Man, but I would work for Marshall for a low wage. I would love just sitting there building amps without having to pay for all the parts
What do amp manufacturer's employees earn?
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kerrynet32
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^-Yea thats a good thought. I would like to know also.
Man, but I would work for Marshall for a low wage. I would love just sitting there building amps without having to pay for all the parts
Man, but I would work for Marshall for a low wage. I would love just sitting there building amps without having to pay for all the parts
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Handwired Effects Pedals for Guitar by Kerry
Handwired Effects Pedals for Guitar by Kerry
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kerrynet32
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Weston, Florida. Its in the West Ft. Lauderdale area in South Florida. But I am far too young to work for a big company. 
But I would do it if I could and had a place near me.
Mr. Alf Hermida of Zendrive and Mosferatu lives about 20 minutes away. Wish I could work for him
But I would do it if I could and had a place near me.
Mr. Alf Hermida of Zendrive and Mosferatu lives about 20 minutes away. Wish I could work for him
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Handwired Effects Pedals for Guitar by Kerry
Handwired Effects Pedals for Guitar by Kerry
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Trout
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greaser_au
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the following is standard manufacturing practice as I know it, & may or may not apply to the amp manufacturers we know & love.
what is the manufacturing concern's sole reason for existence? to earn money for it's shareholders. if it isn't doing that it will (must!) soon close. Time costs money & if they can save a couple of minutes per unit the savings scale very well into profits.
In a factory they are very likely to have time-saving devices e.g. automatic cut/strip machines, & processes e.g. production lines.
The wires would all be cut to length & the ends stripped, & 'tinned' in a solder pot.
if wire looming is required this is usually done on a 'looming board' (a panel with a picture of the loom & pins - the worker just lays the wires in between the pins & ties them when done) - some components may be soldered to the wires here too.
PCB's are stuffed with pre-bent & cut (again by machine) components by hand or by machine & run over a solder wave (imagine a quarter-ton of molten solder being pumped into a long narrow fountain) or drag bath to solder, & the excess leads cut off by machine,.
a 'fitter' mounts all of the mechanical parts in the chassis & hands it on to the next station. the 'wirer' connects wire 1 from point X to point Y, wire 2 from W to Z, wire 3 from N to Q etc. etc. etc. wire 54 from ZZ to UU. even the wiring may be broken up into stations of say 10 wires to keep the 'error factor' down - the 'fresh eyes' at the next station will often spot a mistake made at the last one, that would otherwise be perpetuated through the wiring process & not picked up until inspection.
basically the point is that this can all be done by relatively unskilled labour. The "radio wirer" (as the union/award classification was known) is pretty close to the bottom of the 'metal trades' food chain (I know- I've been one!!). Pretty boring and soul-destroying work for someone who has no idea or interest. They used to employ young single women to do this as they are patient & handle monotonous tasks well & in those days were cheaper to hire.
the key to success here is frequent & high quality inspection to ensure the workers are doing their stuff well, but even these guys make mistakes, & some of them even develop superiority complexes! I've worked both sides of the 'screen' by the way!
Turret/Eyelet boards are more labour intensive (& are thus out of fashion!) but again lend themselves to the mass production model, & become a module, that can be installed by the fitter & wired up by the wirers.
True point-to-point requires more skilled workers who have some idea of what is going on, & are thus much more expensive.
Bear in mind also that the manufacturers' labour cost is not just the workers' hourly rate. remember the worker can't work at home or in the dark! i.e. cost (rental/equivalent income) of the space they occupy in the factory, cost to heat/light the line where the worker sits. accident/compensation insurance.holiday pay, sick pay. superannuation/pension fund & (in the US) health fund costs. payroll tax. all costs of employing people that push the bottom line up towards the top... (and this is just the stuff directly related to the worker , never mind the costs of tools/maintenance, component/module storage, or support staff like administration & production planning).
scary, huh?
Davo
what is the manufacturing concern's sole reason for existence? to earn money for it's shareholders. if it isn't doing that it will (must!) soon close. Time costs money & if they can save a couple of minutes per unit the savings scale very well into profits.
In a factory they are very likely to have time-saving devices e.g. automatic cut/strip machines, & processes e.g. production lines.
The wires would all be cut to length & the ends stripped, & 'tinned' in a solder pot.
if wire looming is required this is usually done on a 'looming board' (a panel with a picture of the loom & pins - the worker just lays the wires in between the pins & ties them when done) - some components may be soldered to the wires here too.
