Apple Moving MacBook and Apple Watch Production to Vietnam for the First Time

[TightLines]

Consumers and imveators speak with their dollars and the message they've delivered so far doesn't match your assessment.

I don’t want to get into an insult match or otherwise offend you by my reply comments being taken the wrong ways… so i am going to drop out now… plus this is going to turn political any time now… but I will part with saying, you’re not paying attention to whats going on around this country and others… and you listening to the paid for by corporate propagandist, mainstream media/financial press, is leading too many people astray… and it doesn’t take too much effort to see how wrong they have got things over the course of the last few years; and how wrong some still continue to get it to this day… after all… its these Wall Street types who have let themselves be swindled by the crypto/bitcoin scam for so long, its like, pick your propaganda peddler wisely.

 

[arian71]

Where did I say that the Chinese people were better at manufacturing? I just made a point to your narrative of making manufacturing in the US because it's the US - Not much arguments other than national pride there...

There are more experts in their field in China, because they invested in becoming experts in manufacturing since decades. You got the ambition of US being competitive in manufacturing? Good! This will take years as well.

But for now, if any company would like to manufacture something, you have abundance of people and resources in China than any other nation. Access to problem solving, expertise and capabilities that took years to build. Simple as that.

Exactly

and you national pride supporters, Tim Apple will always ignore you. For the fact any other Tim
Deal with it, no way iphone made in us and a will cost the same as is being made in China

 

[BootsWalking]

I don’t want to get into an insult match or otherwise offend you by my reply comments being taken the wrong ways… so i am going to drop out now… plus this is going to turn political any time now… but I will part with saying, you’re not paying attention to whats going on around this country and others… and you listening to the paid for by corporate propagandist, mainstream media/financial press, is leading too many people astray… and it doesn’t take too much effort to see how wrong they have got things over the course of the last few years; and how wrong some still continue to get it to this day… after all… its these Wall Street types who have let themselves be swindled by the crypto/bitcoin scam for so long, its like, pick your propaganda peddler wisely.

You're assuming I'm being lead astray but I'm simply commenting on reality. I didn't say that reality is ideal but it is reality. I appreciate your restraint - if you find yourself having such strong feelings about a subject then that may be an indication your objectivity on that subject may need reevaluation.

 

[XXPP]

And ultimately a loss for the USA. We need to bring manufacturing back stateside. The "but the devices will cost 100x more" excuse has long term consequences for US sovereignty and economic stability. Additionally that point is addressable via legislation. China are strong because of their manufacturing ability which is rapidly growing. Meanwhile the US's manufacturing ability is crumbling.

I want my Apple devices "Designed in California and Made in USA."

You can’t work anymore. You have millions of unemployed but nobody wants to hard work.

 

[calstanford]

From one communist country to another. How is this a win?

 

[IIGS User]

In terms of manufacturing

First Japan. Then China became Japan, now Vietnam and India are becoming China.

Vietnam and India are just the deep pools of intelligent well educated people who can make stuff "on the cheap".

I remember when stuff from Japan was considered sub par quality by my parents and grandparents. I can also remember when most of the products that came out of China were junk (the early to mid 80's). I remember when Korean cars were a laughing stock. Not anymore.

Vietnam is the next "big" thing in manufacturing. India, too. Vietnam is the least risky politically, IMHO. One would think India, but India has problems of their own. It's a good spot to invest in manufacturing of this type because of it's relative location to component sources.

Apple will squeeze a good 10 or so years out of Vietnam. But once the new high tech chip foundries are up and running in North America, look for a lot of the high tech manufacturing to move to South America.

Sure, people stalk about moving final assembly of these products state side, and call it a national security issue, but that's simply not feasible. When you can't get enough qualified people to work as teachers and cops, you're not going to find enough motivated people to warrant a long term investment in manufacturing.

You need a whole generation of people who are willing to work hard and learn new difficult things so as to secure a future for their children. These are usually economically disadvantaged people who have no other way to make a secure decent living.

So, when you move the high level chip manufacturing to North America, and then look for a pool of labor for assembly, South America becomes the most appealing spot. It's isolated from the rest of the world geographically, has a pool of untapped labor, and would be more reliant on the US for alliances and protection.

It's not happening today because these things take a LOT of time to unravel. Most people don't see it because most people can't see the 100K feet view of things, and put the geopolitical and socioeconomic pieces together at the same time, but this is what's happening.

One day, you will see a MBP or iPhone with Made in Peru on the back of it.....

 

[addamas]

With „Zero positive cases” rule in China related to COVID - it’s a very good move.
Sadly China is getting more like Northern Korea. Same movements are done in automotive, as in many industries companies just can’t accept sudden cut of production or delays.

 

[laz232]

And ultimately a loss for the USA. We need to bring manufacturing back stateside. The "but the devices will cost 100x more" excuse has long term consequences for US sovereignty and economic stability. Additionally that point is addressable via legislation. China are strong because of their manufacturing ability which is rapidly growing. Meanwhile the US's manufacturing ability is crumbling.

I want my Apple devices "Designed in California and Made in USA."

Not quite so simple - unless you control _all_ aspects of the supply chain (including the minerals for the components) then vulnerabilities remain. Moreover - once you include all those factors not just the labour costs of the final assembly - but also, say, mining and processing rare minerals with European / US worker safety and salary conditions - then that would literally double or triple the cost of the phone.

Now - we can decide that we want that - but it's not a simple "make X here" decision

 

[jlc1978]

I don't think we even have enough technical skilled workers to bring back mfg. to the US at this point...A mix of some in the US and some abroad is fine.

