Research and Development



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Even though most of the R&D for Abit is done in Taipei, we ventured off the beaten path a little to check out the Suzhou. R&D in this portion of Asia is typically reserved for BIOS tweaking and production techniques. When we ventured in the lab, workers were getting ready to go home for the day. However, a few diligent engineers were still behind working on Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). SOPs are the diagrams and instructions that the workers receive at each station, which describe exactly what they should be doing and in what detail. Other functions of the R&D facility include testing and debugging processes that would take too long to send back to Taiwan.



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Unfortunately, that was all the time we had for the day in Suzhou. The Rolly factory was much different from the multiple campus Elitegroup facilities from last year. Abit's total volume is much less than that of ECS, but at the same time, quality control seemed much higher and more deliberate. Abit has clearly spent the better part of the last few years controlling the quality of their motherboards.

Coming up, we have more factory tours, including a first look at facilities from AOpen and Kingston!

Environment Testing
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  • KristopherKubicki - Sunday, June 13, 2004 - link

    Got it, thanks.

    Kristopher
  • kalaap - Sunday, June 13, 2004 - link

    "This is actually the second over on the production line; the first is used right after SMT."

    I think you meant second OVEN.
  • AtaStrumf - Sunday, June 13, 2004 - link

    Right Click --> Save Target As... ---> save to disk and play from there. If its still not working you need a new player. Real One Player is preety good.
  • roostercrows - Sunday, June 13, 2004 - link

    can someone tell me which video players you guys use? i couldn't get my realplayer to download the videos. thanks
  • DonB - Sunday, June 13, 2004 - link

    "...why there are more women than men". Women have much better manual dexterity than men. Remember typing classes in high school? I remember in my class, after the first semester, the females were typing around 40-50 wpm while the males were typing around 25-35 wpm, almost without exception.
  • CurtOien - Sunday, June 13, 2004 - link

    "The machine technician and the traditional visual inspectors are paid about the same; usually around $100 per month with lodging."
    I wonder how much the executives make?
  • AtaStrumf - Sunday, June 13, 2004 - link

    The problem that I see with their testing procedure is that they probably only test at default settings, which is just not good enough for an enthusiast targeted motherboard. Sure my KT7 A worked fine at 100 MHz FSB, but it didn't at 133 MHz FSB, and my latest AN7 works fine at default BIOS setting, but when you change something strange things start to happen.

    I understand that they're in a hurry, but they should at least test at the most stressful settings that the mobo is supposed to function properly i.e. 200 MHz FSB and not 133 or. 166 MHz. What good is a 24 h burn-in test if it's done at 133 MHz FSB, and I'm gonna be using a 200 MHz FSB.

    For instance this AN7 that I have now, works perfectly if I OC my 2500+ with the default offered 3200+, but if I change the FSB manualy to 200 its totaly unstable. How strange is that?
  • KristopherKubicki - Sunday, June 13, 2004 - link

    artifex: I have not heard that reason for using women over men in facilities.

    What other economic information were you interested in? I can add it to the article.

    Kristopher
  • artifex - Sunday, June 13, 2004 - link

    I couldn't get the n7_fail image to load (ironic), but other than that, everything was good.

    Is it still true that another reason why there are more women than men on the assembly line is because womens' hands are generally thought to be smaller, and more adept?

    I'd like to see more of the background economic information like what you provided for this story, next time you do a plant tour, too.

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