xtreme7

I use Zera when I have a need for a quick turnaround or modification to something. Gary is quick to quote and I have never had any parts come in late.

Great if you have low quantities too.

Strengths: Fast turn around times.
Fast quotes.
Reasonable pricing.
Local shop in Santa Clara.

Needs to improve: none

I have sent several quotes to Proto Labs/First Cut because they can turn around parts quickly. It is easy to get a quote, but a pain if you have threaded holes. They give you an initial quote, but then you have to go through each hole and say if it's tapped, and as you do that the price keeps going up. So all of a sudden the price is generally much higher than if I went with my local shops.

The support/sales folks are nice enough and don't push hard.

From the parts that I've seen come through from my co-workers, they are decent.

Strengths: Fast turn times.

Needs to improve: price and quotes if you need threaded holes.

I use JP Metal for a lot of my sheetmetal chassis designs and also use them for some of my machining needs. They quote quickly and their turnaround times are pretty decent. The guys at JP are quick to respond to request and emails. Pricing is also very good and for me it's great to have a local shop near.

We have low quantities so this is also a plus that they can work with us for one off pieces too.

Strengths: Competitive pricing, good quality, can have fast turn around times. Easy to work with.

Needs to improve: None as of yet.

I've been coming here since college (when I needed to purchase a bread board for one of my classes), and they are still around!

We will come here and get some simple electronic components and wire when we are in a jam and need it right away.

Super friendly sales people.

Strengths: Local company. Reasonable prices. Good selection of components and wires.

Needs to improve: The store doesn't show what they actually have. Look at their catalog.

Do not fly this airline. You think it's cheap, but after they charge you for every little thing, it's not worth it. And if you got a long flight, prepare to be uncomfortable.

Like all the other reviewers....stay away.

Strengths: Cheap fair...if you don't want anything but a seat.

Needs to improve: Nickel and diming for everything. Crappy seats. Not that many flights.

I normally stay at Hiltons, but when I can't get a room or there is not a Hilton around I stay at Marriott. They are friendly and easy to work with. Price is reasonable.

Strengths: Lots of hotels around. Good customer service. Decent points program.

Needs to improve: Lots of older hotels.

I am a diamond member with Hilton, and I pretty much have been staying at Hilton brand hotels for all my work travels. It is easy to book, and their online and mobile apps work well. Customer service both on the phone and at the hotels have been great.

The benefits for being a diamond member is good, you get free breakfast, wifi, and 2 bottles of water.

However their points are pretty worthless.

I'm considering changing to Starwood.

Strengths: The Hilton brand is in many locations. They have different level of hotels. Generally they have good prices. Nice online tools and mobile apps. Great customer service. Benefits for diamond status is decent.

Needs to improve: Their Hilton Honors program is pretty weak, and their points to add up to much.

I've used Item extrusions for creating fixtures. It's great because it is very versatile to use and easy to design around.

I recently ran into them at a trade show and discovered they have a new wood/plastic material extrusion that is incredibly light. I will consider using this next time.

Strengths: High quality material. Better tolerances than other extrusions. Other extrusion materials. Good customer services. Helpful in design suggestions.

Needs to improve: Web site is not very good.

We were using their pressure sensors and syringes in our disposable units. No problems.

Strengths: Very helpful staff. Quick response times. Free samples. Product knowledge. Quality products.

Needs to improve: Slightly on the pricey. But you do get high quality product.

We used them for calibrating all our measuring devices such as calipers and pressure gauges. We send it out every 6 months and have not had any issues.

On occasion we forget and need to get a rush on the calibration, and they have been good at accommodating our request.

Strengths: Quick turn arounds if needed. They can pickup and deliver items for calibration. Reliable service.

Needs to improve: none

We have used Intertek several times for our EMC testing. They tech we had each time was very good and running the test and explaining things. The facility is nice and the EMC lab is big. It is pretty costly for the few hours of testing.

They understand and train on 60601.

