Reply 114634: SPORT, I'll agree costs keep going up. So then, why would MDT require only $18M in the offer? If the SPORT IP design enhancements for HUGO were high-risk why not go for $40M? That's what any Product Manager would do. The $18M is somehow an amount that will get Sport to the end of the milestones. I'd speculate the last milestone is just a substitute phrase for BO. Otherwise MDT doesn't get world dominance and TMDI pays off the loan. Someone tell me how they get to world dominance, and control their revenue stream/destiny for the next 15 years without TMDI? How does MDT dominate RAS by the end of 2021 without TMDI? That fits. Or they go into extra innings by mutual agreement. There are no rules, only laws. But I do think that the clock is ticking for MDT. They have to make the jump past R&D, b/c the HUGO design won't compete. Oh, and they need a single port. MDT isn't going to use their engineers to build a Sport-like single port. MDT's engineering resources are at capacity or they would have fixed or modified HUGO. If they can figure it out, it takes years. Again, it's a time thing. And Mr. Martha wants to look like THE Med Device industry genius. Can't do it without Sport. Or... does MDT screw around and let JNJ get Sport? Laughable.
I'd fathom a guess that Chad went to Cambridge and other vendors that worked on Sport and provided them with a set of details, features and functions and asked for a quote. How else to you get to $18M? If it were up to me..... I'd say what ever the costs were, then double it to address delays. Which is why I'd have gone for $40M. And that's the reason MDT told TMDI ONLY GET $18M. The TMDI supply chain and engineering development were already in a state of lock-down which probably caused all hell to break loose and rewrite the agreements, so that's baked into the cost. That $18M is not a WAG, and it's not a moving target anymore. MDT had to share intel about what they want, so the vendors could look at the design and figure out what's needed to get from A-Z. Those vendors had to be engaged early B/C TMDI doesn't have an army of engineers to do the enhancements.
I'd speculate that the NC facility and those new engineers are for installations, customer support and the next phase of Sport and/or HUGO. IMO. Good luck to all. Regards, BK.
