![PCH Exterior[1][1]](http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/pch-exterior11.jpg?w=426)
A block from the Mariposa on-ramp and in the eye-line of 90,000 cars whizzing by on 280 sits an old warehouse that was home to the San Francisco Bay Guardian, a local alt weekly, and Digg. Most of the building is gutted and inside they are working on the “greatest enabler of hardware on the planet,” according to PCH International head Liam Casey. It will be the new home of Lime Labs, a hush-hush… → Read More
Russian phone maker Yota Devices will start making its first dual-screen e-ink YotaPhones in Singapore. The company has signed with Hi-P, a manufacturer in the country, to have it mass-produce the devices. Yota’s COO, Lau Geckler, told us that he is also in Singapore to help set up Yota’s Asian sales office and the company’s second R&D facility. Its original R&D center is… → Read More
Over the last few years, the enterprise has been been quick to adopt cloud computing, but by and large, the cloud has found the most penetration in areas of the enterprise that aren’t mission critical. Yet, as Forbes wrote today, this has begun to change of late as companies that are handicapped by decades-old, legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) system increasingly move from on-premise… → Read More
In one of the oddest cases of an April Fool’s joke coming true, Digitimes is reporting that Foxconn is looking at opening LCD TV plants in LA or Detroit. These plants will focus on automated production lines and build mostly LCD TVs as too much hand-work is required to assemble more complex mobile electronics. → Read More
For the past few weeks Apple parts have been leaking left and right. Today, about three weeks before we expect the new iPhone to launch, iResq has rebuilt the new iPhone from spare parts, showing the new connector (a micro USB-sized port that I predicted a month ago) and a slightly longer screen. The glut of photos of this new model point to a few things, most importantly Apple’s new role in the… → Read More
The globalization of our economy — and the role that countries like China play in manufacturing goods that get consumed very far outside its borders — has been a big topic in the tech world. One of the sidenotes of that story is the role of shipping and distribution — an essential part of the equation, but one that carries a lot of risk: risk that products do not arrive on time, or in perfect… → Read More
The race for smaller and more innovative electronics is on, and Samsung has a stake in the space on multiple levels: as a seller of consumer electronics products itself, and as a component supplier for the products of other companies. To that end, today its investment arm, Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, announced it was leading a $20 million investment in Raydiance, a developer of laser… → Read More
In the hullabaloo over Mike Daisey lying about meeting injured workers, the spotlight turned from actual employment problems in Asia onto the face of the orotund and penitent former colonialist. Now that the news cycle has passed, we’re no longer interested in the topic of Chinese manufacturing and, judging by the positive response to my April Fools’ post on Sunday, the world now understands… → Read More
To paraphrase Otto von Bismarck, “iPads are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.” It’s an ugly story. Over a hundred employees “injured by n-hexane, a toxic chemical that can cause nerve damage and paralysis” because its use “meant workers could clean more screens each minute.” Other workers killed or injured by explosions. All so that iPads can be built as cheaply as possible… → Read More
Shenzhen is a town of migrants. The estimated median ages is between 15 and 25 and the old and battered sits in wild contrast with the brand new. Even in the few years between my last visit and this one, the city has changed so drastically that I barely recognized it. The last time I was here I imagined the place as a cross between a favela and Blade Runner, high and low tech mashed together, the… → Read More
Foxconn is planning on replacing many of it’s hard-working human manufacturers with about 1 million robots, a number that, if you think about it, is a very telling comment on the current state of electronics manufacturing.
