Twinkies by Evan-Amos
This fascinating article about the evolution of Twinkies snack cakes by former supermarket exec Dick Schindler should give every System Realization team something to chew on (pun intended). Schindler’s list of changes made to the Twinkies formulation to reduce costs and extend the product’s shelf life may or may not have contributed to Hostess Brands’ reported preparation for a bankruptcy filing.
However, it’s clear to me (as a former Twinkies consumer) that today’s product doesn’t taste nearly as good as it did back in the 1960s. Consumers notice. The also noticed when GM reduced the interior quality of its cars as a cost-cutting measure. Just ask Bob Lutz, who recently published the book “Car Guys vs. Bean Counters: The Battle for the Soul of American Business.”
In short, you cannot make quality decisions about product development or manufacture in a vacuum. There are consequences to these decisions. EDA tools can help you develop products with higher quality in less time by raising the level of design abstraction, through verification, and by communicating design intent up and down the tool chain.
Chew on that.