PCB's are stuffed with pre-bent & cut (again by machine) components by hand or by machine & run over a solder wave (imagine a quarter-ton of molten solder being pumped into a long narrow fountain) or drag bath to solder, & the excess leads cut off by machine,.
a 'fitter' mounts all of the mechanical parts in the chassis & hands it on to the next station. the 'wirer' connects wire 1 from point X to point Y, wire 2 from W to Z, wire 3 from N to Q etc. etc. etc. wire 54 from ZZ to UU. even the wiring may be broken up into stations of say 10 wires to keep the 'error factor' down - the 'fresh eyes' at the next station will often spot a mistake made at the last one, that would otherwise be perpetuated through the wiring process & not picked up until inspection.
basically the point is that this can all be done by relatively unskilled labour. The "radio wirer" (as the union/award classification was known) is pretty close to the bottom of the 'metal trades' food chain (I know- I've been one!!). Pretty boring and soul-destroying work for someone who has no idea or interest. They used to employ young single women to do this as they are patient & handle monotonous tasks well & in those days were cheaper to hire.
the key to success here is frequent & high quality inspection to ensure the workers are doing their stuff well, but even these guys make mistakes, & some of them even develop superiority complexes! I've worked both sides of the 'screen' by the way!
Turret/Eyelet boards are more labour intensive (& are thus out of fashion!) but again lend themselves to the mass production model, & become a module, that can be installed by the fitter & wired up by the wirers.
True point-to-point requires more skilled workers who have some idea of what is going on, & are thus much more expensive.
Bear in mind also that the manufacturers' labour cost is not just the workers' hourly rate. remember the worker can't work at home or in the dark! i.e. cost (rental/equivalent income) of the space they occupy in the factory, cost to heat/light the line where the worker sits. accident/compensation insurance.holiday pay, sick pay. superannuation/pension fund & (in the US) health fund costs. payroll tax. all costs of employing people that push the bottom line up towards the top... (and this is just the stuff directly related to the worker , never mind the costs of tools/maintenance, component/module storage, or support staff like administration & production planning).
scary, huh?
Davo
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martinw
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greaser_au
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The tin bits arrive or are stamped locally, & the guys are working with fire and steel, (with all the tranny boltholes, cap holes & socket holes ready made! & bend them up (perhaps in a transfer press!) & weld them. the ladies get a nice clean plated chassis to work on with all parts fitted. The guys are bashing the bits of timber together & putting the now 'very heavy' chassis in the box.Zemaitis wrote:they had a bunch of women working in the amp manufacture part, and a bunch of guy working in the cabinet making part.
Sounds familiar... just how it would have been 25 or more years ago... the guys work in the heavy bit & the girls get the light work. Even in this day & age
Davo
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Trout
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When I said 40 hours, I meant for an entire amp, Not just soldering prepared chassis ect.I think my Forty-Five is about as complex as a hand wired job could realistically be. In any case, it's 14.5 hours to build it, start to finish. Forty hours would be ridiculous. I can't imagine anybody making money on those numbers. Some amps, like an 18 watt, complete with wrapped harness, take less than half that time.
I figured so much for cab & covering, So much for chassis prep(holes Ect) and so much for actual wiring of the amp.
I can see 12-14 hours if all the other stuff is sitting there ready. But I figured about 40 for completely raw materials to plug N play.
Trout
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KT77
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In LA (Lost Angeles)
We paid $10-$15hr+benefits, DOE
The lead assemblers make $15hr+benefits
Assembly supervisors make ~$50k
of course, when you get further inland, the cost goes down......and if you know the right people, you can get good assemblers for ~$5hr......just hire a lookout to watch for INS
ahhh, LA...I love it
In fact, I'm getting a petition together to get CA secede from the Union...LOL!
We paid $10-$15hr+benefits, DOE
The lead assemblers make $15hr+benefits
Assembly supervisors make ~$50k
of course, when you get further inland, the cost goes down......and if you know the right people, you can get good assemblers for ~$5hr......just hire a lookout to watch for INS
ahhh, LA...I love it
In fact, I'm getting a petition together to get CA secede from the Union...LOL!
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geekmacdaddy
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Where do I apply?KT77 wrote:In LA (Lost Angeles)
We paid $10-$15hr+benefits, DOE
The lead assemblers make $15hr+benefits
Assembly supervisors make ~$50k
of course, when you get further inland, the cost goes down......and if you know the right people, you can get good assemblers for ~$5hr......just hire a lookout to watch for INS
ahhh, LA...I love it
In fact, I'm getting a petition together to get CA secede from the Union...LOL!
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