How cases get made at Tom's

lucienrau · Post by **lucienrau** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 4:40 am

There's an article over at Tom's Hardware about how cases get manufactured. Just thought people might find it interesting.

http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20031006/index.html

dago · Post by **dago** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 6:08 am

Am I the only one who have read this article and found it "naive" (to be really kind) ?

puff · Post by **puff** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 6:14 am

Kinda interesting, but I can't get past the feeling I'm reading a Chenbro promotional brochure.

Tom P · Post by **Tom P** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 7:04 am

You mean that youi're skeptical about all the employees being happy and really enjoying their work, and spending almost all their time at work sort of voluntarily? And they all used proper safety gear but didn't wear it because they were excited about being photographed? hee-hee. The article and photos were interesting, nonetheless.

miker · Post by **miker** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 7:51 am

Looked kind of forced. The only thing that would have made it worse is if everyone were smiling madly -AND- giving the big thumbs-up sign.

MGP · Post by **MGP** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 8:26 am

I had the same impression.

Post by **Rusty075** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 8:32 am

How many people have really written in to ask how cases are made?

No, they got an invite from Chenbro for a PR tour and they invented a reason to sell it as "reader service" rather than "marketing lapdog"

Tom's wrote:we were given access to all persons inside Chenbro who could answer our questions

By that they mean the three people from the marketing dept. that spoke english.

Tom's wrote:Chenbro's offer of this inside look generated a lot of excitement within THG. For me, this experience represented a trip of a lifetime

Ah HA! Not just a PR factory tour, but a PR trip to China! Chenbro just bought themselves top review honors for the next 5 years.

And damn, they bought the "happy employee" PR line hook line and sinker. Holy Cow. Of course they're smiling, they were told to "smile for the Americans or you'll be fired" Have you ever seen Chinese factory housing? Have you ever read any of the articles about the conditions that the companies provide? Neither has Tom's Hardware.

Tom's wrote:We felt that Chenbro would thus be a very good example for exploring and explaining the case manufacturing process.

Translation: "Of all the case companies that offered me a free trip to China, Chenbro was the best. Ok, they were only one, but that makes them the best too, right?"

Tom's wrote:Ken actually walked me through the entire process and served as both translator and guide accompanying me to the factory in China

Hmm, I wonder how much got "lost in the translation"

Why does reading this thing remind of the trips to factory that they used to show on Mr Roger's Neighborhood?

"Mr. McFeelie's Trip to the Computer Factory"

tragus · Post by **tragus** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 10:17 am

Summary of Rusty's commentary: Once again, Tom's Hardware demonstrate the consistent journalistic standards of objectivity, integrity, and accuracy that discerning readers have come to expect.

lucienrau · Post by **lucienrau** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 11:12 am

Not to mention attention to detail. So it looks like people did find it interesting...

Post by **Rusty075** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 12:00 pm

Exactly Tragus, precisely what I was trying to say.

It was interesting, but then again train wrecks are interesting too.

lucienrau · Post by **lucienrau** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 12:02 pm

Not to mention big fires.

Post by **Rusty075** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 12:08 pm

And fat people in spandex

Sledge · Post by **Sledge** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 12:51 pm

Rusty075 wrote:And fat people in spandex

I just hurt myself trying to stick a bar of soap in my ear to clean that image out of my brain

Dethheat · Post by **Dethheat** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 3:15 pm

Excellent article. I'm semi-interested in making my own case out of aluminum backed with rubber (you can get sheets from Mcmaster-Carr).

Post by **Rusty075** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 4:40 pm

How does that article help you in making your own case?

Are you planning on buying stamping presses and 3D printers from Mcmaster too?

Dethheat · Post by **Dethheat** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 4:45 pm

Rusty075 wrote:How does that article help you in making your own case?

Are you planning on buying stamping presses and 3D printers from Mcmaster too?

Uh. I don't think I mentioned that article helping me. I was just thinking out loud. Plus, to do my own case I don't need stamping presses and 3D printers. I just found the article somewhat interesting.

Gooserider · Post by **Gooserider** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 9:26 pm

In many (most?) aspects, I agree that the article did look excessively like a Chenbro PR puff peice. However it was reasonably informative for someone that didn't have much of an idea about the case mfg process.

There was one comment that I did take exception to however....

Rusty075:
And damn, they bought the "happy employee" PR line hook line and sinker. Holy Cow. Of course they're smiling, they were told to "smile for the Americans or you'll be fired" Have you ever seen Chinese factory housing? Have you ever read any of the articles about the conditions that the companies provide? Neither has Tom's Hardware.

This kind of comment shows a certain level of fallacy and lack of understanding of basic free-market economics. While the Chinese lack many of the freedoms we used to have in the US, they are NOT slaves... The conditions provided by their employers may not be very good by current US standards, but the entire package (wages plus benefits such as housing) HAS to be better than the conditions of those persons *NOT* employed by Chenbro. If it were not, then they wouldn't be able to attract or keep employees. (Iron law of employees, they seek to work first for the employer that offers the best compensation package) Yet all reports say that there is tremendous effort to get hired by places like Chenbro with prospective employees traveling huge distances in hopes of getting a job.

So before pointing at 'sweatshop' employers and crying 'shame' look at what they offer employees the chance to get away from, and instead thank them for offering their people an opportunity to live under better conditions...

Gooserider

Post by **MikeC** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 11:28 pm

While the Chinese lack many of the freedoms we used to have in the US

Hmmm... is that a post 9-11 aside? Seems like it.

