I reviewed the new spec, I realized that they had now included
some specific process criteria that the successful bidder would be
obligated to achieve. Now I was getting a little nervous. I read
the requirements and felt that some were beyond current state of the
art and were probably not achievable.

After much thought, I called the assistant to the project leader at
the UofR and respectfully withdrew our bid. He thanked me for the
time and effort and said he'd forward my withdrawal to the program
leader.

A half hour later, the project leader called. He wanted to know why I
withdrew our bid. I explained that there were two parts of the
process (had to do with the uniformity of coating over a very large
optic) that I did not feel was possible to achieve. He wanted to
know why and we talked a bit about this.

He then told me that he knew they weren't achievable and that we were
the only company out of three that made the final "cut" that took
exception to that part of the spec. He *strongly* encouraged me to
send a revised proposal taking exceptions to any part of the spec that
I didn't feel comfortable with. He then told me that our price had
"plenty of room" for adjustment and told me to make sure I was
comfortable with it.

So, I did as he instructed ... took exceptions a couple of the
spec's requirements and added another $100k to the price for
"insurance". Two weeks later I received a call from one of the other
companies that had bid, offering congratulations. "About what?" I
asked. "You don't know? ... You won the UofR project".

I called the project leader and he confirmed it. He asked to keep it
quiet for a couple of days because they were contacting and thanking
all the other bidders before making a formal announcement.

That project was a huge success, both for us and the UofR and it put
my little company on the "map" so to speak. Good memories.



Great story, but I didn't see how union involvement helped in any way.

John (Gun Nut) H.

Some folks can stand on their own two feet make it through life without
union help.

On Sat, 07 Sep 2013 09:50:17 -0400, Hank© wrote:

On 9/7/2013 9:24 AM, John H wrote:
On Fri, 6 Sep 2013 19:28:13 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:



"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
news
On 9/6/13 5:42 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
an amorphous hard carbon coating as well that protected and added
lubricity


Does Mrs. Luddite know you talk like that?

--------------------------

She probably typed the technical proposal. We didn't have computers
or word processors then so they were all written in longhand on legal
pads. I'd do the electrical. process and control sections and another
guy did the writing for the mechanical hardware. I'd utilize the
original "cut and paste" method for all the boilerplate sections.
Then they went to Mrs.E. and another typist and typed up on IBM
Selectric typewriters that had that rotating font ball.

That's when I got in the habit of getting up at about 2 am when Mrs.
E. and the mud rats (kids) were sleeping and I'd make a pot of coffee,
sit down at my desk and start writing. I could finish my part of a
40-50 page technical proposal by 8 or 9 am if it was similar to
something we had built before.

Here's a long winded story. Delete and skip if you're not interested
but it was quite a big deal for me back in 1990:

The longest proposal .... and the one that took the most time .... was
for a unique, large system for the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at
the University of Rochester. They had a huge program called "Omega"
funded by the DOE and the DOD for building a laser system consisting
of 60 beams that focused their energy onto a "target" the size of a
piece of rice. The "official" goal at the time was to produce energy
by nuclear fusion by compressing deuterium ... an abundant element
found in sea water with very high powered lasers. There were also
defense applications, allowing nuclear research without having to blow
stuff up.

I had just incorporated my company when this project came along. As
"newbies" in the industry, we typically got the scraps of contracts
that the big boys weren't interested in. The UofR request for
technical proposals and price quotations went out world-wide to all
the major manufacturers of custom vacuum deposition systems ... about
13 companies in total. We were not on the original bidder's list
because we were so small and unknown at the time. A friend in
another company called me and said his company was going to "no-bid"
the project and asked me if I wanted the technical specifications to
look at. I said, "sure" ... and then called the UofR purchasing
department to see if they would accept a proposal and quotation from
us. He welcomed all comers, and said yes.

I had absolutely no allusions that we would ever get the contract,
but I figured it was an opportunity to submit a strong technical
proposal, get our name out there, and maybe get on the bidder's list
for future, smaller contracts. With that in mind, I suggested to
Mrs. E. that she take the kids on a vacation to Disneyworld with some
friends and I spent over a week researching the requirements and
writing the best proposal I could.

It was submitted and I basically put it out of my mind and
concentrated on getting contracts that were more realistic for the
size of the company.
About 3 months later we received notice that a more detailed
specification was being forwarded to a small group of the original
bidders.
We had 48 hours to respond to it.

When I reviewed the new spec, I realized that they had now included
some specific process criteria that the successful bidder would be
obligated to achieve. Now I was getting a little nervous. I read
the requirements and felt that some were beyond current state of the
art and were probably not achievable.

After much thought, I called the assistant to the project leader at
the UofR and respectfully withdrew our bid. He thanked me for the
time and effort and said he'd forward my withdrawal to the program
leader.

A half hour later, the project leader called. He wanted to know why I
withdrew our bid. I explained that there were two parts of the
process (had to do with the uniformity of coating over a very large
optic) that I did not feel was possible to achieve. He wanted to
know why and we talked a bit about this.

He then told me that he knew they weren't achievable and that we were
the only company out of three that made the final "cut" that took
exception to that part of the spec. He *strongly* encouraged me to
send a revised proposal taking exceptions to any part of the spec that
I didn't feel comfortable with. He then told me that our price had
"plenty of room" for adjustment and told me to make sure I was
comfortable with it.

So, I did as he instructed ... took exceptions a couple of the
spec's requirements and added another $100k to the price for
"insurance". Two weeks later I received a call from one of the other
companies that had bid, offering congratulations. "About what?" I
asked. "You don't know? ... You won the UofR project".

I called the project leader and he confirmed it. He asked to keep it
quiet for a couple of days because they were contacting and thanking
all the other bidders before making a formal announcement.

That project was a huge success, both for us and the UofR and it put
my little company on the "map" so to speak. Good memories.



Great story, but I didn't see how union involvement helped in any way.

John (Gun Nut) H.

Some folks can stand on their own two feet make it through life without
union help.

Amen.

John (Gun Nut) H.
--

Hope you're having a great day!