2013 Mac Pro Launch Was 'Postponed' Due Partly to Shortage of 'Made in USA' Screws

[jsmith189]

After 6 years, a major redesign is delayed due to screws?
What a pathetic lame excuse.

It clearly shows that Apple does NOT care about the Pro community whatsoever.

Imagine if they come in and next September they announce that the next iPhone 11 is delayed due to screws...

This makes no sense. How is it an "excuse" if Apple never made this information public? It was obviously a genuine internal issue that they had to, and eventually did, deal with. I'd understand if this was a report by Apple to tell the public about it and they were touting this as the reason, but it's not.

Also, they wouldn't announce an iPhone delay, nor would they give a reason. They'd just release it when it was ready, like they did the Mac Pro.

 

[Mike_Trivisonno]

Please. There's hundreds of companies in America that can make screws. Apple needs to try harder.

 

[AlumaMac]

The overarching reality of U.S. trade is this: Other nations pay us a premium for the work we do for them while we pay other nations quite modestly for the work they do for us. That's, of course, not the case in every regard. But it's the broad strokes reality. And other nations being willing to do so much for us at lower costs (i.e., in effect, at a lower time cost), leaves us free to do more, better paying, stuff or leaves us more free time to enjoy. We benefit greatly from trade, whether it be coming in or going out. And even if other nations end up doing less work for us than we do for them.

While this is a nice synopsis, it ignores the realities of why we have moved manufacturing out of the US. Companies aren't doing this for the good of the nations populace...to give them more 'free time to enjoy'. It is for their bottom line and that alone.

Some other realities that seem to be ignored are the exploitation of third world workers, environmental impacts (not only in the manufacturing nation but also globally from transportation) as well as, from a regional perspective, what is the long-term impact of allowing once valuable skill-sets die out.

 

[gugy]

As it should be.

America isn't a manufacturing economy. If China can make things cheaper, LET THEM.

Americans spend thousands of dollars publicly on each citizen to teach them things like calculus and fine arts and literature so that they DON'T have to do things like manual assembly labor.

How many millennials do you know are willing to work doing manual labor like picking strawberries or cleaning toilets or assembling houses? Nobody in America wants to do that at ANY price - and that's confirmed by employers having difficulty finding workers to fill those roles.

Let other unskilled people in countries do those kind of work. Let's open the borders so that low-skilled people can come in and do the manual labor that Americans don't want to do.

This is the optimum global economic strategy. I have no idea why Apple thought it was a good idea to manufacture in the US when it was obvious China (or other places in Asia) was a better option.

People dreaming of the 50's gotta give up of this dream. We live in a globalize economy. US is not the leader in a world that had not much competition after the WWII with Europe and Japan infrastructure totally destroyed. Dream of the past will just bring more pain and frustration. Adapt or die.

 

[ssgbryan]

Ask your nanny, maid, and landscaper once in awhile, I’m sure they would like a raise and not have their wages driven down by immigrants.

Who needs Liberal Arts-workers anymore?
Won’t AI replace accountants, statisticians, mathematicians, and scientists, etc?

Don't reap what you sow.

AI will replace all of them, as well as lawyers and doctors. In the case of Doctors, IBM's Watson can diagnose Cancer at 90% accuracy rate - a human doctor 50%. When you go in for a hip or knee replacement, it is done by a robot - the doctor is just there in case something goes wrong.

Fast food joints can be fully automated. We are half way there now with the ability to order & pay via our phones. A robot can make the food in the back and bring it forward. The only person working there would be the stocker/janitor.

Think business won't go for that? Not only would they not have to pay workers, their replacements never get tired, call in sick, or expect to get paid. On top of that - the franchise owner would get a massive set of tax breaks on new machinery.

Of course, nothing will be done to address these issues until it starts to hit the lackeys of the 1%. The "professional" classes will get a taste of what the blue collar folks have been dealing with over the last 40 years.

UBI (Universal Basic Income) is coming.

 

[Quicksilver867]

Doesn't matter: the machine sucked anyway.

I'll take a screw-related delay all day on this new version if it means receiving the modular Mac we've been waiting for.

 

[calzon65]

So your theory is that the person in charge of engineering the 2013 Mac Pro decided to use a special screw out of arrogance, and that everyone from that engineer up to Tim Cook himself agreed with that decision. Or is the theory that Tim Cook himself decided to use a special screw and override every person down the chain out of arrogance.

Ummmm ok. You may need this:

https://www.amazon.com/Electro-Deflecto-Unisex-Foil-Size/dp/B01I497JAM

Now that I think about it … I'm certain Tim Cook spent millions to charter a fleet of private 747s to fly all Apple employees to a secret location, on private island that Apple created in the South China Sea, where Apple spent over a billion dollars to build a special one-time meeting venue, where Tim Cook ordered all Apple employees to only use custom screws, then Tim ordered the meeting venue destroyed, and blew up the island. Yea, that sounds about right

 

[W.O.P.R.]

