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In Win Development, Inc.
In Win
Company typePublic (TWSE: 6117)
ISINTW0006117005 Edit this on Wikidata
IndustryComputers
Founded1985; 40 years ago (1985) in Taoyuan, Taiwan
Products
RevenueNT$4 billion (2008; US$124 million)
Number of employees
2,000 (2004)
Websitewww.in-win.com

In Win Development, Inc. (Chinese: 迎廣科技股份有限公司), formerly rendered as In-Win Development and commonly shortened to In Win or InWin, is a Taiwanese computer case and computer power supply manufacturer.[1] In Win was founded in 1985 and has since opened multiple factories and headquarters internationally.

History

In Win's display booth at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2012

In Win Development was founded in 1985 in Taoyuan, Taiwan, with an initial investment capital of $200,000. Its engineering department was 80 strong by 2003; all engineers by that point had 15 to 20 years of experience designing cases by hand and through the use of computer-aided design software packages such as AutoCAD, TurboCAD, Espirit, and Pro/E.[2]

The company relies on steel imported from Japan and Taiwan, the majority of which is 0.8 mm thick for use in its mid- and mini-tower cases. Formerly outsourcing the injection molding of its plastic parts, In Win purchased plastic injection machinery for its own 4,600 m² Taoyuan factory between 1996 and 1997.[a] In 2000, it opened up a 17,480 m² plant nearby this factory in Taoyuan. Between these two facilities, In Win was equipped with nine automated stamping machines as well as a progressive stamping assembly line. The Taoyuan factory also housed automatic painting stations, ultrasonic cleaning baths, and machines for tapping, welding, milling, grinding, drilling, and sawing metal. Four final assembly lines 120 meters in total produced 16,000 cases per daily shift in 2004. In 2002, the company opened up a 202,400 m² factory in Mainland China. Initially meant for the production of In Win's computer cases, this factory branched out to providing mechanical and electrical manufacturing for systems integrators and original equipment manufacturers. In Win planned to provided the same OEM services out of its Taiwan facilities by 2005. The company achieved a monthly production output of 350,000 and 400,000 PC and server cases by the end of the third quarter of 2004—70 percent of which comprising tower cases, 20 percent comprising desktop and small-form-factor cases, and 10 percent comprising server and other industrial cases.[2]

In Win has four international branch offices between the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and China. Europe represented In Win's biggest importer of computer cases, purchasing 40 percent of their output in 2004; the rest of their output was purchased evenly between North America and outside territories—chiefly Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Roughly 70 percent of the company's overall products were delivered to OEM sand ODMs, including Ingram Micro, Time Computer, Toshiba, NEC, and Intel. Bulk purchasing of In Win's cases require a minimum order constrained by the size of the containers the cases are stored on; each case is contained in a cardboard carton and loaded onto pallets. In Win saw 14 day lead times during slow seasons and 21 days for busy seasons in the early 2000s. For entirely new case designs, during this period In Win saw 5- to 10-day lead times for the delivery of design files; 10 days for functional prototypes; and 30 to 40 days for tooling samples.[2]

By 2004, In Win had 2,000 total employees globally on its payroll. The company planned to hire at most 500 more employees by 2005 and open up a R&D laboratory in Mainland China that year.[2] Having established its American headquarters in the City of Industry, California, by the late 1990s,[3] In Win leased another 50,000 sq ft office in a different part of the city in the fourth quarter of 2002.[4]

The company's quality control toolkit in 2004 consisted of torque meters, a spectrophotometer, oscilloscopes, a glossmeter, X-Y-Z coordinate-measuring machines, and a film thickness caliper. The company's electromagnetic interference (EMI) testing laboratory was equipped with an ETS-Lindgren ionization chamber, electromagnetic spectrum testing machines, drop testers, vibration testers, and conduction spectrum analyzers. In Win tests the EMI of their cases fully outfitted with motherboards, expansion cards, disk drives, and power supplies.[2]

In Win BT553 small-form-factor desktop case

In Win, as with several other computer case manufacturers, skipped over the proposed low-profile motherboard form factor NLX in the late 1990s, citing low demand.[3] They embraced the contemporaneous microATX specification, however, and in the late 2000s designed a modicum of microATX cases designed with optimal airflow and other thermal considerations for Intel's Atom CPU family.[5]

In Win was noted for its ornate case designs of some models from the mid-2000s onward,[6] many incorporating motherboard trays to make systems easier to work on and upgrade.[7] By 2012 the company began primarily targeting the video-gaming demographic, as well as PC case modders.[b] The company reached a peak revenue of NT$4 billion (US$124 million) in 2008. Sales dropped 47 percent through 2016 to $2.1 billion however. Vincent Lai, chairman of In Win, spurred the development of increasingly elaborate case designs in an attempt to increase sales. Such cases include the H-Frame 2.0, designed around nine stacked sheets of aluminum sandwiched between tempered glass—allowing air to pass completely through the case—and the H-Tower case, which has mechanisms to open up the case via a button or a smartphone app.[8] The company additionally sponsors PC modding competitions in the United States.[8] In 2017, the company released a limited edition case—quantity 200—made of cast aluminum and 5 mm-thick tempered glass, designed large enough to run extensive water-cooled setups.[9]

