"Joseph Oberlander" wrote in message
nk.net

Arny Krueger wrote:

*300* steps to make a OEM quality case.

Since sheet metal/plastic products are a big business where I live,
there is nothing in that article that surprises me in the least. Not
one tool I haven't touched, not one machine I haven't seen, heard,
touched, and smelled, not one operation I haven't done myself from
grinding dies to putting product in cardboard boxes.

What amazes me is for all of those steps, they still sell the cases
for as low as $50.(power supply not included at that price).

That's with a retail markup. If one stoops low enough one can find cases for
under $30 retail, with a power supply. you can't nothing off-the-shelf that
even vaguely compares to the complexity and performance of a PC power supply
for under $100 in a regular electronics catalog. Maybe make that $200.

As near
as I can tell, for instance, they make the cases for Antec, Dell,
Gateway, and probably many of the tower type designs you see from
other major OEM companies.

I'm under the impression that Dell and Gateway have their cases made
domestically, or at least near where the PC is assembled.

When I assemble a PC, I spend a modest amount of time tearing the case down,
if you catch my drift.

Many cases look to me like they were designed to be assembled during the
assembly of the rest of the PC. The assembly of he rest of the PC is often
facilitated by having the plastic front panel removed. Why put it on before
final assembly? Ditto for the sides of the case. Many cases have a tray for
the system board. Why put it into the case until the motherboard is
attached?

Also remember that the actual process of physically building the PC is
heavily outsourced. At times I've seen nearly-identical machines from Dell
and Micron for example, but under the covers they both looked like they were
actually built by Intel.

People don't even realize
how much time and effort goes into things like speakers and computer
cases. Sure, you get the soft-tooled POS junk that's done in 20
steps at the other end, but most of the industry works like this.

Read the article closely, soft-tooling is for high end, low volume cases.

There's a lot more than 300 steps in a car door, not counting the
work in the individual components like the switches and motors.

And still, you can buy a (80's technology - acceptable, but not great)
little KIA or Hyundai for $8000 out the door. Yeah, they suck almost
as much as the VW Fox did(what a dreadful car!), but it still is an
amazing amount of parts and work involved.

Raw steel and plastic don't cost that much. Labor is still a big part of the
out-the-door cost.

A whole other realm than Trotsky works at.

I wonder how many steps a typical large manufacturer has for its
speakers?

That's going to depend on so many things.

Probably at least 50 if they outsource the drivers and cabinets.

Well, almost everybody outsources the drivers. Even if they come from within
the same corporation, the drivers are almost always made in a different
factory. I wouldn't want a driver that was assembled in the same place as
speaker cabinets or systems.

If they make everything, probably on the order of 200+.

I suspect there's a couple of hundred operations in a single driver,
depending on how you count. I've been in driver plants, I should do a mental
count. It's lots, and again there's an issue related to subassemblies. For
example, voice coil assemblies are often outsourced.