How Brompton Bicycle uses Raspberry Pi technology to improve production [video]

That said, lots of people focus on how inexpensive things like the rpi are, but whether the unit costs $35 or $3500 makes a very small difference in the overall cost of the project. I am not totally against rpi's for factory stuff, as long as the folks who implement using those can slow their roll and think some more about the lifetime of their automation project and it's future maintenance.

There are PLC's that can run FOR DECADES without problems in a factory environment. Will an arduino/rpi be able to do that? Will someone 15 years from now know even know what an rpi is or be able to buy one?

A good manager will have a clear understanding of his slice of the company, what work needs done, what are the hoops, what problems can arise, how the work needs done. Same manager most likely has no understanding what it means to build, deploy and maintain a hardware + software thing. And since we are talking about a good manager, they are aware of that. Hence they call for a contractor that will build, deploy and maintain said thing.

And lets face it, will these tinkering workers actually able to deliver a robust system? You already mentioned the lack of integration or architecture concepts. The red tape might be there to prevent data corruption. What user interface are they going to use? Fragile touchscreen or a big button to mark the end of the step (eg, after the worker finished mounting the mud guards). Will that button/touch screen survive the number of mud guards that need to be mounted every year? Or that prosaic issue: where do you store the spares? etc etc There is a reason why this kind of innovation, like automatic testing, deploying etc, happen in software companies, building, deploying and maintaining software is the core competency.

I don't doubt there are happy cases where the tinkerer is more than a tinkerer, the video we are commenting on proves that.

On the other hand, this sort of thing should be encouraged. Have the workers come up with POCs, then pass that to the expert contractor to help with the extra bits. When the startup I work for decided to pivot, I suggested to build a framework to help with automation: have a server that boots remote thin clients and have a basic client that you can plop all kinds of peripherals in. I had to use cases in mind: automation for small factories and bar/restaurant management. We decided to count trees instead.

Another reason not to use it!

> NetworkManager supports even WPA3

I used it as a hotspot. Armbian has some weird obsolete NetworkManager, that does not work with WPA2. OpenWRD does not support other functions I need.

And I did not use buildin networking managment, because it keept switching network interface names (multiple WIFI and LAN cards over USB). I can bind NetworkManager config to MAC and skip interface names completely.

> It's the wrong board for that.

It is the most basic task for Linux computer...

> PS: PIs are usually a lot cheaper.

No they are not. Maybe a few years ago. But PIs use obsolete processor, with limited manufacturing capacity. I do not believe they will get any cheaper any time soon.

And, if you are paying $100/hour burdened, you are hiring people for $50/hour or less. Either you are hiring newbies, in that case, who is doing the design, or you found somebody desperate and are taking advantage.

Which is to say, the assertion of 1-5, $10-20k makes me mad, too, as another form of devaluing the profession of software development.

Nobody is "whipping up" something like this.

I will grant you this. A hacker, meaning a teen in a basement making it work in the minimum way, could create a thing like this.

I'm not that. The person who did this for that cycle company is not that (because that low-class hacker couldn't procure and implement dozens of pi's, or the networking, or the training). And, if he or she could, the company would be nuts to base their business on it.

IT systems like this are hard and expensive. Suggesting otherwise is, I think, irresponsible. Someone that sees that video, believes it's just "pennies" and goes to his boss, promising to accomplish something like that is going to fail and be harmed.

And that makes me mad, too.

But a part that's missing is the reason WHY companies often prefer to hire inefficient outside consultants that will under deliver, over promise, and often leave you with a half functional system at the end.

It's for class politics and control reasons that managers and executives don't want to invest in on-site talent to expand their skills. They want disposable labor even if it costs them more money in the end, because it's a decision motivated by their power interests. They don't want to depend on on-site talent, they don't want to promote you, they don't want to pay you what you are worth, they don't want your talents to develop.

They want to pay an outside agency whatever amount of money for the promise of a system, because even if the consultant fails they have fulfilled their capitalist due diligence and did things the right way, rather than having had local employees that are crucial to you that you invest in do work for you.

If you take issue with this characterization, I'd ask you why do many people here find it notable that this company had an existing employee develop a system rather than just dragging in the consultants.

Your point about the cost is right but you have to ask where the cost is: some guy spending two months working out how to interface a Pi to something or this being canned and your ask being process modelling. At the same time that guy is then upskilled in fairly generic automation which can be used at other levels across the business. It's very easy to write off unproductive uses of employee time.

Brompton is a success but I'm not sure why. The bikes are by far the most horrible thing I've ridden other than the Sinclair A-bike. I'd rather walk.