There are apparently 10,000 robots at the factory now and that number will increase by 300,000 next year. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou plans another million robots by 2014. The… → Read More
Be Your Own Souvenir! from blablabLAB on Vimeo. This odd system uses a Kinect head and some homebrew software to 3D scan you in real time and then print out a micro-figurine. It seems to take a little bit of time – that’s not clear from the video – and the whole system isn’t quite ready for prime-time yet. → Read More
A fairly unnoticed story percolated through the interwebs this weekend about Alibaba’s CEO and hundreds of employees being implicated in what amounts to a payola scandal. Alibaba is a site that allows you to buy the worst junk imaginable. They represent over 500,000 factories in China. It is a sourcing site full of fake laptops, poorly made clothing, and potentially life-threatening auto… → Read More
I present to you, friends, unadulterated, the horrors witnessed by French journalist Jordan Pouille and recorded in his video, “Inside the Foxconn Prison,” are truly manifold. In what will soon be the The Jungle of its day, Pouille’s video of Chinese factory workers living their oppressed lives while shopping for food, listening to pop music, and meeting for lunch reminds us that… → Read More
Our good buddy Joel Johnson went inside Foxconn’s 540,000 employee factory in Shenzhen. There are 950,000+ employees in China alone. To put that into perspective, Columbus, Ohio, my hometown, is home to 711,470 people. → Read More
It’s not every day you get to look inside a major electronics factory. Most of the work done there is compartmentalized and the manufacturing done for one company never touches the manufacturing done for another. In fact, Foxconn’s R&D labs consist of a series of locked doors. You can only get into one and that’s only if you’re allowed in to see prototypes. It’s an amazing world of secrecy and… → Read More
Ponoko, a company that helps people make stuff on a small scale, has teamed up with SparkFun Electronics – another company that helps you do the same thing. The reason? Well, Ponoko makes the physical enclosures, and SparkFun makes the electronics. This enables people who want to make stuff order all the parts from one source, rather then multiple sources on the internet. → Read More
I’ve been interested in gadget manufacturing for a while now and, as I reported a few months ago, things are pretty bad but they’ve been worse. Now, however, we’re seeing clusters of suicides at Foxconn as well as an undercover “report” from Foxconn’s “Hell Factory.” I’m calling bull. First, consider that Foxconn has 400,000 employees in… → Read More
Adam Hocherman, 34, is an entrepreneur and founder of the consumer electronics company American Innovative in Boston, MA. Adam founded the company in 2003 with the help of the US Government’s SBA loan program and is currently the 100% owner. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA, both from Cornell University. Adam’s writings can be found on his blog at DesignTheatre.net… → Read More
Greetings from sunny Shenzhen, just north of Hong Kong. I’ve spent some time in Asia – at least the tech centers – and have never found a place like this. It’s like Blade Runner meets 1990s Prague meets the end of the world. I’m here to report on what’s going on here in terms of electronics and how it’s changing the way we think about price, cost, and… → Read More
Big rumor this weekend, which makes you wonder why it emerged during the weekend and not the workweek. Be that as it may… Apple is looking to construct, or already has, its own ultra modern manufacturing facility. A fancy factory, in English. Names being thrown around include Brick, MacBrick, or variations thereof. The facility would make use of, among other high-tech innovations, laser and… → Read More
The WSJ is reporting that Dell is looking to “sell most — and possibly all” of their factories within the next 18 months. The move, designed to cut costs, isn’t a sign of Dell throwing in the towel, rather the computer giant is looking to overhaul their production model. According to their source, Dell has approached contract computer manufacturers and then they would enter into… → Read More
Let’s all think back to our Econ classes to the section on economies of scale, especially as the theory pertains to purchasing production materials in bulk. That’s what Acer’s able to do thanks to its sheer size and that’s the reason that its FOB price (free on board — total cost it takes to get one unit loaded onto a boat somewhere) for its Eee competitor will fall… → Read More
The Nikkei Electronic Teardown Squad recently tore down the MacBook Air. What did the team find? Surprises abound. Also, screws. Many, many screws. → Read More
The article is a little vague (an ambiguous summary of some second-hand information from a Chinese newspaper) but apparently Lenovo is going to be hiring Taiwanese manufacturers for its notebooks rather than keep it all in the family. The laptops we saw were pretty nice, so let’s hope this is a sign that they’re getting lots of orders and can’t keep up with demand. Lenovo gives… → Read More
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