We Visited PCSpecialist – Here’s what we found

PCSpecialist – TTL has a look inside one of Europe’s largest system integrators

What does it look like inside on of Europe’s largest system integrators? How much hardware do they have? How many systems do they ship? Do they have graphics cards? We’ve been invited inside PCSpecialist’s facility in Wakefield, giving us a look inside what’s likely to be the largest toy box of PC parts in England.

PCSpecialist has been operating for around 19 years, and the scale of their operation is immense. A PCSpecialist computer is delivered every 4.8 minutes, which is over 100,000 computers per year. That’s an incredible level of scale, and a mind-bending logistical challenge.

Currently, PCSpecialist ships systems to over 30 companies in Europe, and are able to offer customer support to many of these nations in their local language. The company has registered branches in France, Italy, and Spain, and a subsidiary in Germany. The company is also ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certified. 

Below is a picture of one of PC Specialist’s setup and testing lines. This is only a faction of PCSpecialist’s testing space, and all of those PCs will be making their way to customers soon.

We’ve visited PCSpecialist before, but over time the company has continued to expand and refine its manufacturing process. PCSpecialist now offers customers liquid cooled PCs, laser etch their own keyboard keys, and even use customised PCSpecialist cases.  

PCSpecialist is now a volume manufacturer, and the image below only shows you a small portion of the scale of the company. That’s a lot of PCs getting built and tested, and that’s not even all the company’s building space. Beyond that, there is warehousing, offices and other working areas. PCSpecialist is big, very big. 

In total, we have been told that PCSpecialist has over 250 members of staff at this site. This includes system builders, warehouse workers, managers and other roles. 

Custom PC Building on an Industrial Scale

Below is a quick look at some of PCSpecialist’s PC building stations, where staff hand build custom PCs for buyers across the UK and Europe.

If you buy a PC from PCSpecialist, you will often be able to customise your PC to your liking. In many cases, you will be able to select the case, motherboard, processor, graphics card, memory, and storage used to create your system. This means that PCSpecialist’s staff need to be expert PC builders, as they need to work with a huge number of potential cases and hardware combinations. More importantly, they also need to make sure that each order is built with the correct hardware.

As you can see below, all of PCSpecialist’s builders have quick access to all the tools that they require. Cable ties are within easy reach, as is thermal paste, screwdrivers and the components that they need.

Stability Testing

After each custom PC is built, it needs to be set up and tested for stability. PCSpecialist need to ensure that their systems work before they are sent to customers, and that involves the creation of huge testing areas like this.

These tests help to ensure that PC Specialist doesn’t send their customers a faulty system. Beyond that, it also ensures that each system is set up correctly and includes the pre-loaded software that each customer desires. Do they want Windows 10? Do they want Windows 11? Do they want Microsoft Office or a specific browser or anti-virus to be pre-installed? This is where that all happens.

Recycling and Green Energy

One question that we had was “what happens to all of that cardboard?”. Thankfully, PCSpecialist has an answer for that. As a company, PCSpecialist recycles more than 95% of their waste, limiting the environmental impact of the company. This waste includes cardboard, soft plastics, hard plastics, metals, wood, strapping and polystyrene.  

Beyond effective waste management, PCSpecialist’s site is also the host of a 235.5 KWp solar installation. This installation is large enough to power more than 57 homes, significantly reducing the amount of power that PCSpecialist uses to produce and test its systems. 

Article Contents:

Page 2 – Logistics, Warehousing, and pallets of GPUs

Page 3 – Custom Hardware, liquid cooled PCs, and a Laser Cutter