Reception

In Win's 901 mini-ITX case received generally positive reviews in Custom PC and Computer Shopper—the latter calling it "the rarest of things—a genuinely attractive PC case" but with "some annoyances",[10] while the former deemed it "more of a lifestyle chassis than a high-performance one".[11] Computer Shopper in particular praised the placement of its slimline optical drive slot underneath the power supply housing "so as not to spoil the case's smooth front" and wrote that the interior left plenty of room for large graphics cards but wrote that the matte plastic interior was vulnerable to scratching.[10] Custom PC meanwhile found the case thermally problematic for CPUs and GPUs with the stock fans but said that aftermarket fans resolved this and were easy to install. The magazine also praised its cable management implements and wrote that the clearance for the power supply and GPU was "massive", albeit not spacious enough for large GPUs should a 120 mm water cooler be installed to the front intake mount.[11]

Custom PC called the company's GT1 ATX case "rock-solid" in build quality but with some "some sloppy design decisions", particularly regarding the front panel's cabling and the dust filters being made from "flimsy material rather than slide-out plastic". The reviewer called the interior "sensibly laid-out" and well-accommodated for cable management but found the drive cages' inability to be removed completely preventing it a 240 mm cooling radiator from being installed at the top of the chassis, although one cage could be slid out of the way for installing taller graphics cards.[12]

In Win's Chopin line of small-form-factor mini-ITX cases were measured by Custom PC to be only slightly larger than the motherboard in surface area and requiring a custom power supply unit. The reviewer praised the build quality and quiet operation but noted that discrete GPUs were uninstallable due to its diminutive size.[13]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ For some intricate plastic and metal molds, In Win still relied on outsourcing in 2004 (Global Sources 2004, p. 60).
  2. ^ To this end, some of In Win's cases lack built-in fans of any kind, with the expectation that the user will outfit it with powerful aftermarket fans or a water cooler (Staff writer 2017).

Citations

  1. ^ Bruek 2008d, p. 104.
  2. ^ a b c d e Global Sources 2004, p. 60.
  3. ^ a b Hersch 1998, p. 158.
  4. ^ Darmiento 2003, p. 39.
  5. ^ Moltzen 2009.
  6. ^ Bruek 2007a, p. 99; Bruek 2007b, p. 34; Bruek 2008a, p. 87; Bruek 2008b, p. 86; Bruek 2008c, p. 34.
  7. ^ Leather 2016a, p. 24; Staff writer 2016, p. 48; Leather 2016c, p. 32; Leather 2017, p. 23.
  8. ^ a b Einhorn 2016, p. 31.
  9. ^ Ung 2017.
  10. ^ a b Unsworth 2014, p. 59.
  11. ^ a b J. 2015a, p. 46.
  12. ^ J. 2015b, p. 53.
  13. ^ Leather 2016b, p. 27.

References

  • Burek, John A. (February 2007). "Maximum minitower". Computer Shopper. 27 (2). United States: SX2 Media Labs: 99 – via Gale.
  • Burek, John A. (October 2007). "In Win Mt. Jade BK623: a compact—and quirky—entertainment-PC case". Computer Shopper. 27 (10). United States: SX2 Media Labs: 34 – via Gale.
  • Burek, John A. (March 2008). "Zut Allure!". Computer Shopper. 28 (3). United States: SX2 Media Labs: 87 – via Gale.
  • Burek, John A. (April 2008). "Robocase". Computer Shopper. 28 (4). United States: SX2 Media Labs: 86 – via Gale.
  • Burek, John A. (May 2008). "In Win allure: a minitower PC case—with feminine flair". Computer Shopper. 28 (5). United States: SX2 Media Labs: 34 – via Gale.
  • Burek, John A. (September 2008). "Supply-side economics". Computer Shopper. 28 (9). United States: SX2 Media Labs: 104 – via Gale.
  • Darmiento, Laurence (January 20, 2003). "Market Experiences Unfamiliar Slowdown as Growth Plans Stall". Los Angeles Business Journal. 25 (3): 39 – via Gale.
  • Einhorn, Bruce (June 27, 2016). "Taiwan's PC Makers Are Gunning for Gamers". Bloomberg Businessweek (4480). Bloomberg L.P.: 30–31. Archived from the original on June 23, 2016 – via ProQuest.
  • Global Sources (2004). Market Intelligence Report: Computer Cases. Trade Media. ISBN 9789627853701 – via Google Books.
  • Hersch, Warren S. (May 25, 1998). "VARs make case for chassis design". Computer Reseller News (790). CMP Media: 157–158. ISSN 0893-8377 – via ProQuest.
  • J., M. (January 2015). "In Win 901". Custom PC (136). Raspberry Pi Press: 46. EBSCOhost 110899754 – via EBSCOhost.
  • J., M. (February 2015). "In Win GT1". Custom PC (137). Raspberry Pi Press: 53. EBSCOhost 99814280 – via EBSCOhost.
  • Leather, Anthony (January 2016). "In Win 805". Custom PC (148). Raspberry Pi Press: 24–25. EBSCOhost 110899754 – via EBSCOhost.
  • Leather, Anthony (April 2016). "In Win Chopin". Custom PC (151). Raspberry Pi Press: 26–27. EBSCOhost 112858100 – via EBSCOhost.
  • Leather, Anthony (August 2016). "In Win 303". Custom PC (155). Raspberry Pi Press: 32–33. EBSCOhost 116064509 – via EBSCOhost.
  • Leather, Anthony (January 2017). "In Win 509". Custom PC (160). Raspberry Pi Press: 22–23. EBSCOhost 119277414 – via EBSCOhost.
  • Staff writer (July 2016). "In Win 503". Custom PC (154). Raspberry Pi Press: 48. EBSCOhost 115257080 – via EBSCOhost.
  • Staff writer (October 2017). "In Win 509 ROG Certified". Custom PC (169). Raspberry Pi Press: 42. EBSCOhost 124502898 – via EBSCOhost.

Further reading

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