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Raspberry Pi celebrates a million boards made in the UK
The Raspberry Pi foundation has just announced its one-millionth board manufactured in the UK at Sony's Pencoed facility and said that 1.75 million total boards have been built so far. Production initially started in Asia in order to keep costs down and supplies up, but shifted to the UK in September last year thanks to Sony's "lean manufacturing techniques." The Pi group lauded Sony for the quality of the boards, and said the millionth unit will be kept in a gold-plated case at "Pi Towers" in Cambridge. Despite the success, Raspberry's Eben Upton told the BBC that many Pi boards given to kids end up "stuck in a drawer" and that the foundation is now focused on education, particularly for teachers. We're firmly behind that idea, especially if it results in more tech like this.
Premier Farnell, Sony, team up to move Raspberry PI manufacturing to the UK
One of the biggest holdups to owning a Raspberry Pi was its stuttering availability, so much so that it even prompted a few copycat boards. Creator Eben Upton and equipment makers Premier Farnell might have found the solution, teaming up with Sony to produce an initial run of 300,000 of the educational computers at the company's UK Technology Center, in Pencoed, near Bridgend in Wales. Upton hopes to keep the cost at $25 and $35 for two boards, thanks to employing Sony's "lean manufacturing techniques," and the Japanese company has already spent £50,000 ($80,000) on new package-on-package assembly equipment -- ensuring that we'll all be able to get our hands on one soon enough.
