NCASE's "2 man operation" sure involves a lot of women

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heacu

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Sep 6, 2021
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I thought this was hilarious...

Go to the "About NCASE" page (https://ncases.com/pages/about), and under the following picture of a bunch of women assembling NCASEs in a factory somewhere in Asia, it says

NCASE is a two-man operation that began in late 2012....

Props for giving your workers a voice!

 
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Revenant

Christopher Moine - Senior Editor SFF.N
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Apr 21, 2017
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I thought this was hilarious...

Go to the "About NCASE" page (https://ncases.com/pages/about), and under the following picture of a bunch of women assembling NCASEs in a factory somewhere in Asia, it says



Props for giving your workers a voice!


NCASE is a two man operation supported by the SFF community. What you are looking at is a picture from Lian Li's assembly line. Lian Li is their contractor.

If you have bought any system that was made by Lian Li, or in China for that matter, you have definitely have benefited from the assembly skills of women. Women have played a vital role in industry, that is often forgotten. However, if you're going to complain about a Lian Li assembly line, you might want to complain to Lian Li.
 

heacu

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Sep 6, 2021
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No complaints, I was just observing the awkward image placement, given the text. But two men can't think of everything!
 

ignsvn

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Apr 4, 2016
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Props for giving your workers a voice!

Props for creating an account & dedicating your 1st post on this. Anyway, welcome to the forum, we hope you have fun & contribute positively like what many others have been doing here.

Btw, again I'm trying to be positive here - probably it was true that at the beginning, there were only 2 men drawing their ideas using 3D/CAD software (or on a piece of napkin). That's the beginning.
 
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PlayfulPhoenix

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I might actually be the one who took this photo, if I recollect correctly (I might not; I've visited Lian Li many times and I'm sure NCASE has taken photos when visiting as well). In any case, the assembly line here is even more impressive to watch in person: you have a conveyer belt in the center that shuttles the enclosures down the line, and each employee has a specific sequence of steps that they're responsible for performing (usually attaching or assembling, and then later QA and packing). As you'd imagine, time is money, so the employees have deft hands and perform their steps very quickly and precisely; likewise, their individual workstations are set up to make it as easy as possible for them to grab, use, and swap parts and tools as they work.

I love this photo because it tells the story of this process so well. You can see the enclosures take shape as they go further down the line and are ultimately boxed. You can see the stacks of enclosures already assembled in the background, none of which existed before that workday. Even the little things, like the paper-covered surfaces and tape that they use to ward off scratches, are just so interesting.

In a sense it's the same assembly line process that was invented a century ago, but I still find it rather impressive. This small team of workers, through some basic principles and tools, is capable of massive throughput each and every day. I am still shocked at the mountain of enclosures that they can assemble in a workday.
 
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Gilles3000

Airflow Optimizer
Oct 6, 2018
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Yikes, your first post and you're already trying to start outrage over a nonexistent issue due to your own ignorance, great start m8...

The information on this matter isn't even hard to find, would've taken you like a couple of minutes to find out that their manufacturing is done by Lian Li and that NCase is in fact a 2 person company...

And Before you get any ideas, Ncase isn't the only company that has their cases made by Lian Li...
 

heacu

Efficiency Noob
Original poster
Sep 6, 2021
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I might actually be the one who took this photo, if I recollect correctly (I might not; I've visited Lian Li many times and I'm sure NCASE has taken photos when visiting as well). In any case, the assembly line here is even more impressive to watch in person: you have a conveyer belt in the center that shuttles the enclosures down the line, and each employee has a specific sequence of steps that they're responsible for performing (usually attaching or assembling, and then later QA and packing). As you'd imagine, time is money, so the employees have deft hands and perform their steps very quickly and precisely; likewise, their individual workstations are set up to make it as easy as possible for them to grab, use, and swap parts and tools as they work.

I love this photo because it tells the story of this process so well. You can see the enclosures take shape as they go further down the line and are ultimately boxed. You can see the stacks of enclosures already assembled in the background, none of which existed before that workday. Even the little things, like the paper-covered surfaces and tape that they use to ward off scratches, are just so interesting.

In a sense it's the same assembly line process that was invented a century ago, but I still find it rather impressive. This small team of workers, through some basic principles and tools, is capable of massive throughput each and every day. I am still shocked at the mountain of enclosures that they can assemble in a workday.
Do you know what the balance is between how much the Lian Li factory produces for itself and how much is contracted out? It's interesting, because it seems like they have a pretty good reputation in the industry for their own cases, but they also find it necessary - or beneficial - to collaborate with other companies.
 

heacu

Efficiency Noob
Original poster
Sep 6, 2021
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Yikes, your first post and you're already trying to start outrage over a nonexistent issue due to your own ignorance, great start m8...

The information on this matter isn't even hard to find, would've taken you like a couple of minutes to find out that their manufacturing is done by Lian Li and that NCase is in fact a 2 person company...

And Before you get any ideas, Ncase isn't the only company that has their cases made by Lian Li...
You are confusing issues. First, there is NCase's organizational structure, which as you say is made up of two people. Indeed, it was incorrect of me to refer to the women in the picture as "their workers" in my original post.

However, the substance of my post was about the optics of the juxtaposition of the photo and the text. And to this point, the organizational structure of NCase is not relevant.

You are mistaken to assert that I am trying to "start outrage". Rather, I made a fairly obvious observation, one that I suspect many others would have made as well.

Did my post come from ignorance, or an outsider's clarity? I urge you to temper your conviction.
 
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Necere

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Feb 22, 2015
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The image is a holdover from a previous version of the site that PlayfulPhoenix designed for us. I've removed it so it doesn't confuse anyone else.
 

