Apple's New Mac Pro Won't Be 'Made in USA' as Production Reportedly Moving to China

[Bawstun]

And you up to your usual one tone rant. Get over it. Cook has taken Apple from strength to strength. If you don't like what Apple has to offer, that's your own problem.

He’s actually dismantling customer loyalty and brand image, design by design and decision by decision. These things take time to manifest but he is taking the company in all the wrong directions. It will soon make itself apparent - about 5 more years before the slide picks up, I predict about 10 before a potentially irreversible decline.

 

[Jyby]

Science Rules!

 

[dumastudetto]

Huge margin's on a $1000 monitor stand not enough?

Having listened to people who actually played with it and spoke to Apple at WWDC, this new high-end monitor stand is actually an amazing feat of engineering. Yes it's got a healthy profit built in, but these prices are common in its target market.

 

[RyanXM]

Then you should know if the labour costs are higher, the retail price will be higher too. It would cost more to assemble in the United States.

Labor costs would be higher, but they would save on the tariff (read as tax) when importing the unit back into the United States.

I thought the materials were the issue as well. If the cost of materials & labor are cheaper in China, Apple is obligated to their stock holders to produce the product as cheaply as possible for a profit.

Aluminum cost is going up because Ford and other automobile manufacturers are using it more and more in their vehicles.

And I'm aware of what Apple is obligated to, just doesn't make sense when you think about the folks here in Texas who were assembling the Mac Pro (Late 2013), which is a much more intense process than a Mac Pro (Early 2009-2012) and the newest one.

 

[jonnyb098]

With a price tag of $5999, you'd think that there would be enough "overhead" to pay an American worker a living wage to, at the very least, assemble these. The iMac we just bought for a client was assembled in Pennsylvania.

A 'living wage' means nothing. Since a living wage to some might be 80k per year to live high off the hog vs someone who can live off of 30k/year who knows how to manage money.

This all comes down to logistics. Its silly to ship many parts from china here when they can literally be shipped via truck a few miles down the road in China.

 

[mithion]

I'm currious about the top end configuration price on this puppy? They keep advertising $5999 as the base price but the config with the 28 core xeon and 1.5Tb of ram is likely to cost way way way more.

 

[JPack]

Good to know common sense is taking over.

Assembled in USA means a huge bottleneck. Apple couldn’t even get a reliable supply of screws for the previous gen Mac Pro because it was assembled in Texas.

 

[JayMysterio]

Labor costs would be higher, but they would save on the tariff (read as tax) when importing the unit back into the United States. You do realize that Intel has fabs in Costa Rica, so the tariff/tax on that part isn't as much.



Aluminum cost is going up because Ford and other automobile manufacturers are using it more and more in their vehicles.

And I'm aware of what Apple is obligated to, just doesn't make sense when you think about the folks here in Texas who were assembling the Mac Pro (Late 2013), which is a much more intense process than a Mac Pro (Early 2009-2012) and the newest one.

It doesn't matter the reasoning to stock holders. Stock holders don't care about living wages, design choices or whatever. They just need to see a profit, and that products are made to be as profitable as possible.

That's the nature of capitalism that is so tightly embraced.

 

[iReality85]

I get that manufacturing (even just assembly labor) in the US is high. But why not set up shop in Mexico? At least the economic benefit would go to our southerly neighbors. Plus you avoid shipping across the Pacific, and tariffs.

I'm really tired of companies putting all their eggs in the Chinese manufacturing basket.

It doesn't matter the reasoning to stock holders. Stock holders don't care about living wages, design choices or whatever. They just need to see a profit, and that products are made to be as profitable as possible.

That's the nature of capitalism that is so tightly embraced.

This sort of shareholder-focused capitalism, which really has only been present since the 1980s, is why wealth has become so top-heavy in recent decades. Chasing profits at the expense of everything else is why we've ended up where we are -- and is also why many people today have a negative view of capitalism.

 

[pallymore]

I knew it and posted about it right when they didn’t mention in at WWDC. It’s a shame. We should be able to manufacture things in the US and pay people. Companies making billions should just eat the cost of labor...

The problem is just not labor - China is also geographically close to many of the material sources and chip manufactures (in addition to many parts that is needed). Apple is a for-profit and publicly traded company - they are responsible for making profits for the stakeholders, not the American job market. Companies make billions are not responsible for eating anything - the consumers are. Would you be happy to pay 1.5x to 2x the price of the current iPhone so a few more fellow Americans can work on assembly lines 24x7?

 

[RyanXM]

A 'living wage' means nothing. Since a living wage to some might be 80k per year to live high off the hog vs someone who can live off of 30k/year who knows how to manage money.

This all comes down to logistics. Its silly to ship many parts from china here when they can literally be shipped via truck a few miles down the road in China.

You do realize that nearly 70% of the components in an iPhone are shipped to China from the United States.

Intel only has ONE FAB in Mainland China, the rest are in the United States and some in Europe and the Middle East.

A living wage is calculated off what the market is asking, not how ignorant someone is with their money.

