Ah, sorry. I had interpreted your post as being negative about the past, as if TC was doing something now that's a lot different than what had been done in the past.
Carry on.
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Tim Cook's Email to Apple Staff Regarding Supplier Responsibility Report
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Ah, sorry. I had interpreted your post as being negative about the past, as if TC was doing something now that's a lot different than what had been done in the past.
Carry on.
If the gentleman's stories that were aired on This American Life (and countless other reports) are true, I hope to God Apple is, and stays, serious about these statements.
Count me among those who applaud Apple for their record of improvement in this area. But their efforts are far from perfect. Check out Mike Daisey's story on episode 454 of "This American Life." Just sayin'
Samsung is even worse than Apple
Have a look at http://www.publiceye.ch/en/vote/samsung/ to get an idea about the production conditions at Samsung. They're outright evil.
Have a look at http://www.publiceye.ch/en/vote/samsung/ to get an idea about the production conditions at Samsung. They're outright evil.
How about ALL the employees?
It is a wonderful thing that Apple is being proactive about the factory workers but wouldn't it also be nice if they were as concerned about their retail employees also? There is a reason we have seen more and more articles about employees complaining, suing or threatening unions. I don't think they should get special treatment, I think they should get fair treatment. It isn't at every store but there are stores with horrible work environments. Allowing Work Place Bullies in Apple management at retail stores is the utmost abuse. Work place bullies are hard to catch because they are devious but even harder to catch when HR protects them. Our local store has had the entire original staff Managed Out by a work place bully in less then a year. That is dozens of dedicated and well trained employees that were abused because of one person. Almost the entire management team consists of a bunch of ex-Gap managers that don't know or care about the Apple culture.
This is right here in our backyard. Shouldn't a company like Apple think different and change how retail employees are treated? Why repeat the "Gap" retail mentality when it was recently sited as one of the three worst retail experiences?
It is a wonderful thing that Apple is being proactive about the factory workers but wouldn't it also be nice if they were as concerned about their retail employees also? There is a reason we have seen more and more articles about employees complaining, suing or threatening unions. I don't think they should get special treatment, I think they should get fair treatment. It isn't at every store but there are stores with horrible work environments. Allowing Work Place Bullies in Apple management at retail stores is the utmost abuse. Work place bullies are hard to catch because they are devious but even harder to catch when HR protects them. Our local store has had the entire original staff Managed Out by a work place bully in less then a year. That is dozens of dedicated and well trained employees that were abused because of one person. Almost the entire management team consists of a bunch of ex-Gap managers that don't know or care about the Apple culture.
This is right here in our backyard. Shouldn't a company like Apple think different and change how retail employees are treated? Why repeat the "Gap" retail mentality when it was recently sited as one of the three worst retail experiences?
No, ford was not. GM and Chrysler were.
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Dear lord, please save this person from teh drugs.
Superior? Even if Apple manufactured stuff in USA, it would be mexican, taiwanese, chinese people doing the manufacturing, so basically the same people under almost the same conditions. The only thing that'll be different will be their wages, which will be extremely low in USA, although higher than the ones getting in China.
About the prices of the end products, who would actually pay 1500$ for a phone instead of 300$?
More and more I really am liking this guy. He really is good for Apple and its future.
He has a lot of promise, since it sounds like he might be willing to make a product *fatter* in order to make it *better*.
The "thin" obsession was a problem with the old regime.
Note where I mentioned if parts were sourced domestically as well (as in made 100% here, not assembled from parts made in China), as in not from stuff made in China. The point is that the components made for these machines are crap, so yes if you only assembled them here, very little (if anything) would change.
I think you're over estimating the difference in cost. I'm not sure if it was this thread, but I also mentioned that the real issue is outsourcing of skilled positions (like engineering jobs).
Are you saying you imagine that high volume mass production in the US looks like it does in China? Instead of a skilled workforce of Production Engineers continually innovating assembly automation, we use hundreds of thousands of pairs of hands doing everything manually because labor has no value? Are you nuts?