Is there a large demand for a Mac Pro? I'm genuinely curious.

To be fair, with less than 10% of the market the argument could be made that there isn't a large demand for any Macintosh.
But at the time of its release there was a nice demand for a Mac Pro from the traditional target audience. The excitement and buzz was quite high when the announcement was made. The limitations and compromises of the design and Apple's refusal to address those concerns for 6+ years has driven many away, but that does not mean they could not be tempted to return with the right product.
And no, the iMac Pro did not address the problems with the Mac Pro. It makes many of them worse. Zero internal expandability means you have external crap all over your desk. Want a better video card? Just add this unit that is larger than two existing Mac Pro's onto your desk. Need more disk space? Additional cables for the rat's nest and a block on your desk. Etc... The thermals are again pushed past their design limits causing throttling when you need performance most. And as a bonus, you may no longer pick your own screen to fit your demands, you get what they give you and if it fails the entire computer is out of production until you get it replaced. Definitely not a decent substitute for a headless design with even minimal internal expandability.

 

[ani4ani]

What tosh! There must be hundreds of shops that routinely turn out aerospace-grade screws. They probably couldn’t be arse’ed to put up with overspecification from Apple and no doubt crazy-low price demands.

Or be be prepared to accept Apple’s insistence that they match Chinese prices....

EDIT: sorry you had already made this point

 

[AppleHater]

When you cut corners, like they do often, you can produce a lot more in short time. Quality? What quality?

 

[cb3]

That's it — I'm going into the screw making business!

 

[ssgbryan]

What tosh! There must be hundreds of shops that routinely turn out aerospace-grade screws. They probably couldn’t be arse’ed to put up with overspecification from Apple and no doubt crazy-low price demands.

That is precisely the reason we never got a G5 Mac book. IBM could deliver the product, but not at the price P.T. Barnum wanted to pay for the amount of chips he would have gotten.

 

[AlumaMac]

That is precisely the reason we never got a G5 Mac book. IBM could deliver the product, but not at the price P.T. Barnum wanted to pay for the amount of chips he would have gotten.

It wasn't because the laptop would have to be the size of a suitcase to keep the thermally challenged G5 chip cool??

 

[neutralguy]

LOL.

There was no HomeDepot/Lowe's/Orchard Supply next door or within the vicinity of 10 miles? Oh wait! Apple does not believe in standardization. Serves them right!

 

[trainwrecka]

Is there a large demand for a Mac Pro? I'm genuinely curious.

Someone could figure out what 28,000 screws / by number of screws in a Mac Pro, we might get a hint at what sold back then.

 

[Carnegie]

While this is a nice synopsis, it ignores the realities of why we have moved manufacturing out of the US. Companies aren't doing this for the good of the nations populace...to give them more 'free time to enjoy'. It is for their bottom line and that alone.

Some other realities that seem to be ignored are the exploitation of third world workers, environmental impacts (not only in the manufacturing nation but also globally from transportation) as well as, from a regional perspective, what is the long-term impact of allowing once valuable skill-sets die out.

Of course individual actors are doing certain things (e.g., sourcing parts from outside the U.S.) for their own perceived benefit. I wasn't suggesting otherwise; I alluded to that reality in my first post. I was addressing the general broader impact of such decisions - i.e., how it affects us in the aggregate (and even, to a great degree, as individuals).

 

[AlumaMac]

LOL.

There was no HomeDepot/Lowe's/Orchard Supply next door or within the vicinity of 10 miles? Oh wait! Apple does not believe in standardization. Serves them right!

Haha, reminds me when Boeing was scrambling to 'roll out' the 787 and was short on fasteners so it had to resort to raiding all the home improvement stores.

 

[macaddiict]

Wow, I haven't read a thread like this in ages. I really liked reading everyone's thoughtful replies and had to look around a few times, like - am I getting punked? Is thoughtful discussion on the INTERNET really happening right now? LOL!

There is, within an hour of where I sit now, easily more than twenty manufacturers of precision fasteners great and small, capable of mass production and frigging shipping them on time and within budget.

I would guess this is true in many metropolitan areas in the US. However, I think the real problem here is Apple trying to do something they have never done before and not putting in the time and effort needed to pull it off.

