Computer Manufacturers

[Jonathan]

Sorry for the complete off topic post.
Firstly is a computer manufacturer someone (or company) who buys the parts of a PC then puts them together and sells the PC?
Secondly how much on average is the income per year? I'm guessing though that it depends on how many PCs are sold if its only a one or 2 person business, and if it's a company like dell, most of putting the pieces together is done by robots? In a company like Dell are there any humans involved in putting the computers together(not just watching robots or checking on them)?

Thanks
Jonathan

[cogeo]

Firstly is a computer manufacturer someone (or company) who buys the parts of a PC then puts them together and sells the PC?

To a high degree, yes. It is in essence an assembly job, but not completely, also involves requirements analysis, design and quality control. Also market analysis, marketing, placement, distribution, maintenance etc, and possibly (and this is the most importand) more value-added activities (services) like customer services, installations support, network setup and support and the like.

Secondly how much on average is the income per year? I'm guessing though that it depends on how many PCs are sold if its only a one or 2 person business,

For such small companies services are far more important, actually by ordering small quantities of spare parts (CPUs, memory, motherbords, HDs etc) you can't get good prices. Such a small company can do well only by making custom-built computers (but with quality parts), ie provide purpose-made solutions that large companies won't. But still, no significant money can be made out of this alone, except as a part of more integrated solutions.

and if it's a company like dell, most of putting the pieces together is done by robots? In a company like Dell are there any humans involved in putting the computers together(not just watching robots or checking on them)?

The degree of production automation varies from company to company, however I believe for assemblying computers no much automation is possible (as opposed to chips and printed circuits, where the use of robots is almost universal). There are still tasks that have to be done by humans, like quality control or installation of OS/drivers (though for large-scale production this is possible to be automated to some degree too).