
Apple's hold on metal chassis supply chain hinders competition - shawndumas
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/08/04/apples-hold-on-metal-chassis-supply-chain-hinders-competition/
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gallerytungsten
First of all, the proper term for the tool in question is a CNC mill, or "CNC
machining center" as it's sometimes termed by the manufacturers of such
machines. A solid block of material enters, and the finished product emerges.

Inside the CNC mill, a variety of rapidly spinning milling cutters (think of
an intelligent Dremel tool) cut out the part. The work piece is stationary
(for the most part) and the tool head moves. A typical CNC machining center
will have an automatic tool changer so that it can cut with a variety of
different milling cutters (bits) as it performs various cutting operations.

In contrast, a lathe (manual or CNC) rotates the work piece (typically a
cylindrical piece of metal, or bar stock, such as square or hex stock) and a
non-rotating cutting tool trims excess material.

Now with that out of the way, the story is a bit suspect. What's to prevent
the competition from buying their own factory with 10,000 CNC machining
centers? Or bankrolling their preferred vendor to do so?

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tjmc
You're right. Apple have a video of the CNC process here:
<http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/design.html>

They also use a laser cutter to do the speaker holes and the incredibly fine
holes on the front that you only see when the light is on.

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hannibalhorn
I remembered this from "The Man Who Makes Your iPhone":

 _When Apple's iPhone4 was nearing production, Foxconn and Apple discovered
that the metal frame was so specialized that it could be made only by an
expensive, low-volume machine usually reserved for prototypes. Apple's
designers wouldn't budge on their specs, so Gou ordered more than 1,000 of the
$20,000 machines from Tokyo-based Fanuc. Most companies have just one._

[http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_38/b41950584...](http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_38/b4195058423479.htm)

Could very well be that the machines are exactly these, designed only for
prototyping and not exactly something you can easily get ahold of in a large
quantity for mass manufacturing.

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delackner
Thank you for digging up that quote. I was thinking after reading all the
preceding comments that I'd have to go dig it up myself. Apple is on record as
pouring billions of dollars into pre-paying for their suppliers to purchase
incredibly expensive machines to produce apple products, so obviously apple
ends up with priority access to the output: they made it possible!

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zdw
I wonder how many of those metal lathes were originally bankrolled by Apple's
billions, as a part of their organization plan to help suppliers build
capacity.

~~~
econgeeker
Well, I am suspicious about an article that talks about lathes with regard to
making Macbook parts. A Lathe is a machine on which parts are spun at great
speed. It is good for making things like the legs of tables, etc.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lathe>

Apple's unibody technology uses CNC machines which are more appropriately
called mills. They are not that uncommon, and are widely available to
everybody... and have been for years. Maybe Apple uses machines from a
particular segment of the market that has dried up supply, but it is rare that
a company has too much demand for a product and isn't interested in building
more.

EG: There's no evidence Apple has cornered the market on CNC machines, which
can come from a wide variety of companies.

However, companies like Foxconn, do invest billions in buying large quantities
of such tools and then dedicate them to manufacturing apple products, because
Apple's specifications require them to do so. (This from an article I read
interviewing Foxcon's founder.) The Band on the iPhone 4 required 1,000 custom
metal machines, for instance. No doubt many of those billions invested in
those machines come from Apple.

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smarmius
Unless I'm misreading something, this has prompted the competition to work
with a different material (some kind of fiberglass). So even though the
competition can't use the same material they have an alternative that is
cheaper and readily available. I don't see the problem.

~~~
econgeeker
As a mental exercise, consider the thought process behind the perspective that
this is "anti-competitive".

1\. Apple has taken a technology- metal milling- that has existed for at least
half a century, and used it to make a nicer laptop case.

2\. Apple uses the modern manufacturing method to do this, requiring expensive
CNC machines.

3\. Apple introduced popular products that, when you open them, look like they
were hand crafted by master metalworkers in the 1940s (I'm serious!) while
their competition is still shipping cheap plastic cases.

4\. Even though there are dozens of suppliers of CNC Mills of all type,
Apple's requirements contain the market for a particular type (this is
speculation on my, and the articles part.)

5\. Therefore, this is "anti-competitive" because Apple's competition can't
just copy the unibody case idea and order machines and make their own unibody
cases?

6\. So, what could possibly be the remedy? To fine Apple for being successful
with an innovative new case design? To institute some government board of
allocation to allocate the (currently, and only temporarily) limited supply of
CNC machines?

If Apple hadn't been competitive-- that is, if Apple hadn't innovated and come
up with a new case design-- there would be no demand for these machines from
non-Apple people. So, this is a result of competition on Apple's part.

Sometimes I imagine that people think that if Apple is successful by doing
something better, that this is "unfair" and that Apple should be punished.

Hell, I wish I could make a crapy video editor and then force Apple to give me
some of their final cut profits, because, really, it is so unfair that apple
makes such a good video editor, I'm just one guy and I can't hope to compete
with that, right? (Just kidding, forcing Apple to do that is aggression, and
is immoral. I'm just being illustrative. While I've thought about making a
video editing app, I've not done that, actually.)

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cal5k
I don't think the article is suggesting that this activity is
anticompetitive... I think, rather, it's being held up as an example of the
genius of Tim Cook and Apple's lesser-appreciated operational excellence.

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gvb
That should be CNC _mills_ , not lathes.

A mill makes mostly flat 3D parts like laptop chassis.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milling_machine>

A lathe makes turned (round) parts. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lathe>

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psykotic
The name for lathe in the Scandinavian languages translates literally into
English as turning-bench. It's hard to forget its purpose and meaning with a
name like that.

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e28eta
I don't know if this particular instance qualifies, but I was reminded of an
interesting article [1] about how Apple is a monopsony (the only buyer) in
some markets. Thus, they provide lots of upfront capital to pay for the
machines and factories, and receive either exclusive access or discounted
pricing over competitors.

[1] [http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/05/how-apple-became-a-
mo...](http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/05/how-apple-became-a-monopsonist/)

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duck
As others have pointed out, it should be a milling machine, not a lathe...
_unless_ , iPen is coming out next month. I can see the writing on the wall.
:)

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gte910h
It would be one thing if _they were not using the capacity_. But they are.

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shimsham
sounds like jealousy. innovate!

