OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) must find the best balance between cost and quality when producing mini PCs. To achieve this, companies typically adopt a range of strategies to ensure that products can meet the market's price-sensitive requirements while maintaining high quality standards. Here are some specific ways to do it:

1. Selected supply chain partners

Choosing reliable suppliers is crucial to controlling costs. By establishing long-term cooperative relationships, OEM manufacturers can obtain more favorable prices and better technical support. At the same time, a strict supplier audit mechanism can ensure the quality of raw materials and components. For example, when selecting CPU, memory and other key components, you can choose brands that provide cost-effective products. For example, some models in the Intel NUC series are known for their compact design and reasonable configuration.

2. Optimize design and manufacturing processes

Adopt efficient design concepts and technical means to reduce unnecessary complexity, thereby reducing production and maintenance costs. For example, Lenovo mentioned in its white paper that the company has improved efficiency and reduced waste through lean production and green manufacturing; at the same time, it has also set a clear carbon-neutral development roadmap, which not only helps the environment Protection can also indirectly save operating costs. In addition, the case of Kingston Technology Company shows that by implementing strict quality management measures in manufacturing, testing and other links, production flexibility and response speed can be improved without affecting product quality.

3. Implement automated production and testing

Introducing automated equipment for assembly and testing can significantly improve work efficiency and reduce the possibility of human error. As mentioned in the EDN Electronic Technology Design article, the circuit board assembly and testing stages later in the IC life cycle are key parts controlled by the OEM. The higher the degree of automation, the easier it is to ensure consistency and reliability. Automated applications can also help companies better track production progress, identify problems in time, and take corrective measures.

4. Cost-oriented without sacrificing quality

Follow the principle of "quality first" and pursue maximization of cost-effectiveness on this basis. This means that even when faced with the challenge of fluctuating raw material prices, we must insist on using materials that meet standards, rather than simply ignoring the performance of the final product just to reduce costs. For example, when it comes to the choice of storage media, although NVMe SSD has become mainstream and occupies the position of almost all primary hard drives, SATA SSD is still an affordable choice for auxiliary storage needs in specific application scenarios.