200,000 More Workers Needed to Manufacture iPhone 13 Ahead of Launch

[laptech]

If the company need 200,000 more workers to build the iphone 13 then it begs the question why isn't the factory automated like many other company manufacturing plants around the world are, especially in western countries.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

And the reason being? Americans are not flexible? do not work around the clock? are opinionated? love their family too much? have holidays? are ..?

Half of Americans don't want to wear a mask at work (or anywhere, actually...).

 

[cb3]

We have thousand of Central Americans that are begging for work. So much so they will risk everything to get a better life. Hard working people. Build a plant either in Central America or Southern USA. Win, win.

 

[lkrupp]

Another reason to raise the price.

Waiting for the ‘contrived shortage’ comments. Oh wait, you did.

 

[lkrupp]

And the reason being? Americans are not flexible? do not work around the clock? are opinionated? love their family too much? have holidays? are ..?

Nope. In your utopian dreams, if realized, you wouldn’t be able to afford an iPhone or any other tech gear manufactured here. Name a single piece of consumer level electronics manufactured in the U.S.

 

[Abazigal]

If the company need 200,000 more workers to build the iphone 13 then it begs the question why isn't the factory automated like many other company manufacturing plants around the world are, especially in western countries.

My guess is that a lot of the processes that go into assembling the iPhone cannot be automated.

Apple's Attempts to Automate Product Assembly Have Met With Limited Success

The Information today published a detailed look at the difficulties Apple has faced trying to assemble its products with robots rather than humans. ...

www.macrumors.com

Simply put, the sensitive nature of many of the tasks is better suited to actual people.

 

[HappySponge]

Doesnt China just have a few "Camps" of people just waiting around for this kind of opportunity. 😉

 

[q64ceo]

We have thousand of Central Americans that are begging for work. So much so they will risk everything to get a better life. Hard working people. Build a plant either in Central America or Southern USA. Win, win.

Too expensive. Workers have rights in those countries, too. It's not in Apple's interest to build factories there.

 

[JPack]

what happened i thought they make iphones in india now.

Indians destroyed their factory.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1337766741854748673

 

[JPack]

And the reason being? Americans are not flexible? do not work around the clock? are opinionated? love their family too much? have holidays? are ..?

Lack of technical training or experience. Complete lack of electronics suppliers. There isn't even a single LCD fab in the U.S.

A Tiny Screw Shows Why iPhones Won’t Be ‘Assembled in U.S.A.’ (Published 2019)

Apple decided several years ago to produce a high-end Mac in Texas. The problems that surfaced illustrate the challenges of domestic manufacturing.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Macalway]

Seems like a tall order to fill.

Delays.......

 

[citysnaps]

View attachment 1823617

Likes the cut of your jib, son. Are you looking for a position in upper middle management?

I'm happy where I am. Just trying to point out the realities.

 

[Madhatter32]

Another 200,000 jobs to China. Thanks Apple.

 

[citysnaps]

Which is a good thing. Very few people want to be "hire and fire" employees, whose jobs come and go at the whim of a marketing forecast or an advertising campaign. Particularly when they're doing it to hundreds of thousands of people at a time. On the other hand; it's great for multinational corporations who want to maximise profits with minimum commitment to their employees.

Personally, I favour happy people over happy abstract legal entities.

Just to be clear, workers at Foxconn are not Apple employees.

 

[citysnaps]

And the reason being? Americans are not flexible? do not work around the clock? are opinionated? love their family too much? have holidays? are ..?

The reason is that kind of infrastructure was a strategic goal (among others) of the Chinese government to lift China out of being a third world country. And they did that by investing many billions of dollars over many decades.

 

[svish]

iPhone 13 is going to be produced in huge numbers!!! Delivery dates may not slip immediately after pre-orders open, if large numbers are available.

 

[Shirasaki]

200k workers. This scale is only achievable atm in China. Nowhere else. Good luck trying to assemble 1% of that in any single US state in a week, with $5/hr pay and mediocre working environment, no sick leave, no Medicare, no overtime pay etc.

On the plus side, maybe apple this time can attempt to sell all of those iPhone before Christmas. I don’t think CSAM would impact sale in a reasonable level. A couple thousands top and nothing more.

 

[testcard]

In perspective, that’s roughly the population of Amarillo, Texas.

 

[ilikewhey]

Indians destroyed their factory.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1337766741854748673

wait what? forreal? why would they do that i thought india wants manufacturing capabilities.

 

[CarlJ]

And that's why Apple is not able to manufacture iPhones in the United States. Foxconn can quickly ramp up and down as Apple's manufacturing needs turn on a dime over the life of an iPhone model. That kind of quick reaction manufacturing ability and infrastructure simply does not exist in the US.

I'm sorta expecting that, having seen problems with "having all your eggs in one basket" with respect to manufacturing, they will, eventually, come up with a massively automated factory design that can be built at numerous places around the world, requiring far fewer employees, and bypassing various country's import tariffs and such, by doing the manufacturing locally. At that point, the US will get iPhone(/etc) factories, and so will many other countries.

 

[Mousse]

A lot more hand assembly must go on than I’d expect. Down to many of the components. As 500,000 iPhones per day for 350,000 workers sounds quite low otherwise.

I bet half of them will do nothing but assemble the cameras.😏

Besides, new hires take time to learn the job. You can't expect the same productivity from a newbie to match long time employee.

 

[velocityg4]

I bet half of them will do nothing but assemble the cameras.😏

Besides, new hires take time to learn the job. You can't expect the same productivity from a newbie to match long time employee.

It's got to be that and many other components being assembled there. Before final assembly. As putting the various completed modules into the case couldn't be very time consuming. I just expected a lot more automation in assembling the various components.

 

[Xtir]

Nope. In your utopian dreams, if realized, you wouldn’t be able to afford an iPhone or any other tech gear manufactured here. Name a single piece of consumer level electronics manufactured in the U.S.

Here are five companies: Sub-Zero, Wolf, GE, Whirlpool, Maytag

Not manufacturing inside the U.S. is merely a choice of increasing (shareholder) profit, this at known trade-offs to other low-wages countries.. e.g. environment, regulation, safety, well-being, and so on. In your utopian dreams this may sound agreeable and perhaps even normal, but the tide will turn..

 

[Xtir]

Lack of technical training or experience. Complete lack of electronics suppliers. There isn't even a single LCD fab in the U.S.

A Tiny Screw Shows Why iPhones Won’t Be ‘Assembled in U.S.A.’ (Published 2019)

Apple decided several years ago to produce a high-end Mac in Texas. The problems that surfaced illustrate the challenges of domestic manufacturing.

www.nytimes.com

Planar systems, microtips tech, display tech, lots of them, but a dollar more expensive than abroad..

 

[Ninjaman]

Another 200,000 jobs to China. Thanks Apple.

Yep. Timmy gotta keep pumping that Chinese D**K. Covid was a perfect opportunity for him to head somewhere else, Thailand etc. but nope. Into deep with the Wuhan boys