How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work

[Vedubin01]

link :

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?pagewanted=all


excerpts:

"Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight.

A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day. "

“The entire supply chain is in China now,” said another former high-ranking Apple executive. “You need a thousand rubber gaskets? That’s the factory next door. You need a million screws? That factory is a block away. You need that screw made a little bit different? It will take three hours.”

"Another critical advantage for Apple was that China provided engineers at a scale the United States could not match. Apple’s executives had estimated that about 8,700 industrial engineers were needed to oversee and guide the 200,000 assembly-line workers eventually involved in manufacturing iPhones. The company’s analysts had forecast it would take as long as nine months to find that many qualified engineers in the United States.

In China, it took 15 days"


interesting read. How the hell are we going to compete against this?

Saying "Fuck China" ain't going to get us out of the unemployment line. Manufacturing is doomed in the US.

If China gets to expensive then they will go to Vietnam.

US companies are determined to off shore jobs. These jobs are not coming back.

Very relevant issue during this election.

[rwh11385]

Manufacturing is doomed in the US.

US companies are determined to off shore jobs. These jobs are not coming back.

Sorry bud, but you're wrong.

85% of Manufacturing Executives See Manufacturing Returning to U.S
Rising Labor Costs and Quality Concerns Have Companies Reevaluating Overseas Strategies
http://www.businesswire.com/news/hom...-Returning-U.S.

The survey identified low-volume, high-precision, high-mix operations, automated manufacturing and engineered products requiring technology improvements or innovation as the primary forms of manufacturing returning to the States. “With increased manufacturing here in the U.S., we would expect increasing demand for engineering, product development, operations and finance positions,”

“The executives we polled told us that wage inflation in traditional overseas venues, especially China, is changing the value proposition for American manufacturers. Once, costs were the primary driver for moving manufacturing offshore, but now companies are doing the math and thinking more about staying at home. Also, executives told us that because logistics are complex to begin with, the financial argument has to be compelling and the dynamics are changing.

“In order to stay competitive in a slow economy, respondents are focusing more on quality and customer service as differentiators, both of which are better managed domestically. They also said that skill sets for certain manufacturing functions are not readily available overseas -- China and Asia generally are unable to meet the demand for skilled workers. Finally, patriotism was cited as a factor as executives looked for a return to a ‘Made in America’ mentality in the U.S.”

http://www.bcg.com/documents/file84471.pdf

^ Can't copy and paste but the cost advantage of oversea production is declining.

[mrsleeve]

I see your I phones with a 3.5" Screen and Raise you 46+ inch TV's

http://www.freep.com/article/20120117/BUSINESS06/201170333/TV-maker-to-hire-100-workers-at-Canton-plant

1st few paragraphs

A small Minnesota electronics company aims to bring TV manufacturing back to the U.S., hiring 100 workers at a plant in Canton.

Element Electronics, which sells TVs made in China to big-box stores like Walmart and Target, has teamed up with a Michigan company, Lotus International, to produce low-priced flat-screen TVs that are 46 inches and larger.

The first large TVs could start rolling off an assembly line in March. The company plans to hire workers and set up a call center to handle customer questions.

Michael O'Shaughnessy, Element's president and owner, pledges that its Michigan-made TVs will not cost consumers any more than if the sets were produced in China.

"We are doing this to set an example," said O'Shaughnessy, who grew up in Ohio. "This is the right thing to do."

Sony closed its last U.S. TV plant in 2010. Vizio is American-owned but outsources its production outside the country.

Bringing back TV manufacturing is part of a growing business trend called reshoring. With soaring costs for Chinese labor and shipping, many companies are rethinking whether it still makes sense to make their products overseas.

heeter has valid points as well. CAT, has been bringing most if not all of their over seas production back to North America, since they cant keep the Chinese in line when it comes to Q/C. I read something a while back that its not just CAT either, but many big names are starting to "onshore" some of that lost production. And the US is still the largest manufacturer in the world by a large margin.

[Massimo]

Well that is good news. But interested to see how long this trend may last. Most mass production in AUS is gone overseas. Depressing, but due to our huge mining industry most people who get laid off just get into mining where they get paid stupid amounts of money.

The Australian goverment is going to be approving 150 new mines over the next year. I don't have a report on this, I know because of my line or work,.

[Vedubin01]

And the US is still the largest manufacturer in the world by a large margin.

Name 20 things in your house that is made completely by Americans. Not counting your firearms.

[rwh11385]

http://business.time.com/2011/05/16/a-surprising-jobs-recovery-american-manufacturing-is-back/

Nearly one in every six jobs that have been created by the economy since the beginning of 2010 has been in manufacturing.

Politicians and economists have long given up on the idea that the U.S. would be a manufacturing powerhouse. And indeed, high labor costs in the U.S. have driven a number of U.S. companies to move their production overseas. But a combination of factors has caused U.S. manufacturing to see a surprising recovery in the past year and a half.

http://articles.boston.com/2011-02-06/bostonglobe/29344173_1_manufacturing-output-black-dress-decline

There’s just one problem with all the gloom and doom about American manufacturing. It’s wrong.

Americans make more “stuff’’ than any other nation on earth, and by a wide margin. According to the United Nations’ comprehensive database of international economic data, America’s manufacturing output in 2009 (expressed in constant 2005 dollars) was $2.15 trillion. That surpassed China’s output of $1.48 trillion by nearly 46 percent. China’s industries may be booming, but the United States still accounted for 20 percent of the world’s manufacturing output in 2009 — only a hair below its 1990 share of 21 percent.