If you've been an Apple fan for a long time, you might recall when the PowerBook G3 went from ABD to USB and they threw in a bronze, transparent keyboard. It was kind of cool, but kind of confusing. Same with the latch button on the Power Mac 9600s... why the touch of transparency? I think in retrospect, Apple was doing small bits of testing and familiarizing itself with transparent plastics. In the case of the PowerMac G3 All in One (Molar Mac), they likely learned some important lessons as the Molar Mac had trouble with cracking on the transparent parts. I have never heard of such problems with the iMac, so I think Apple's tests paid off.

America can create screws if needed - the issue here really was Apple's lack of planning. Or, I guess you could blame America for not having a million specialty screw manufacturers in the yellow pages.

For the best really. My experience seeing a "Made in America" sticker has taught me that the stuff coming out of America is of even poorer quality than cheap Chinese stuff off ebay.

I don't know if I agree with that, but I have certainly noticed that Made in America products are generally a lot less complicated. Some would say less refined? I feel like Made in America means it will be as simple as possible, easy to figure out / work on, and generally tougher/thicker/heavier than actually necessary for regular use.

We need a certain amount of manufacturing to diversify our economy, much like one diversifies an investment portfolio to lower risk.

Well said. I think unity in diversity is the answer. Too bad half our country reaches for their pistol on their hip when they think about people different colors than them..

So, yeah... if China or any other nation can and will make stuff for us cheaper... then, by all means... let them... and say thank you very much.

I thought your post was well written and you explained your point of view well, but I can't get on board with this unless fair trade (respect for other humans) is part of the equation. Even in this thread, there seems to be a pervasive awareness that the little shiny phones we buy every year or two only show up in our hands if people different than us on the other side of the planet live kind of awful lives to manufacture them. I'm not saying I have the solution here, I just wish we also considered the human cost of a cheap phone or whatever other disposable thing we have sent over to us in ocean containers.

 

[AlumaMac]

Of course individual actors are doing certain things (e.g., sourcing parts from outside the U.S.) for their own perceived benefit. I wasn't suggesting otherwise; I alluded to that reality in my first post. I was addressing the general broader impact of such decisions - i.e., how it affects us in the aggregate (and even, to a great degree, as individuals).

Yes, just thought I'd add some specific counter-points.

 

[mozumder]

Ask your nanny, maid, and landscaper once in awhile, I’m sure they would like a raise and not have their wages driven down by immigrants.

Who needs Liberal Arts-workers anymore?
Won’t AI replace accountants, statisticians, mathematicians, and scientists, etc?

Don't reap what you sow.

They’re all immigrants haha

 

[ikramerica]

If Apple is so set on using custom screws in low quantity they might invest in some equipment to make them.

The quantities here are quite low by fastener standards. 28000 is only a few hours of production at a large manufacturer, but requires a lot of setup time between runs.

If Apple only wanted a box of 1000 at a time that’s even more costly. Either way, it’s almost all automated. The funky head pattern is not a big deal, just a matter of swapping the die during the heading process.

There are many large plants in the USA that can make custom screws. Apple just didn’t do a good job of supply chain management. That’s their fault.

 

[whooleytoo]

So to summarise: the problem with the Mac Pro was Apple was missing a few screws?

Sounds about right to me..

 

[IRockThat828pScreen]

Roses are red
Violets are blue

2013 Mac Pro Launch Was 'Postponed' Due to Shortage of 'Made in USA' Screws

 

[Val-kyrie]

Lol, so what are you then?

A services economy.... Too bad Americans don’t realize that economies are more stable when primarily producing rather consuming.

The American economy is unsustainable unless it changes focus back to manufacturing.

Is there a large demand for a Mac Pro? I'm genuinely curious.

For a six-year old machine? I doubt it. Pro users tend to be more informed than the average consumer.

"The report goes on to describe how the United States struggles to compete with China's combination of scale, skills, infrastructure, and cost. In short, American workers are typically more expensive and unwilling to work around the clock."​

We can thank american corporations for sending manufacturing away. They, and the government, created this struggle plain and simple, now to keep up with the even higher demand and just on time manufacturing, they HAVE to go to China and other third world countries. Our society's urging EVERY kid to go to a 4 year college for a degree, now they can graduate with 5-6 figure student debt and try to pay it off working retail and fast food. College isn't the end all be all. We have shifted focus from trades and manufacturing jobs so much, now the up and coming generations couldn't figure their way out of a cardboard box because they have book smarts. They can work their smartphones and Facebook like a champ though.

And yeah, American workers are "unwilling" to be taken advantage of like the Chinese workers are forced to do via their own culture. Expensive comes from the "American Dream".... I have no idea what the Chinese dream is.

To eat.... and to own a house, if they’re lucky.

 

[TonyC28]

Seriously people, Apple had a tough time finding someone to make their ridiculous screws. Maybe that should tell us more about Apple than anything else. Let’s not use this as some example about the economy.