I dunno that I agree with you, Gooserider, that privileged Chinese elites with western capitalist partners who run factories employing large numbers of underprivileged in a state with a record of HR abuses longer than maybe even the governing elites in the US over the last 60 years should be praised for anything. The term free-market has always been a fallacy, dating right back to when such theories were formulated in the first place. There are always the biggest vendors and the biggest buyers and they together (and apart) tend to dictate in any marketplace.

EDIT: And, um, uh... aside from that, I found the article interesting in a vaguely sickening way.

I also know that when the big microprocessor fabrication companies first started up big assembly plants in the 3rd world, they always sought young workers who had good eyesight to handle all that squinting work. It was said -- in Thailand in the 80s -- that half the displaced young girls from the countryside who found work in such plants around Bangkok were out on the street again 2 years later with eyesight virtually useless for any close work for the rest of their lives. They had dorms and western style toilets too. Such plants are probably in China now, and perhaps the machinery is automated enough now that the girls last 3 years?

Aside from that, what do you all think of that "spyder" case they were making?

dago · Post by **dago** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 11:53 pm

On the employee conditions, in answer to Rusty, Gooserider and MikeC :

Altough rusty answer sounds like he think that all employee are almost slave in China, it is not always the case.

But, I think we all believe this article lacks the research or knowledge needed to judge and report accurately upon employee conditions.

For what I read,
- Housing provided : are you sure the rent isn't taken on employee's wages ?
- Extra hours : who/what say they aren't they forced, either to avoid being fired or to win a decent salary ?
- Employee protection : if they care even a little about their employee's health, they would mandate use of protection equipment.
BTW, other machines didn't have form of protection which would be needed to avoid arm/hand cutting.

There's not even mention of how much moneys for how many hours per week they are winning, which is the kind of basic information needed to judge the situation.

Anyway, I've been quite lucky to be 'forced' to visit factories during my Engineer studies and would recommend that to anybody slightly interested in that topic. Even if it's not exactly on case manuf, it's worth doing a visit.

Off-topci : one of them was a Caterpillar (US) factory (in BE) who has a pretty good record when it comes to employee conditions.

pangit · Post by **pangit** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 12:05 am

I think you are right to say that working conditions are not as good in China as they are over here - of course they aren't as it is still a developing country, and don't forget it is still under Communist leadership. That (and the low wages) are the main reasons most of the manufacturing these days is done there, because we simply can't compete in the west with our high wages, property prices and unionisation. Not that I'm condoning it mind you, it's just a fact.

One thing I think THG got right is the pride that the average worker takes in his/her job and what they are helping produce. That's something I've seen in SE Asia many times (I lived there for 4 years), which is somewhat lacking with your typical worker here in the UK, and it shows.

And don't forget, this was NOT intended to be an article about employee working conditions in China, it was supposed to be "how PC cases are manufactured". You bunch of cynics!

dago · Post by **dago** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 12:23 am

pangit wrote: One thing I think THG got right is the pride that the average worker takes in his/her job and what they are helping produce. That's something I've seen in SE Asia many times (I lived there for 4 years), which is somewhat lacking with your typical worker here in the UK, and it shows.

Well, that really depends on the factories, but I had completely the other impression just on the other side of the Channel.

And it's even more than that, because due to the higher costs, they must made better quality than average (for example) SE Asian workers and are pretty proud of achieving better quality results than in other factories (when you have many factories in != countries making same products).

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 4:46 am

Well here's a weird coinkydinky, Anandtech now has their own Chinese "high tech factory" puff piece on their website. It's an article about the ECS/PCChips mobo factory in Shen Zhen.

The Chinese PR machine appears to be operating full speed ahead, high tech-wise.

Post by **Rusty075** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 4:48 am

The comment of mine that Goose took exception with wasn't meant to imply that the Chenbro workers are locked in indebted servitude or anything. I'm sure that in that town getting a job at such a large and stable company is probably highly sought after.

But that also doesn't mean that life there is as happy and gay as Tom and Chenbro present. It's the free-market at work: Chenbro will pay them as little as they can, and the housing will be as basic as the employees or the government will allow it to be.

Chinese companies have learned something about "Company Housing" that western industrialists learned last century: If you give people a place to live when you give them a job they are must less likely to ever quit. The day you quit your job at Chenbro (or the wool factory, or the coal mine) you are simultaineously unemployed and homeless.

And as others have pointed out, Chinese workers have much fewer legal protections than their western counterparts. No unemployment insurance, little health care coverage, few gov't safety regulations, no labor organisation to speak on their behalf, etc, etc.

But all this digress's from the subject of this article. This is a PR advertising piece bought by Chenbro. I guarantee you that the next time Tom's does a case roundup the Xspider will be the highest ranked case. Guaranteed.

lucienrau · Post by **lucienrau** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 4:52 am

You should check out their last case roundup, it was....

pangit · Post by **pangit** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 7:53 am

Rusty075 wrote:The day you quit your job at Chenbro (or the wool factory, or the coal mine) you are simultaineously unemployed and homeless.

Dude, that happened to me! (I was working in Malaysia at the time, and had company housing)

Rusty075 wrote: I guarantee you that the next time Tom's does a case roundup the Xspider will be the highest ranked case. Guaranteed.

True. Nobody ever accused THG of being unbiased in their reviews!

(unlike SPCR)

Tullphan · Post by **Tullphan** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 4:52 pm

Rusty075 wrote:

But all this digress's from the subject of this article. This is a PR advertising piece bought by Chenbro. I guarantee you that the next time Tom's does a case roundup the Xspider will be the highest ranked case. Guaranteed.

So, seriously, the Chenbro Spyder isn't a good case?