International Business Machines Corporation

Richard A Leavitt

Paul Anthony Smith

Gerald W Baumann

John M Salvadore

Kirk A Tatusko

David H Goldstein

David B Schroeder

Robert L Weiss

Frederick W Bull

Under the present invention, componentized costs for providing/producing an item are collected from a plurality of suppliers. The componentized costs include the fixed and variable costs associated with raw materials and production for providing the item according to various specifications and order quantities. When a buyer wishes to obtain the item, a particular order specification and a demand forecast for the item will be provided. Based on the particular specification, the demand forecast and the componentized costs, an optimal order quantity for the item will be calculated. Then, a total (lifetime) cost for providing the item will be calculated for each supplier. The supplier having the lowest total cost for the projected lifetime of the item will be identified to the buyer.

System and program product for selecting a lower cost supplier based on total cost and forecasted demand

System, method, and program product for selecting a lower cost supplier based on total cost and forecasted demand

An improved magnetic tape test article includes a plurality of longitudinally spaced-apart test sections. Some of the test sections are repeated to facilitate recorder tests under different tape wrap conditions. One of the tests is a compound test enabling several simultaneous measurements of several parameters of the recorder. The tests are particularly adaptable for helical scan digital signal recorders. The tests measure parameters such as head to medium spacing, tracking (skew, servo offset and the like), readback circuit performance, including clocking, phase tolerances, error detection and correction operations, response to dropouts, resynchronization response and amplitude tolerances. Profile of the spacing between the record medium and the head is measured over the length of the recorded path around the cylindrical mandrel.

Magnetic recorder test article and methods

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Longmont, CO, United States of America

Richard A Leavitt