48: Assembly

Thoroughly Considered · 13 Feb 2019 · 52m · Episode 48

What this episode covers

Tom Gerhardt and Dan Provost of Studio Neat discuss the operational challenges of handling in-house assembly for products like the Mark One and Material Docs, noting that while they prioritize product quality over pure efficiency, the volume of assembly work is becoming a bottleneck for new product development. They explore the trade-offs of remaining a two-person shop versus hiring staff, highlighting the difficulty of finding reliable local help for sporadic, high-quality assembly tasks. The conversation concludes with a tech corner segment analyzing the trend of adding multiple lenses to smartphones for computational photography, debating whether this improves image quality or is merely a marketing gimmick.

Mentioned

Companies
Studio Neat, Light, Apple
Products
Mark One, Glyph, Material Docs, iPhone

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