China Dispatch: Adventures in Case Manufacturing

Let's Start At The Beginning, Continued

Before the final product can go into production, packaging must be designed, as well. Chenbro does not want their products to be damaged in transit, as this causes product return (RMA) headaches for Chenbro and product and brand dissatisfaction for the consumer. Chenbro expends much effort testing the packaging by using both its drop and vibration testing; this simulation mimics the transit process and measures the effects on the packaging and the case inside the packaging. If a problem in the packaging is found, Chenbro can modify the outside and inside packaging as needed to address these concerns beforehand.

The drop testing system is set to test according to industry shipping standards. The platform can be raised or lowered. After each test, the case and packaging are inspected to determine the important on both the case and the packaging. If problems are found, modifications are made. Here we viewed Chenbro's drop testing in action.

Kent shows us the vibration testing process. This test is as important as the drop testing. Packaged cases must be capable of surviving days of varying levels of vibration from this test machine before Chenbro will consider the packaging to be adequate. With all of the thousands of miles a computer case travels prior to reaching the retailer and/or end purchaser, it is good to see that Chenbro places such an emphasis on sturdy, reliable packaging and is willing to spend the time and resources to make sure its cases arrive in one piece.

Another test that Chenbro relies upon is the color analyzer station, which tests the color of the plastics being used. When a color is defined, Chenbro continually tests the materials to make sure that the color saturation is consistent from piece to piece, as raw materials from different vendors can vary. Chenbro uses a sophisticated computerized system for performing these tests to detect the smallest differences in color variation among the products used. Part of Chenbro's philosophy is to deliver the highest quality case materials with no discernable differences from case to case.

The Chenbro color analyzer station is used to check the consistency of the color of the plastics and the paint.

As you can see, a lot goes into the design and testing of a case. Once the concepts have been approved and the prototype build has passed acceptance testing and has received visual approval, it is time to "tool up" to build the real product. Once the tooling is complete, the Chenbro factory ships several of the production first unit builds to Chenbro Taipei for inspection. Adjustments are made, if necessary, and once completed Chenbro is ready to ramp up for case manufacturing in full production mode.