Will the TCO site close in the next 6 to 12 months? Based on the various personnel cuts, mission realignment, and jockeying of responsibilities; this scenario looks unavoidable.
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"There is no particular magic at TCO to make technology happen." And "engineering is engineering". This sounds like justification to me. Or 5000 ft altitude sickness. Well, it's not magic, and engineering is NOT engineering, it's not a commodity. There is a human element. Some are better than others, more thorough, some give in to stupidity imposed by others more easily, leaving the junk design in place. One can see it in the stuff they ask us to make.
TCO's "magic" is they did at one time allow the engineers the time to do their jobs thoroughly. The measured approach, letting the pieces fall into place, produced the most reliable products. The site that won the political competition frenetically rushes the work out before it is even due, and then claims the schedule as a reason not to fix thing. At that point, all Seagate could do is lie. The EDG virtual design center destroyed a beautiful thing from our perspective. But I'm not sure fixing any of these culture problems could overcome the corporate acquisition shopping spree at the Dollar Store that Seagate did. Um, lets see, the rotating drive biz is shrinking, so buy a company whose principle product is canning rotating drives. Um, lets see. Flash mem is taking over the drive biz, so lets sell the flash mem company right before it hit's it's stride. Great.
TCO was purposely destroyed and sabotaged as a result of losing the petty political site battles and favorites games. I don't think it's the result of any sort of site analysis report or cost/benefit analysis. The internal rivalry and infighting in this company is something to behold. You can see it even on this board. Yes, the first class seats have been assigned, but this mother f---ing plane is still going down.
How long did the OKC model last? How long did the SHR model last? Identify your key people/technology, offer up transfers, RIF the remainder, then orderly shut down the facility. If OKC and SHR are the models, next RIF in Dec 2017. Folk keep forgetting that engineering is engineering. There is no particular magic at TCO to make technology happen.
Not closing, but more like the OKC model where SHK will be significantly de-emphasized yet some functions remain (like firmware and some others). Also some staging / Advanced Development work will remain. But how many people will remain for all of that is a big question, probably a lot less than the 700 or so there now.
The writing is not only on the wall, it's in huge bold print. How can anyone not read it?