 

[bobob]

Well, this is disgusting news. SHAME on Apple, shame.

Do you buy 100% American made products?

 

[RyanXM]

I get that manufacturing (even just assembly labor) in the US is high. But why not set up shop in Mexico? At least the economic benefit would go to our southerly neighbors. Plus you avoid shipping across the Pacific, and tariffs.

I'm really tired of companies putting all their eggs in the Chinese manufacturing basket.

Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs. We have the skilled workers to assemble these. Period. End of story.
[doublepost=1561734552][/doublepost]

Do you buy 100% American made products?

You do realize that is an impossibility, right?

 

[JayMysterio]

I get that manufacturing (even just assembly labor) in the US is high. But why not set up shop in Mexico? At least the economic benefit would go to our southerly neighbors. Plus you avoid shipping across the Pacific, and tariffs.

I'm really tired of companies putting all their eggs in the Chinese manufacturing basket.

In Mexico, some facilities might not have the standards ( I used to work for Carrier, and they would NOT send a certain product to Mexico. China could make it, but due to the product's size shipping made it cost prohibitive, so it stayed in the States until being discontinued ) Apple requires, that other already established China facilities already have.

 

[mikethemartian]

Companies should just eat the cost of labor.. they make billions and pay workers that whole time a few million max in total in China.

Do you like others telling you what you should do with your money?

 

[RyanXM]

The problem is just not labor - China is also geographically close to many of the material sources and chip manufactures (in addition to many parts that is needed). Apple is a for-profit and publicly traded company - they are responsible for making profits for the stakeholders, not the American job market. Companies make billions are not responsible for eating anything - the consumers are. Would you be happy to pay 1.5x to 2x the price of the current iPhone so a few more fellow Americans can work on assembly lines 24x7?

Are you aware that nearly 70% of an iPhone is from the United States?

There are plenty of American workers that work 2nd or 3rd shift in a manufacturing plant.

And American companies are responsible for the American job market. What an ignorant statement to make!

And having worked at the Fruit Stand for 5 years, do you know how much a replacement iPhone costs an Apple Store? I do. And its lower than any "suspected" teardown cost, orders of magnitude lower.

 

[Plutonius]

and includes some U.S.-made components.

i.e. Apple uses some fasteners that were made in the US .

 

[jeyf]

the consumer electronics industry has long since moved all manufacturing off shore
the vacuum tube Zenith TV was built in the US?

1st world countries should not even try manufacturing. These governments should hope & pray for citizens good at math. I cant understand the American obsession with manufacturing jobs.

 

[JPack]

I get that manufacturing (even just assembly labor) in the US is high. But why not set up shop in Mexico? At least the economic benefit would go to our southerly neighbors. Plus you avoid shipping across the Pacific, and tariffs.

I'm really tired of companies putting all their eggs in the Chinese manufacturing basket.

When was the last time Mexico built a high tech product? When was the last time the Mexican government invested in high tech education for its population?

You can’t just drop a pin on a map and say let’s build here. China spent decades investing in education, know-how, and building infrastructure.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

Labor costs would be higher, but they would save on the tariff (read as tax) when importing the unit back into the United States.

citation needed.

If you go from $3.60/hr in China to $22/hr in USA (Flex employees in TX are probably above that yet) I wouldn't be so confident that it offsets a 25% tariff that itself has been offset by declines in the exchange rate. Certainly not cut and dry.

 

[RyanXM]

the consumer electronics industry has long since moved all manufacturing off shore
the vacuum tube Zenith TV was built in the US?

1st world countries should not even try manufacturing. These governments should hope & pray for citizens good at math. I cant understand the American obsession with manufacturing jobs.

Then maybe you should ask the Japanese or even the Germans why they are moving a lot of their manufacturing to the United States.

 

[JPack]

1st world countries should not even try manufacturing. These governments should hope & pray for citizens good at math. I cant understand the American obsession with manufacturing jobs.

The problem is, out of OECD countries, the U.S. ranks 30th in math.

Hoping and praying is a bad idea.

 

[RyanXM]

citation needed.

If you go from $3.60/hr in China to $22/hr in USA (Flex employees in TX are probably above that yet) I wouldn't be so confident that it offsets a 25% tariff that itself has been offset by declines in the exchange rate. Certainly not cut and dry.

From my understanding, Flex employees in Texas are above $25/hr in most cases. Apple has lost a lot of respect from former employees, especially at the retail level, because we see how much a store makes in a year and the overall labor cost, and Apple is basically running an air conditioned sweat shop.

 

[velocityg4]

I know labor costs are high in the US. But we're talking about assembly of a computer. Not manufacture of components. How long could that possibly take on an assembly line? It takes takes less than an hour to reassemble a complicated laptop computer which I've disassembled. I can't imagine a person working at a bench would take more than a half hour assembling a Mac Pro. If they are doing it day after day. An assembly line would be even quicker. It's not nearly as complex (assembly wise) as some of the older Dell laptops (those things are a nightmare).

 

[Pepe4life]

But Tim told me the tariffs are hurting Apple? Looks like he’s full of s***.