Spare parts inventory

[Barry Margolin <barmar@THINK.COM>]

The biggest problem I see with Symbolics service (besides the price) is
availability of spare parts.  Our CE works out of Symbolics HQ in
Burlington, yet 75% of the time repairs must wait a day or two because
he must order the replacement part from Chatsworth.  In the case of IFU
kits, this problem is compounded by the high DOA rate; not only must we
wait for the boards to be shipped, but we also like to let him test the
kit for another day before installing it.

These aren't unusual parts I'm talking about -- the problem occurs most
with IFU kits, disk drives, and console controller boards.  And we're
not out in the boondocks, either -- we're 15 miles from Jay Wurts's
office, in the corner of "AI Alley".  So why isn't there a decent
inventory of spare parts nearby?

                                                barmar