

Tim Cook confirms one line of Macs will be exclusively US-manufactured in 2013 - sorich87
http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/06/tim-cook-us-built-macs/

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sami36
The biggest hope for US manufacturing repatriation is robotics. Unfortunately,
it's not going to help with our unemployment issues. Even Foxconn made some
noise recently about replacing their employees with robots, & if the math
works for them over there, you can easily see why it would be a no-brainer
over here.

I'd be curious to hear how many units those lines will produce & how many
employees will be needed to man them.

~~~
MrDrone
There was an article posted here yesterday about General Electric moving home
many manufacturing positions. Their plants which at their peak employed 20k
people had dwindled to just 1,300 or so. In the process of moving the jobs
back they've swelled up to 3k.

While moving these jobs home will never make the US a manufacturing giant
again due to advances in productivity, robotics and other areas it certainly
will create valuable jobs at home.

Though, that article argues that the real value of the move home is in the
ability to get manufacturers, designers and others as close as possible.

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glhaynes
_While moving these jobs home will never make the US a manufacturing giant
again due to advances in productivity, …_

Not to pick on you, but this kind of statement is made so often that it's
become received wisdom that "nothing's made in America anymore." But the US
remains the largest manufacturer in the world. And while I don't have the
numbers on manufacturing employment by country (anybody know where to look?),
I'm sure the US is by any measure—including employment—a "manufacturing
giant", even if it is more heavily roboticized and thus needs less labor for
equivalent productivity.

~~~
bunderbunder
Technically, China nosed ahead of the USA as the world's biggest exporter of
manufactured goods a year or two ago. Which means we're not on the top
anymore, but also goes way against the popular misconception that the US has
had a weak manufacturing sector for decades.

Not that Americans should see China exporting more goods as a sign that the US
economy has fallen apart. China has over four times the population, meaning
it's exporting less than a quarter as much stuff per capita. China could grow
to export four times as much stuff and that still wouldn't be a sign that the
US's manufacturing sector is declining, only that it's holding its position.

And realistically, the US's manufacturing sector is incredibly strong - not
just compared to other countries in the present, but also in comparison to
itself in the past. I've got no idea why Americans get so worried that the
country can manufacture so much stuff so profitably and with so little labor
input that most their citizens get to work in the booming service and leisure
economy made possible by that unprecedented level of efficiency, and feast on
the luxury it produces, instead of grinding away on assembly lines. It seems
nobody's quite capable of seeing the forest for this one particular
infuriatingly backward-looking tree.

~~~
shimon_e
The US doesn't need to export as much as it actually consumes unlike the
Chinese.

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gordeh
I suspect this will be the mac pro line. This is probably the reason for the
2013 mac pro quote from Tim Cook.

~~~
numbsafari
You gotta start with something in order to build up a manufacturing base.
Also, given that Apple is building huge datacenters of its own, it's likely
they could be looking to in-source their own servers going forward as well.

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hkmurakami
_> In a TV interview with Brian Williams, Apple CEO Tim Cook has said "we will
do one of our existing Mac lines in the United States," vaguely confirming
that production of either iMacs, Mac Minis or Mac Laptops will make a
wholesale move to the US in 2013._

Doesn't the Mac Pro line make the most sense considering their low volumes and
(I imagine) relatively high margins?

~~~
SkyMarshal
Hope so. Moving the Mac Pro assembly line might also imply they're finally
getting a substantial redesign/update.

~~~
biscarch
This is also what I'm hoping for.

I think Apple said the Mac Pro is getting an upgrade in 2013, so it seems
likely.

~~~
carterschonwald
I really hope so too. At some point in the near future I need to get a beefy
desktop with current generation / upgradeable hardware, and i'd really enjoy
it being a Mac.

(caveat: its not for gaming or vm instances, it'd be my frontline local
machine for benchmarking hpc codes, 'cause a mb air doesn't cut it for that :)
)

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brudgers
Reporters are sometimes lazy, those in the techpress perhaps more so than
others. If there's an Apple manufacturing in the US, that's a feel good story.
Easier to write than a muckraker about rural Chinese who stepped off a turnip
truck and into dormitories, long days, and low wages. Cheaper to cover, too -
like that won't speak to editors.

It's a sausage factory for Disney's main street. And good PR.

~~~
daniel-cussen
You know, those Chinese guys have gotten 30% raises every year for a decade.
And they were higher than the countryside even then.

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gesman
One of the reasons I bought Sony Z-class laptop is because it is custom
manufactured in Japan (not plastic-stamped in China or alike places like other
laptops, including Macs). With USA-built Macs - i'll be happy to get one too.

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sephlietz
Different article, same topic, over here:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4881567>

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api
The global wage arbitrage bubble depends on huge spreads between "first world"
and "third world" wages. That's because there are all kinds of hidden costs to
outsourcing: the difficulty of communication and coordination, travel, long-
distance shipping, longer lag-times, political instability risk, etc. Even a
seemingly small close in this wage spread could crash the outsourcing bubble
when these hidden costs are considered.

~~~
hkmurakami
_> long-distance shipping, longer lag-times_

I was told that according to a supply chain exec at a major US retailer,
saving 1 day in supply chain lag time would save said company $100MM per year.

~~~
grecy
I believe it.

A friend was a process engineer at a Ford plant.

Every time the line stopped moving (even if for only a few seconds), they
calculated it cost a minimum of $10mil.

~~~
27182818284
Wasn't that turned upside down by the Toyota way of doing it? I remember
hearing an episode of This American Life about it. The difference being that
it saves more money to fix the problem right the first time then continue the
line rather than continuing the line at all cost and fixing later.

I believe it was [http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-
archives/episode/403/n...](http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-
archives/episode/403/nummi) where they interviewed people involved with it.

~~~
grecy
This particular ford plant gets engines Just In Time from the foundry ~100km
away, using a highway that has frequent traffic jams.

It was found that when a truck load of engines was late, the most cost
effective thing to do was to crush the brand new engine-less cars, and crush
the engines when they arrived rather than either stop the line, or try to
shuffle the cars & engines in at a later time. It was mind-boggling, but the
numbers were run many times in many different ways and it was true.

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cavilling_elite
Sp what was the huge tax break Obama offered Jobs, and Cook acted on it?

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Dirlewanger
You think Apple prices are high now? Oh man, just wait and then the world will
see just how absolutely spoiled we are by the dearth of humane labor laws in
Asian countries.

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Irishsteve
Could it be the new imac?

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rjzzleep
that's going to be the extra extra premium pricing line?

