How in the World Can Ikea Sell Pretty Good Chairs for Sixty-five Dollars Apiece and a Pretty Good Di

Well, I think I am entitled to explain something about this, as I frequently travelled (before COVID) to South East Asia to help the furniture industry manage new projects about developing design and branding. When there, in some occasions I was invited as a Judge in some exhibits like MIFF and EFE (Malaysia) for the best product competition.Malaysia is one of the top exporters of the world as for wooden furniture, mostly made in rubberwood, which is technically a very good wood essence.

The industries in Malaysia are quite advanced vs. others in the area (Indonesia, Myanmaru2026) and the workers are paid good salaries and a pension fund.They are not u201cslave laboru201d or something like this.

The companies are modernly organized, some have automatized processes and use CNC machines, but the majority is still doing things with manual-driven machines. This means that the workforce for each company is higher than what we have in the West.The typical wage for a factory worker is around 1,500/2,000 MYR, which is perfectly adequate to live, especially outside the main cities.

In Western terms, this equates to around 500 USD. Timber is plentiful, so it costs little. And the quality of craftsmanship, while not exceptional, is routinely good.

This means that you can actually buy a solid wood chair for around 20 USD FOB like the one on top in Malaysia without having to be as big as Ikea. Ikea would spend much less than this. If you switch to less advanced (in technical and social terms) countries like Indonesia and Myanmar, the prices are MUCH LESS than what you see above.

So, this is how. You need to source globally to enjoy this kind of prices.And these prices are the result of particular situations happening in countries.

Big groups know this fact well, so they send their buyers worldwide to negotiate the acquisitions. What you buy in big stores around the world and retail chains normally comes from these countries.When the COVID insanity stops, the world will return free to travel, and the exhibits will become common again.

I expect to see prices going down to speed the recovery after the halt of these months. This will mean that furniture will cost less to source, and these savings should be passed to the buyers. If they arenu2019t, well, you can imagine where the money will stay.

If you like my contents, check my activities in the Quora bio.Woodworking Library

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How did Bangalore become home for IT migrants?

Bronze, Brass, Silver, Gold industries were prevalent in Pete areas of Bangalore from ancient times.

Iron industries for Armaments, Rockets assembling were done in Bangalore during Hyder and Tipu. Immediately after the Carnatic Wars the Britishers developed these Rocket labs for 10 years and later on converted them into furniture manufacturing unit. Bangalore had large English speaking settlements of Europeans and Anglo Indians which required European Schools.

Bangalore commenced English schools from early 1830s.Bangalore got its first high technology research center called Indian Institute of Science in 1909Sir M Visvesvaraya and Sir C. V.

Raman were high profile technocrats and the Mysore Kings were seriously into Scientific Education and wanted high scientific temper with the subjects.A series of technical educational colleges for graduation, diploma and certification courses were opened from 1917s.Bangalore was blessed with electricity and electrification commenced from 1904 itself.

The Mysore Kings allowed textile mills to prosper so that Bangloreans can be employed in Raja Mills, Binny Mills, Minerva Mills and Century Mills.Availability of readily available skilled resources, electricity, piped water, tar roads, temperate climate was the perfect setup for Public Sector Units commencement.The privately operated Hindustan Aircrafts were took over by Government when Japan threatened India during the world war IINehru expanded HAL, gave new Public Sector Units like Bharat Electronics Ltd, Hindustan Machine Tools, Indian Telephone Industries, Indian Space Research Organization, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Bharat Earth Movers Ltd.

Many nationalized Banks had their corporate offices in Bangalore like State Bank of Mysore, Canara Bank, Vijaya Bank, Syndicate Bank, Corporation Bank, Karnataka Bank.Many microprocessors and IC & VLSI based industries start ups appear using available resources in the electronic consumer goods verticals.In 1980s Rajiv Gandhiu2019s policies popularized Computers and basic Automation.

This government policy gave two companies a head start, one was in Bangalore and it was called Wipro, they commenced reselling computers imported from Western Electronics and Acer.Narayan Murthy and his friends launch Infosys and commences marketing for computerization, basic office works processing orders for the Public Sector Units and the Banks. They get numerous government orders this opens up a chain of Computers and Software companies like Computer Numerical Control CNC, Tata Consultancy Services, WIPRO, HCL, Patni Computers, Pertech Computers etc.

The Government of Karnataka earmarks Electronic City and dedicates the place for electronics industries where computer organizations find an instant welcome ready with power and water. Easy loans are provided for commercial office construction and the IT boom commences as remote support concept gains traction globally

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Are CAD and CAM the same as CNC machines?

CAD (Computer-Aided Design) and CAM (Computer-Aided Manufacturing) software are used extensively throughout the furniture-making industry.

CAD is a software package that assists the programmer to draw and design the product while CAM is a software package that assists the operator to run the CNC machine. CAD and CAM work together as a system. This means that a drawing done in CAD will automatically be configured in CAM.

Before the integration of a CAD/CAM system, CAM had to re-create the model produced by the CAD system before it could create a program. Now, once the machining operations to be performed are specified by the operator, CAM will automatically create the CNC program.When using a CAD/CAM system the programmer is able to:do all the programming on the computer,run a simulation on the screen to prove that the program works, anddownload the proven program to the CNC machine.

The operator is then able to specify the machining operations required and the CAM system will integrate these into a CNC program.Also, the link between CAD/CAM software and CNC machines increases productivity by:automatically translating the designs into instructions for the computer controller on the machine tool, andenabling programs to be modified for use on other jobs with similar specifications.With a graphic CAM system, you will receive visual feedback for each step of the program.

Another useful aspect of the graphic CAM system is its ability to do a tool path simulation. This is a computer animation that shows you exactly how the program will run on the CNC machine. If it doesn't work correctly, changes can be made before the actual running of the program.

This is called 'proving the program'. Saving and retrieving programsWhen a program has been proven, the programmer will usually need to store the program for future use.The most popular form of program transfer today is the personal computer a notebook, laptop, or desktop.

By connecting a cable to the personal computer and the CNC, the programmer can transfer programs from the computer to the CNC or from the CNC to the computer. Most CNC controls and personal computers have an RS-232-C communication serial port for cables to connect computers and machines.When the program is transferred to the CNC, the program will be ready for activation within the CNC control itself.

When the program is transferred back to the computer, the program can be saved on the computer hard drive, a floppy disk or a USB memory stick.