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| Basic
GD California Statistics |
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| Is GD California ISO
9001:2000
certified? |
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Yes, we are. For further information, please
feel free to contact us. |
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| Where are you located? |
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We are located in Livermore, California;
just north of the Silicon Valley. Our direct address is 1799
Portola Avenue. Livermore, California, 94551. This area has quickly
become a new technology hub of the Bay Area. Oracle, Sybase
and Unisource are just a few of the companies to make the move
to our part of the Bay. |
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| How long in business? |
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GD California was founded in 1987. |
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| How large are you? |
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Sales >> GD California
has an average net sales of about $11 million per year.
Product >> We sell just around 700
different products per year and can boast a total product
portfolio of about 3,000 products to date - and this list
just keeps growing every month.
Customer Base>> GD California has
sold product and services to over 2,500 companies worldwide.
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| Product
Availability |
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| Does GD California ever
discontinue products? |
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NO. |
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| How long can I count on
being able to get my products from GD California? |
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You can continue to receive your product
for as long as you want it. GD California has promised "We
Will Never Discontinue a Product." And we have been able
to keep that promise. Since 1987, we have always built products
for our customers when they asked for them. |
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| Can I, not only, get a
guarantee my product will be available next year or 5 years
from now but also expect to know what the price will be? |
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Absolutely - We currently
offer two services: the "Product Support Agreement"
(PSA)
and the “Availability Assurance Program” (AAP).
Both of these programs offer product availability
and pricing. See more FAQ about our guaranteed
availability. |
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| Does GD California stock
any products? |
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No, everything is manufactured to order.
The products are built exactly like the original manufacturer.
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| Why doesn't GD California
stock products? |
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With nearly 3,000 different products, it would cost
us millions of dollars to stock just a few of everything. Also
being Legacy products, there may not be any further orders for
them. |
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| Lead
Time and Pricing |
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| Does GD California stock
products? |
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No. All products are built to order. |
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| How long does it take to
get delivery of a product? |
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Usually 60 days after we receive your order.
There are some exceptions. For example, we can arrange for better
lead times and pricing with a blanket purchase order. |
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| Guaranteed
Availability |
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| What do AAP and PSA do? |
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These programs do more than just track component
availability; they guarantee product availability, lead times
and pricing for the length of the service contract. |
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| What is the difference
between AAP and PSA? |
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PSA is for products already licensed and
transferred to GD California.
AAP is for products for which we need to obtain a license from
the original manufacturer. |
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| How do I know if a product
qualifies for an AAP? |
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We perform an analysis on your product to
ascertain the appropriateness for an AAP. |
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| GD
California Products |
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| Does GD California create
any products? |
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No, we supply products created by other original
manufacturers. These manufacturers use us to insure that their
customers have access to long life cycle products. |
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| How many different products
does GD California build? |
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Currently GD California has close to 3,000
different Legacy products which were transferred to us by their
original manufacturer in order to support their existing customer
base. |
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| Does GD California manufacture
products? |
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Yes, GD California builds all products to
order. We utilize the same procedure that the original manufacturer
developed. |
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| Does GD California’s
product differ from the original manufacturer’s? |
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No! We manufacture products under license
from the original manufacturer and which are identical to the
original manufacturers’. |
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| How does GD California
test products? |
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We use the same test equipment used by the
original manufacturer, often this equipment is acquired directly
from the original manufacturer. We do comprehensive functional
tests on every product we ship in addition to any other tests
mandated by the original manufacturer in the product specification.