Strengths: The techs we deal with are really good. They usually get us in to the testing chambers when we need. Nice facility. The people we deal with are very nice.

Needs to improve: It's pricey.

I've used them pretty much for each company I've worked at. They are super helpful and they really know what they are doing. Very knowledgeable about standards and testing methods.

Strengths: Excellent customer service and knowledge. Helpful to troubleshoot any issues that come up. Easy to work with. Great for transit/shipping testing.

Needs to improve: none

I've been using Verizon phone and data for my travels when supporting clinical trials in other states. They have pretty decent coverage across the US. I did however find that often times in buildings the signal can be bad versus some of my co-workers.

Their cost is very expensive. And I hate that they removed the unlimited data plans (or you can keep it and pay full price for your phone).

Their online tools are very easy to use.

Strengths: Generally very good coverage in California. Fast 4G. Lots of phones and devices to choose from. Good online tools.

Needs to improve: Cost. They are probably the most expensive carrier out there. They removed the unlimited data plans.

Switched over to ADP because we wanted more functionality. They have reasonable pricing as well. Training was provided and we were up and running in just a day. Very easy to add and remove employees. Lost of information you can put into the system. They have multiple types of packages you can choose from.

Strengths: Customer Service/Sales Rep is very good. Easy to learn. Easy to use. Online use is great. Scalable system.

Needs to improve: none

We worked with the sales rep to help us design and choose what boxes we should use for our product. He came up with several good alternatives to a custom box, However, we still went with a custom box, which he helped give advice on.

Strengths: Very responsive sales person. Knowledgeable about products and uses. Fast local delivery. Good prices.

Needs to improve: none

We use Tap Plastics to prototype some of our plastic designs, when our primary plastics manufacturer is unavailable. They are quick to turn around our parts.

Strengths: They have several locations around the bay area. Good in house expertise. Usually have plenty of stock. Decent turn-around times.

Needs to improve: They are a little on the high side for pricing.

We use WebEX for clinical procedure meetings with the clinical sites staff, engineers, and other staff. It is really nice that you can call in or login. We share desktops so we can see pictures, charts, and other documents.

When we first started using WebEX it was little confusing on how to switch desktop controls and things like that.

Overall a very good tool.

Strengths: Customer service is good. Convenient tool for collaboration with off-site people. Nice to be able to share desktops.

Needs to improve: Occasionally goes down. Not the easiest to use when you first start using the application.

I use google drive and office type products. I work with many people who are in different locations, and share the documents with them. This is huge for quick updates and collaboration. We also share scheduling spread sheets that folks can look at.

Strengths: Free. Lots of online office tools. Google drive is great because you have access to all your data. Shareable files. Access on multiple types of devices.

Needs to improve: if the internet goes down you have no access.

We used Ebay to find touch screen monitors that were at End of Life and the manufacturer did not tell us and they did not have any left. We were able to buy a few off ebay.

We also found items that we needed quickly, all the manufacturers and distributors did not have any in stock, but we found some on ebay.

We have had experiences where we bought something and it turned out to be a knock-off.

Ebay is quck to resolve any issues.

Strengths: You can pretty much find anything and everything you need. Great if you need items that are at End Of Life, and the supplier does not have any left in stock. Some good values. Ebay resolves issues quickly.

Needs to improve: Possible fraud and scams. Some knock-off items. Shipping sometimes is not very quick.

I'm a heavy CAD user both with Pro/E and Solidworks. Solidworks is very easy to use and can be picked up very quickly. Same can be said about their PDM system.

Their updates with new builds have been great, with lots of useful new tools.

Maintenance fee really sucks and also you can not resell your licenses if you ever want to get rid of them.

Strengths: Easy to learn. Very good customer support. Always coming up with new things to put into their software. Very easy sheetmetal package to use. Easy to implement Enterprise PDM. Very customizable. Photo rendering is cool. Free viewer for those who don't have Solidworks.

Needs to improve: Expensive maintenance fees (yearly). Large assembly management should be better. Supposedly end of life on Workgroup. Not backwards compatible.