Case Follow-up: Getting the Proposal Together

Jim Bacchan drove his old Packard to the valley to Zoomar's new headquarters just east of Los Angeles. Walking out of the desert heat into the air-conditioned comfort of the office was always a relief. Why didn't some bright kid in Detroit try to put air conditioning in cars?

His secretary, always very proper, greeted him with the list of calls he missed and the usual question, "Did you sell another system, Jim?"

"Well, Mabel, I think so. That Stocker Freon is a flint-hearted old so and so. Too much time making movies in the Depression when labor was cheaper than film, I guess. Could you round up the guys? We need to put a proposal together a.s.a.p. if we are going to get this contract before the boys over at Hughes get wind of it."

"Sure thing, Mr. B. Meet in the conference room in an hour?"

"Sure, Mabel. And could you go out and get Zack some Lucky Strikes? He always complains that the machines don't sell them, and I'm not in the mood for his griping today."

The conference room filled with smoke and the buzz of muted conversation as the engineers slowly trickled in. Calling the meeting to order, Jim Bacchan outlined the meeting that had taken place earlier in the day at West Coast Films. He finished his summary by stating the importance of this contract. "Look, boys, I know our main business is cameras for aerial reconnaissance and working on light weight systems. But this movie business is potentially important. To survive we need to address more than just the military market. And that includes movie studios, observatories, or any company that uses optical equipment."

"Don't forget the consumer," spoke up Akiro Yogokatsu. "Soon people will want zoom lenses for their cameras!"

This statement was greeted by general laughter. Not many of the other engineers believed there would ever be a market for high technology consumer items.

"Why don't you go back to Japan to build your consumer items, Akiro," laughed Bill Snodgrass.

"Okay, people, let's keep our eye on the ball. I want your design teams to get me a proposal for these systems in two weeks maximum. What items do we need to address in the proposal?" asked Jim.

The discussion was long and heated, but finally the teams agreed on several points that their proposals should address:

1. Mathematical modeling of the lens performance, including whatever simulations were necessary.
2. A statement of each team's design strategy, including the most important design criteria and how these would be achieved.
3. Both optical design (what lenses to use) and mechanical design (how to hold the lenses).
4. How to both calculate and measure the performance of the final product.
5. Details of the size of the image plane.
6. A clear statement of the magnification range of the proposed system.
7. A detailed budget to build the prototype.