I spent 14 hours flying 6,230 miles to watch MSI make a new motherboard for me in just 40 minutes

Sometimes it's quicker, sometimes it's longer, but I've seen a bare circuit board go from a bare circuit board to a fully installed and packaged motherboard in just 40 minutes. Another followed just a few minutes later. And then another and another. The line never stopped and lasted up to 20 hours a day. Overall, all production lines combined could potentially produce a result of 1.3 million motherboards every month.

That's according to Micro-Star International (aka MSI), which invited me and a number of other tech journalists to visit its main manufacturing facility in Shenzhen, China. We were given an in-depth tour of the motherboard production lines, as well as some smaller lines that make AIO and mini PCs, as well as some early looks at new models coming soon.

Picture 1 from 7

A slide from an MSI presentation about its manufacturing facilities in Shenzhen, China — (Image credit: MSI)

The site on which everything takes place is huge: 200,000 m² in size and houses four production facilities, including warehouses, test laboratories and offices, as well as six buildings for living quarters and the like. Yes, that's true, a large portion of MSI's workforce lives locally, but that's not unusual for the industry in China.

MSI Shenzhen not only produces motherboards, but also graphics cards, desktop PCs, servers and even components for the automotive world. It was first built about 23 years ago and has been constantly modernized since then to meet the demands of the computer world.

My first impression of the factory was one of relief: it was uncomfortably hot and humid outside, but inside it was pleasantly cool, even in areas without active air conditioning. The same was true for the main motherboard production area, although most of the lines were not operating when we visited.

After a morning of showcasing new products, MSI walked us through the motherboard manufacturing process. Much of it is highly automated, with humans only involved in certain aspects – quality control, testing, repairs, assembly of large components and final packaging. All tiny resistors, capacitors and inductors are assembled by machine.

After everything was explained, we split into small groups and then went to the main motherboard manufacturing facility. My second impression was one of familiarity, as I had lectured on manufacturing engineering for many years and recognized many of the machines and processes.

Picture 1 from 5

A photo of MSI Shenzhen motherboard manufacturing facility — (Image credit: Future)

Some of the equipment used looked older than I expected, particularly the robotic arms, but for the most part it's as modern as you could imagine. If you imagine that manufacturing in China is dirty and unsafe, then that is a completely false impression of how everything works at MSI Shenzhen.

At one point, one of the operators running the surface assembly machines was scolded by a senior employee for allowing a roll of excess parts to fall to the floor. I would imagine some of this is due to media presence, but I spent a little time observing the various operations and it became clear to me that MSI is very strict in its approach.

The slides and images in this article highlight the different stages of making a motherboard, but as a general overview it looks like this:

A blank circuit board is inserted into the production line and then solder paste is applied to the bottom of the circuit board.
The board then goes into a machine that applies surface components before entering a long oven. This melts the paste and connects the components to the circuit board.
The heating process takes a while, but once finished, the circuit board is passed through an automatic optical scanner that verifies that all parts are assembled correctly. These steps are then repeated for the topside components.

Picture 1 from 4

Certain parts are added by hand because MSI says there are no robots good or fast enough to do the job.

Certain parts like VRM heatsinks and DRAM sockets are added by hand because MSI says there are no robots good or fast enough to do the job. I'm not sure I necessarily agree with such a statement, but some components are probably just too fiddly to be inserted by a machine.

Once the main part of the construction phase is completed, the quality control phase begins and each board is taken off the assembly line for electrical testing. Once passed, it is returned to the line for packaging and final packaging. There are several phases in which checks are carried out, either mechanical or visual, and there is even a specific repair phase to correct small problems.

It is a relatively quick process, but it depends on the motherboard model. The top versions, which are equipped with all kinds of heat sinks and other finishes, take longer to build than the basic versions. However, there is almost the same number of people involved, probably no more than 15 in total.

MSI prides itself on the fact that much of the production line is automated and as consumers we certainly benefit from this as there is significantly less variation in the quality of the motherboards and also helps keep their costs down (although they are very expensive these days are).

Picture 1 from 7

The downside is that MSI Shenzhen was originally designed to employ and operate nearly 12,000 people, but the factory now only employs about 3,000. It's obviously not the only major manufacturing industry that has taken this route, but for a country as populous as China, this must certainly put a lot of pressure on workers and potential employees to keep their jobs or join MSI in the first place.

Fortunately, from this perspective, there are still many areas where the focus is solely on people. The smaller production lines, such as those for mini and all-in-one PCs, were entirely hand-built bar machines designed solely to move things along (and some cute little robots running around the workshop).

The quality control and electrical testing of all these PCs are also done by hand and it is somewhat reassuring to know that a real person is checking the PC that you might end up buying properly. However, it is unclear whether this will be the case in another 20 years.

Although we only got to see a very small part of MSI Shenzhen, the scale of the operation was obvious. The surface component inventory and recycling areas were large, busy, and heavily computerized. Wagons were constantly being loaded with materials and finished products were being transported away. workers en masse I stuck to strict routines, clocking in and out, taking lunch breaks, and so on.

As I write this, I have two new MSI motherboards on my desk ready for testing and testing. It's funny to think that just a few weeks ago I could have watched one of these being made in front of my eyes. I definitely have a new appreciation for the journey it, and millions like it, went through to get here.

So how do I go back there and sneak into the graphics card production line to watch some nifty new GPUs being assembled?

I spent 14 hours flying 6,230 miles to watch MSI make a new motherboard for me in just 40 minutes

You may also like...

Recent Posts

I spent 14 hours flying 6,230 miles to watch MSI make a new motherboard for me in just 40 minutes

You may also like...

Feeling down about San Francisco? London Breed disagrees

Colin Kaepernick sends a clear message about the NFL return

Undefeated Copenhagen girls tennis and a fight in the pool

Recent Posts