“The decline, demise, and death of America’s manufacturing sector has been greatly exaggerated,’’ says economist Mark Perry, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. “America still makes a ton of stuff, and we make more of it now than ever before in history.’’ In fact, Americans manufactured more goods in 2009 than the Japanese, Germans, British, and Italians — combined.

“It seems like everything I pick up says ‘Made in China’ on it.’’ To someone shopping for toys, shoes, or sporting equipment, it often can seem that way. But that’s because Chinese factories tend to specialize in low-tech, labor-intensive goods — items that typically don’t require the more advanced and sophisticated manufacturing capabilities of modern American plants.

A vast amount of “stuff’’ is still made in the USA, albeit not the inexpensive consumer goods that fill the shelves in Target or Walgreens. American factories make fighter jets and air conditioners, automobiles and pharmaceuticals, industrial lathes and semiconductors.

Politicians may try to tell you one thing, but that's just misconceptions. Looking at the facts, it's clear that the opposite is true.

[Massimo]

^
Wondering as to how they calculate the that 2trillion compared to china's 1.5trillion. China could make 1.5 trillion lollies that cost 1 dollar each and employ 100 billion people, where USA could make Aircon units at $1500 each and only employ 100,000 people.

[rwh11385]

Name 20 things in your house that is made completely by Americans. Not counting your firearms.

That's an unfair request, as Americans are chosen for their skilled workers and quality, which is unimportant for things such as textiles or toys, which people focus on when thinking about manufacturing going to China. You reframed the question from "Manufacturing in the US" to "Manufacturing in the US for households", which misses the major industrial manufacturing - which are some of the prime manufacturing done.

But here ya go:
The house itself
A lot of our cars
A cummins engine in a truck
The gas in your tank (big refineries plus there is domestic oil production)
Goodyear tires
Racing bikes and parts
John Deere lawn mower
Olevia TV
Your GE appliances
Whirlpool Washer/Dryer
If you are a great cook or want to be one, Viking range
Longaberger baskets
Coca-Cola
Processed food - bread, Fritos, etc.
Meat in your fridge
Fresh produce
Chemicals you use around the house
Eli Lilly drugs
If you're like my mom, your new hip or knee
Lumber
Paper
Beer
Power from coal, nuclear, wind, hydro, etc.
Sailboats
Guns
Cigarettes


Consumers don't generally buy, but we use or benefit from often:
Boeing airplanes
The engines that power Boeing airplanes
Trains
Semi trucks
Farm equipment that harvests your food
Caterpillar machines
Aircraft carriers and fighter jets
Aluminum, Steel

[mrsleeve]

Name 20 things in your house that is made completely by Americans. Not counting your firearms.

lol We dont make consumer goods we make all the shit that the chinnese buy to BUILD our consumer goods.

But I will work on your challenge

1) my work boots Whites (they are even HAND MADE) Whites Spokane WA.

2) My Back up Reserve Boots, Danners, Portland OR.

3) Winter Boots Also whites, Pac boots

4) Pocket knife, Lone wolf Lobo, Portland OR. IIRC.

5) Pocket Knife Benchmade, OR.

6) the bulk of my tool box, C-Man, Snap, S&K, OTC, Kline, ect.....

7) flashlights out the Wazooo Sure fire and mag

8) Wool Sweater made by Filson, Seattle WA

9) 2 Canvas and Wool Jackets also from Filson

10) Camera Bag Domke

11) My travel luggage Outfitter bags from Filson

12) my belt from Saddle back leather, El Passo TX

13) 3 Stonewall (horse), Saddles Murrieta CA

14) older L L Bean work shirts (yeah they are really old )

15) Shovel Ames

16) the 5th of Glacier Vodka in my freezer, Idaho Falls ID

17) My Carhart Bibs

18) The little womans Neti pot thing

19) Our Elliptical trainer, Precor Seattle WA

20) my hunting knife, Buck, Post falls ID

21) Engine in my Truck, Duramax OH

22) Trans in my Truck Allison Detroit IIRC

23) lawn mower Old REAL JD

24) ATV's Polaris, Medina, MN

25) I know we have some Appliances just cant remember which ones

26) Though I never use it we have an old Home lite Chain saw around. The Sweeds and Germans make better saws

27) lots of beer made locally in the valley

28) Some Jewelry I bought for the little woman made by our local Jeweler

29) My fishing rods St Croix, WI

30) I have a Penn Fishing reel made here



shall I go on????

[joshh]

I don't know about never getting them back but no one can argue that we have lost a shit ton of manufacturing jobs (as seen in part by our unemployment rate). Not all those jobs were lost at 7-11s.

[e30e]

Isn't the whole iphone deal really logistics, they have 4 times the amount of people in that country so of course there going to have more engineers and tons more unskilled labor that can man a manufacturing plant. Assembling a phone really can't that much of skilled labor.

[cale]

How are you supposed to compete with a nation who has 8000 workers at hand, can get them to wake up from their private dorms at the factory and work a 12 hour shift? That right there is what companies want, robots to do their job for the lowest bid and until Americans are willing to underbid those jobs are gone for good.

[mar1t1me]

How are you supposed to compete with a nation who has 8000 workers at hand, can get them to wake up from their private dorms at the factory and work a 12 hour shift? That right there is what companies want, robots to do their job for the lowest bid and until Americans are willing to underbid those jobs are gone for good.

If it gets bad enough here, people will be lining up for those kinds of jobs. They do it in China, or starve. It might come to that here....

[priapism]

Manufacturing in the US will be saved by high oil prices. As transportation costs rise, so will the costs of shipping all those Macs from China.

[z31maniac]

If it gets bad enough here, people will be lining up for those kinds of jobs. They do it in China, or starve. It might come to that here....

Nope, they protest in parks and demand $40k/yr for their Liberal Arts degree.