Consultant Tapped for Development of OEE By ERE Staff Recently it has come to our attention that due to some rather climactic market conditions, Romaine Electric has joined the electronics supply business as a full line supplier. We sat down with Troy Cosby, sales director at Romaine, and Bill Bowman of Problemetrics, an auto- motive electronics consulting company, to discuss their vision and development of the OEE, or optimum engineered electronics, product line. ERE: So what is OEE? Cosby: OEE stands for optimum engineered electronics. This is the new electronics line we are creating. ERE: Why are you introducing OEE at this time? Cosby: We have noticed for a number of years that the quality of electronics in the aftermarket has been on a downward spiral, due in part to a marked lack of competition. The industry, in our opinion, needs a supplier to step up and do everything in their power to bring the best electronics possible to the rebuilding industry. The focus on quality units has never been higher. The days of trying to just make it cheaper are behind us. Romaine focuses strictly on the small rebuilder and we feel the small rebuilder cannot even attempt to play in the price game with the big boys. Quality is the small rebuilder’s salvation for the future, which is their only way to justify their products. ERE: Mr. Bowman, how do you fit into this picture? Bowman: A friend told me that Romaine had one of the new regulator testers from D&V Electronics and they needed some technical training on its use. I had helped other clients before on similar projects, so I called Romaine to discuss their training needs. They invited me to their facility and when I got there, we talked about many things including their vision concerning OEE. Nick (Staub) and Troy (Cosby) asked my opinion on certain aspects of “the busi- ness.” As it turned out, we share many beliefs, particularly about the poor quality of some aftermarket regulators and rectifiers. ERE: What is your background? Bowman: As I grew up, I always had a fascination for electronics and how things work. After I got out of the mili- tary, I went to college on the GI Bill and became an electrical engineer. In 1980, I graduated from the University of Texas and moved to Kokomo, Ind. to work for Delco Electronics, a division of General Motors. At the time my singular goal was to design something that goes on a car. So when they asked me if I wanted to design the regulator that was to replace the SI white package regulators, I jumped at the chance. My first real design project was the CS130 voltage regulator and after that I designed the CS121 regulator (European trio-less version). During the years I was involved in the design function, I trained under some of the finest engi- neers that worked for GM. These were the pioneers who developed the first solid-state regulator. I was hungry to learn and they were happy to teach. Following the design work, I moved into voltage regulator product engineer- ing at Delco. One of the important responsibilities in that assignment was warranty improvement. In this role also, I had some outstanding mentors who taught me the science of preventing product failures in the field. When the CS130 regulator was introduced, the warranty was over 15,000 parts per mil- lion (1.5 percent). In just over five years, the warranty had been cut to approxi- mately 500 ppm (.05 percent). After the product engineering assign- ments, I became the hybrid circuits manufacturing engineering manager. The department was responsible for the development and manufacture of thick films materials, substrate printing, com- ponent assembly and wafer test of the hybrid integrated circuits. At the time Delco produced over 35,000,000 hybrid circuits annually across several different product families (regulator, ignition, spark control, pressure sensor, etc.). In this assignment, I learned what it takes to manufacture high quality/high relia- bility automotive electrical components. My final assignment before leaving Delco was director of program manage- ment for Hughes Power Products (HPP), a joint venture between Hughes Aircraft and General Motors. HPP was responsible for developing and pro- ducing high intensity discharge lighting (HID) for automotive applications. You have seen vehicles with HID. They have bright white headlights rather than the dull yellowish light produced by filament bulbs. When I left Delco, I set out on my own to become a consultant. In 1996, I met WAI at the Big R Show and began consulting for them shortly thereafter. One of my assignments was to help per- form some of the due diligence activities when they were looking to purchase Renard. When the sale was completed, I was installed as the vice president of engineering and operations with Renard. My past design and manufacturing expe- rience proved invaluable in this assign- ment. We developed a new half-inch pressfit diode and later the prototype for the CS130 pressfit rectifier. Af