[M.D. Holloway]

In industry, the R&D guys find it a pain when they are called out to the plant to fix a problem or when they have to talk to a customer - understand a problem the customer is having or to explain why a particular batch went wrong. The problem goes away the better the sales farse is trained and the tighter manufacturing gets. There are technical service departments that are supposed to take care of the customers and also process development departments that are also supposed to get involved in manufacturing issuesd when they arise. Most companies are running so lean now that the reasearch and development guys have tio wear many hats - some of which are uncomfortable for them.