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| Do you ever make any changes
to the product? |
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Not if it can be avoided. Very occasionally,
when a customer has not taken advantage of our AAP or PSA (guaranteed
product availability services) and because of component obsolescence,
will be forced to make a part substitution – but if we
do, we guarantee it will not affect the Form, Fit, Function
or Operation of the product. It must be emphasized we have rarely
had to make this type of change. |
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| Can GD California help
me get products not manufactured by GD California? |
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We have created and have made available a
Special Products Group that has access to a myriad of hard to
find obsolete product sources. Contact our Sales Department
and we will utilize our global contacts to provide you with
continued access to these products. |
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| Setup
Fees |
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| Why does GD California
charge Set-up Fees? |
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It is needed to offset the cost of small
volume production runs. Every time we build a single batch of
product, our vendors charge us setup fees. Since these costs
can be substantial - often more than our price for just one
product, we are forced to pass them along. Incidentally,
we do not make a profit on the Setup Fees. |
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| Does GD California always
charge for Set-up Fees? |
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Yes and no. If you order 25 units or more
the per unit set-up costs are dramatically reduced and the price
of the set-up is amortized into the total price. Generally,
this increase is very small percentage of the total order. Please
note there are exceptions. |
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| Why is there a setup fee
each time I place an order? |
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Essentially, GD California pays our vendors
a setup fee every time we manufacture a different batch of products.
It should not be thought of as NRE - it is not. It is the price
the vendors charge us to adjust their machines. These vendors
make our bare boards, solder our boards, build our sheet metal,
etc. Of course these will change from product to product depending
on the complexity, size - etc. The fees will also change, to
a lesser extent, over time. |
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| Why are setup fees different
each time I order the same product? |
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Setup fees are based on the actual costs
our vendors charge us, and they change from vendor to vendor.
Though we try to use the lowest priced qualified vendor, they
are not always available to meet our time constraints. A partial
list of other issues which affect setup fees are the size of
the batch and therefore the equipment being used, whether the
setup cost is being split between orders, does the order draw
on limited available stock which would lower the setup fee,
etc. |
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| Why would GD California's
set up cost be less for building more? |
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Some setup costs, like assembly, are fixed.
Others, like bare boards, go down as the minimum quantity buy
is reached. |
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| How can I reduce the cost
of Set-up Fees? |
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Planning - If you know you
need a certain quantity of products over the next 12 months,
then we will accept a non-cancelable order from you. We will
build all the products at once thereby significantly reducing
our setup costs. We will ship and bill you for the products
over a 12 month period, as you need them. |
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| Repair |
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| How long does it take to
get a circuit board repaired? |
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Typically less than 30 days. If you are in
a bind, let us know and we can usually shorten the time quite
a bit. |
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| For how long will you continue
to repair products? |
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As with all our products we will always repair
your product, that is as long as it is repairable. |
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| Warranty |
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| What is your normal warranty? |
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90 days against defects in materials and
workmanship. |
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| Can I increase the warranty
period? |
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Yes, just ask us. For an additional charge,
the warranty can be extended from 1 to 5 years. |
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| Data
Sheets, Specifications, Drivers, Manuals |
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| Are data sheets, specifications,
drivers, and manuals available for products, which GD California
manufactures? |
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Yes, when available, GD California will
receive all of these items along with the transferred product(s). |
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| Are Data Sheets, Specifications,
Drivers, and manuals available on-line? |
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Unfortunately, because of the huge number
of products we are currently supporting, it is impractical to
provide web access for them. However, if you contact us our
technical support group will be happy to meet any of your requirements. |
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| Is there a charge for Data
Sheets, Specifications, Drivers and manuals? |
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Yes and No, depending on how much time we
need to spend in preparing your request. As an example, most
manuals take about an hour to prepare and there is a $100 fee,
whereas data sheets or spec sheets are provided at no cost. |
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| Non-Licensed
Products |
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| We need a product that
is not in your on-line catalogue; can you build it for us? |
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Maybe. If you need a reasonable quantity
of product, we will approach the original manufacturer, secure
a manufacturing license, and let you know if it can be built. |
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| How many products are required
to make a product transfer worth while? |
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That depends on a number of factors. Many
are surprised at the modest quantity required to make a product
transfer worth while, so don’t hesitate to contact us
and let us evaluate your needs. |
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| What if we don’t
need enough parts to make a product transfer worth while; are
there any other options available? |
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Yes. Although manufacturing new products
is our business, we have helped many of our existing customers
find non-licensed, quality, refurbished products. The demand
for this service has grown over the years and we have established
a special team to handle these particular requests. |
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If you have a question that
was not answered here please contact the sales department
at: sales@gdca.com
We would be pleased to answer any other questions you have
in more detail. |
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