Choidebu

"Banned"
Aug 16, 2017
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You are mistaken to assert that I am trying to "start outrage". Rather, I made a fairly obvious observation, one that I suspect many others would have made as well

I suspect many others reading your first post do and will mistakenly assume (not assert) the same as well.

Props for giving your workers a voice
Note the sarcasm. Exhibit A.

But two men can't think of everything!
Then second flag, exhibit B. Even when pointed out you (or what it seems to me) wonderfully dodged and still slip a silent comeback.

It could be just as you said, outsider's clarity, plus a rather snarky character - and if it is, let's just let this one slide and just agree we got off on the wrong foot. Welcome to the forum!

At least you made us see some action round 'ere, twas rather bleak couple months.
 

heacu

Efficiency Noob
Original poster
Sep 6, 2021
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I suspect many others reading your first post do and will mistakenly assume (not assert) the same as well.


Note the sarcasm. Exhibit A.


Then second flag, exhibit B. Even when pointed out you (or what it seems to me) wonderfully dodged and still slip a silent comeback.

It could be just as you said, outsider's clarity, plus a rather snarky character - and if it is, let's just let this one slide and just agree we got off on the wrong foot. Welcome to the forum!

At least you made us see some action round 'ere, twas rather bleak couple months.

I can agree to that.

Thank you for the welcome.
 

PlayfulPhoenix

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Feb 22, 2015
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Do you know what the balance is between how much the Lian Li factory produces for itself and how much is contracted out? It's interesting, because it seems like they have a pretty good reputation in the industry for their own cases, but they also find it necessary - or beneficial - to collaborate with other companies.
It really depends on what they're producing, but pretty much any factory making products is going to rely on other factories or suppliers to an extent. That is really the primary advantage of manufacturing in the region, particularly onshore China - you have this massive ecosystem of producers all co-located among one another, and that solves many, many problems with respect to prototyping and building almost anything you can imagine at scale, quickly. Compare that to manufacturing (for instance) in the USA, which is possible but is going to add a lot of time and money cost and logistical hurdles, since you don't have all your suppliers as neighbors.

Just to make up an example, you might have a factory that stamps your enclosure structure/panels from sheet metal and assembles/packs it, but then they need to get cable harnesses, glass windows, ventilation meshes, PCBs, hardware, grommets, etc. from other suppliers because they don't make those things themselves. Maybe you need external folks to perform QA and then pack the finished enclosures. Then you need a courier to move pallets of your product to your fulfillment partner. Pretty quickly, even for simple products, you have a complex web of suppliers, manufacturers, and logistics partners that are all necessary to get your enclosure made and delivered to your customers. And this is for a product that is fundamentally a metal box - obviously something that we as a community care a lot about and value, but still, a fairly simple item in the grand scheme of things.
 
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Questors

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 28, 2018
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I thought this was hilarious...

Go to the "About NCASE" page (https://ncases.com/pages/about), and under the following picture of a bunch of women assembling NCASEs in a factory somewhere in Asia, it says



Props for giving your workers a voice!

I thought this post was comical. It appears others have taken offense at it. They either miss the point or have no sense of humor. Maybe both?

For those of you who don't get it, think irony. A two man operation. Two men, males and only a duo. Then a picture of an assembly area with multiple women. Add in the caption, "Props for giving your workers a voice!" As in the men taking all the credit for the two man operation, yet the pic of women building their product for them. When it has to be broken down this far, it loses the humor of course.

Don't be on the ready to take offense. Try looking at things with a sense of humor, a lighter heart, as it were. Spread the laughter.
 

Gilles3000

Airflow Optimizer
Oct 6, 2018
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I thought this post was comical. It appears others have taken offense at it. They either miss the point or have no sense of humor. Maybe both?

For those of you who don't get it, think irony. A two man operation. Two men, males and only a duo. Then a picture of an assembly area with multiple women. Add in the caption, "Props for giving your workers a voice!" As in the men taking all the credit for the two man operation, yet the pic of women building their product for them. When it has to be broken down this far, it loses the humor of course.

Don't be on the ready to take offense. Try looking at things with a sense of humor, a lighter heart, as it were. Spread the laughter.
Its because the comical situation you're referring to doesn't exist...

These women work for Lian li, not ncase. Ncase isn't a manufacturer, most SFF design companies just don't have the demand necessary to run their own manufacturing line.
 

Questors

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 28, 2018
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82
Its because the comical situation you're referring to doesn't exist...

These women work for Lian li, not ncase. Ncase isn't a manufacturer, most SFF design companies just don't have the demand necessary to run their own manufacturing line.
I have known that since the beginning. You are still missing the magic. That makes the irony work. Factually speaking, it isn't truly a two male operation if they don't do everything themselves. At any rate, it's not insulting or malicious, just ironically funny. Feel free to see it your way though.
 

Gilles3000

Airflow Optimizer
Oct 6, 2018
240
243
I have known that since the beginning. You are still missing the magic. That makes the irony work. Factually speaking, it isn't truly a two male operation if they don't do everything themselves. At any rate, it's not insulting or malicious, just ironically funny. Feel free to see it your way though.
So should they they give credit to all the workers in the supply chain? The ones doing the logistics, the metal refinement, the miners?

You're being ridiculous m8, there is no irony here, just a couple people trying to imagine a situation that doesn't exist.
 
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Questors

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 28, 2018
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82
So should they they give credit to all the workers in the supply chain? The ones doing the logistics, the metal refinement, the miners?

You're being ridiculous m8, there is no irony here, just a couple people trying to imagine a situation that doesn't exist.
Like I said, feel free to see it your way.
 

SFFMunkee

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Jul 7, 2021
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I think @Questors is trying to say they should say something like:
"NCASE are a two-person operation focusing on design and management, with supply partners providing manufacturing and logistics services to ensure high-quality fabrication, assembly and quality assurance."
 
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