How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work

[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.

[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.

[Vedubin01]

link :

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/bu...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.