We do or can train them if we commit to it. It's not rocket science and investing in community colleges / university partnerships, like Ohio is doing, is a step in the right direction. But it won't be the day of the lunch pail worker going to the factory where his parents work and his kids will as well.

 

[DD88]

What the hell is Paul O’Grady doing in Vietnam?

 

[mondaiguy]

Apple is moving Production to Vietnam, so let's show a picture of Tim Cook in a factory in China.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

As long as there are no issues in the long term after purchase but we shall not know till first products from Vietnam are released into the wild and able to withhold in the real world scenario.

My 2 year old airpod pros were assembled in Vietnam.

 

[GalileoSeven]

And ultimately a loss for the USA. We need to bring manufacturing back stateside. The "but the devices will cost 100x more" excuse has long term consequences for US sovereignty and economic stability. Additionally that point is addressable via legislation. China are strong because of their manufacturing ability which is rapidly growing. Meanwhile the US's manufacturing ability is crumbling.

I want my Apple devices "Designed in California and Made in USA."

lol This sounds good but would be far from easy to implement - taking probably a decade or more I'd guess without even getting into the issue of hiring/the workforce....

 

[centauratlas]

Typical - the article and its headline is primarily about Vietnam, yet this publication posts pictures from a facility based in China… just so happens the publication is tied to Wall Street - a double typical.

Nikkei Asia is tied to Wall Street? Nikkei is based in Tokyo and one of the big Japanese national papers. I don't see that picture in the original article either.

 

[applefanboysince93]

And ultimately a loss for the USA. We need to bring manufacturing back stateside. The "but the devices will cost 100x more" excuse has long term consequences for US sovereignty and economic stability. Additionally that point is addressable via legislation. China are strong because of their manufacturing ability which is rapidly growing. Meanwhile the US's manufacturing ability is crumbling.

I want my Apple devices "Designed in California and Made in USA."

“Those jobs aren’t coming back...”

-Steve Jobs

Jobs said jobs aren't coming back. Ha.

But seriously, Apple would only bring back the manufacturing that robots can do. They aren't going to pay 10x+ more for labor when they don't have to...

 

[MacLawyer]

Hiring a supply chain guy is paying off big for Apple.

 

[WWPD]

I hope someday South America becomes the next manufacturing center of the world, that would help those people in those countries immensely and help with the U.S. border situation. Unfotunately there is too much political instability and corrpution in that part of the world right now.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

You can’t work anymore. You have millions of unemployed but nobody wants to hard work.

Did you fall asleep a year ago and just woke up? Unemployment is at almost record lows.

 

[morphineseason]

Judging by the photograph, TC is loving every minute of it. And he’s probably wondering why chefs are trying to make his products.

You could say there are too many cooks in the kitchen

 

[TightLines]

Nikkei Asia is tied to Wall Street? Nikkei is based in Tokyo and one of the big Japanese national papers. I don't see that picture in the original article either.

My mistake - I didn’t do what i should have done and verified where the corporation was based… my apologies, to you and all others i may have misled by my inaccurate posting. It’s affiliation with Wall Street comes where it is the leading index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. However, I will edit/correct that error ASAP.

 

[arkitect]

Nikkei Asia is tied to Wall Street? Nikkei is based in Tokyo and one of the big Japanese national papers. I don't see that picture in the original article either.

Yes it is unfortunately MacRumours who have picked the wrong stock photograph.

I guess all them people out east all look the same… /s

 

[cjboffoli97]

A win for Vietnam is a loss for China, which makes this doubly-good news.

Maybe not the loss the China you think it is, when you consider that Luxshare is a Chinese-owned company (That's Grace Wang, Luxshare CEO, standing to Cook's right in the image above).

 

[cjboffoli97]

Yes it is unfortunately MacRumours who have picked the wrong stock photograph.

I guess all them people out east all look the same… /s

I wondered about the photograph too as the people pictured looked Chinese and not Vietnamese. But the images does appear to correctly show one of Cook's visits to Luxshare. The owners of the company are Chinese.

 

[arkitect]

I wondered about the photograph too as the people pictured looked Chinese and not Vietnamese. But the images does appear to correctly show one of Cook's visits to Luxshare. The owners of the company are Chinese.

Yes it is a Luxshare factory in China.

Tim Cook visited the Kunshan Division of Luxhsare Precision, December 4th, 2017.

Nothing to do with Vietnam.

Link

It is sloppy reporting.

 

[cjboffoli97]

And ultimately a loss for the USA. We need to bring manufacturing back stateside. The "but the devices will cost 100x more" excuse has long term consequences for US sovereignty and economic stability. Additionally that point is addressable via legislation. China are strong because of their manufacturing ability which is rapidly growing. Meanwhile the US's manufacturing ability is crumbling.

I want my Apple devices "Designed in California and Made in USA."

It's going to take a lot more than legislation. Even though this issue gets flattened out into the trope that we're just exploiting cheap assembly labor, the issue is much more complex than you portray it. The US is simply not producing the number of engineers needed to repatriate precision manufacturing that Apple needs. It's also hyperbole to say that manufacturing in the US is "crumbling" when there are many bright spots and strong manufacturing growth in certain areas all over the US. Forget the legislation and maybe convince tens of thousands of American students to pursue STEM education (as opposed to going to college to study business). And then start building all of the factories and tool works for precision parts and maybe in a decade or so precision electronics manufacturing might improve in the US.