Originally posted by: fisher
somehow i doubt the end user is going to see the cost benefit in that...
In the furniture industry, those able to move to flatpack designs (Bush and O'Sullivan come to mind, but the original and reigning cham-peen is IKEA) have both provided much lower costs to the consumer while outcompeting all other companies. It's been such a wildly successful technique that it's being applied to every other area possible. (You can do a websearch for 'flatpack' yourself, but start out by checking the
Flatpack House.) Long story short :
flatpack designs have benefitted the customer so far, and there's no reason to doubt it yet.
I should mention that flatpack designs offer greater savings in furniture, as it also removes cost of assembly. You won't see that cost savings in case manufacture. On the other hand, the major consumer complaint against IKEA et al is that cobbling the furniture together yourself is a bit of a pain. (I'm going to make a guess here and say that the most immediate beneficiary of flatpack cases will be small builders - local retail shops with three or four employees who attempt to compete with Wal-Mart / eMachines in the consumer market. They'll be able to immediately lower their prices closer to an eMachines level, easily handle any issues caused by putting a case together, and experience almost no issues.)