Macbook Pro Assembly in Italy

[RumorConsumer]

Hello! I have ordered several MacBook Pro's (All custom configured), a few to the states and a few to Italy. I notice the Italian ones coming from The Netherlands, not from China like the US ones. Does Apple do assembly in the Netherlands? It seems so. Anybody know.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

"Custom configured" does not necessarily mean someone assembles-to-order. For laptops that are almost entirely soldered, it's more likely that there's a warehouse with pre-built units matching the desired configurations.

The difference between configure-to-order and "stock" may simply be whether Apple finds it beneficial to carry that configuration in its retail stores (and similarly, whether they make them available to other retailers for standard inventory). If there's smaller demand for a particular configuration there may be no point trying to make sure there is one or more matching that configuration in every store's inventory. However, it may be beneficial to keep an inventory in a regional warehouse like the one in The Netherlands.

 

[RumorConsumer]

"Custom configured" does not necessarily mean someone assembles-to-order. For laptops that are almost entirely soldered, it's more likely that there's a warehouse with pre-built units matching the desired configurations.

The difference between configure-to-order and "stock" may simply be whether Apple finds it beneficial to carry that configuration in its retail stores (and similarly, whether they make them available to other retailers for standard inventory). If there's smaller demand for a particular configuration there may be no point trying to make sure there is one or more matching that configuration in every store's inventory. However, it may be beneficial to keep an inventory in a regional warehouse like the one in The Netherlands.

Well for the italian ones they all had US English keyboards. I know Apple's inventory behaviors well, but this was not a "good better best ultimate" situation. And yeah, thats a good guess. I am wondering if anybody knows.

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

They just work out of hubs, in Europe everything is shipped to Schiphol before being sent out to individual countries. When new computers are released, they are often sent directly from the source (Usually out of Shanghai.), however they will slowly stock a hub warehouse with units so they can deliver units more efficiently.

So depends on regional stock, if they had no units in America, they would come straight from China. They must have some units in Europe, hence they are shipping from there.

Assembly is done entirely within China, they don't make custom units as such, they just use an algorithm to guess how many of each configuration they would need (And adjust based on orders), then churn out however many of each one. Otherwise they'd take months to build and deliver.

 

[ctjack]

Netherlands is the biggest post-hub for parcels and shippings. I have even more weird situation. While living in Kazakhstan, i have ordered things from China. FYI, China is located right to Kazakhstan, as Canada and USA.
So in order to receive my package, i have been tracking it going all the way from China to Netherlands and going back to my country.
=================
Actually it was the case only with equipment which had Li-Ion batteries. So laptops, flashlights, phones must be shipped through Netherlands if going from China.

 

[RumorConsumer]

They just work out of hubs, in Europe everything is shipped to Schiphol before being sent out to individual countries. When new computers are released, they are often sent directly from the source (Usually out of Shanghai.), however they will slowly stock a hub warehouse with units so they can deliver units more efficiently.

So depends on regional stock, if they had no units in America, they would come straight from China. They must have some units in Europe, hence they are shipping from there.

Assembly is done entirely within China, they don't make custom units as such, they just use an algorithm to guess how many of each configuration they would need (And adjust based on orders), then churn out however many of each one. Otherwise they'd take months to build and deliver.

Interesting. Good to know. Maybe I enjoy the fantasy of being unique and ordering a unique machine.

 

[RumorConsumer]

My 16" has been sitting at DHL "Tracking information received. Shipment not yet picked up by DHL" since Monday. Anybody know the decoder ring on that?

 

[RumorConsumer]

Funny it just got picked up. NM.