I'm almost getting a perverse kick out of this, seeing people from the most brash anti-communist country in the world, ignoring the fact that we're still the biggest manufacturing country on earth, actively advocating that the finest devices on the market can and should only exist as a viable product in our glorious market if there is a gigantic communist government system and all the abuses that come with it, subsidizing an entire city and company of wage slaves to produce it.
Isn't that convenient...
Not sure how Apple are or ever have been 'doing the right thing' and this latest PR move essentially changes nothing about their supply chain except unannounced visits but only to something like 5% of their suppliers.
Luckily the working conditions for the Chinese who make these and so many other electronics will largely be ignored or unnoticed by most Americans so everything can carry on as normal and everyone can turn a blind eye to how they can get a computer in their pocket for $200.
And to everyone who complains that the cost of a US-made iPhone would be 10 times greater and therefore drive Apple out of business- this is a bigger question than for this thread really- I would suggest a few tariffs on imported goods might help balance up the trade gap for this country. Though of course everyone is quite happy with the status quo (cheap goods at whatever cost to the anonymous slave labor putting it together on the other side of the world- out of sight and out of mind).
Is there an American-made alternative to any Apple product line?
Now how about AMERICANS start buying MADE IN USA products dispite it's priced at 2x or 3x vs MADE IN CHINA.
You don't blame companies, they only sell whatever the consumer is willing to pay for.
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Naive. In manufacturing, Direct Cost of Labor is a big chunk of the total cost of the product.
Naive. You can't compete (in this open market where the consumers are willing to buy cheaper products) when you labor is 24 USD/Hr vs... for example... 4 USD/day in Mexico.
Where is unskilled labor 24USD per hour? I know a ton of bums who never went to school that would be happy to make half that.
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This isn't going to happen. Someone needs to step in, be it companies, or government, or both. Also, I am not sure if you noticed this, but people don't buy Apple products because they are a lower cost alternative.
Your figures are actually quite far off. I'm not sure if you're a troll or just ignorant. You also chose to ignore how I said the real problem was outsourcing of positions requiring skill or a degree.
The manufacturing thing has been ongoing since the 70s or so. It's become noticeable because things have hastened over the last decade. Consumer spending power has been in a slump, so companies cut costs. It will only get worse. When you start to source out things like IT jobs, engineering positions, etc. you grow the skilled workforce in a country that has yet to go through the periods of inflation seen in the US. If it matters, your theoretical numbers are highly inaccurate. There are a few companies that manufacture here in computers, ram, and SSDs. Intel did for a bit (on SSDs), but I'm not sure if that changed more recently. Boxx makes their towers here. Laptops are still sent out. You pay more, but not 3x as much. You're just coming up with arbitrary numbers that sound good to your troll mind
. Mexico's situation has been shifting. Again I think you're just making up numbers.Exactly. It's really distasteful to me that a Communist country with an abhorrent human rights record makes almost all the products we buy now under dubious worker and environmental conditions. If Tim Cook wants to get that underage worker number to zero, open a factory or two in the States that is under US labor and environmental law and give Americans jobs they so desperately need.
This is not crazy talk, either -- we already know that Samsung opened a giant chip manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas which produces, among other things, the iPhone/iPad's A5 chip. Obviously Texas gave them a great deal on corporate taxes and whatnot to be able to operate here without increasing production costs. So why is a foreign company willing to put a plant here, yet American companies are happy to ship all the jobs overseas? Apple is always happy to put "Designed in California" on their products, but I would love to see "Manufactured in America".
Team,
As you know by now, many Apple Executives have been seen with a slightly pale and greenish skin tone. The truth is, weve been rolling in money for the past 5 years. Im not talking 20's either.
We hope that you will respect the privacy of them and their families, as they go through "hang out with poor people" treatment to reverse the skin disorder.
Regards,
Tim Cook
As you know by now, many Apple Executives have been seen with a slightly pale and greenish skin tone. The truth is, weve been rolling in money for the past 5 years. Im not talking 20's either.
We hope that you will respect the privacy of them and their families, as they go through "hang out with poor people" treatment to reverse the skin disorder.
Regards,
Tim Cook
When your display is made in Japan, your flash chips from korea, PCB and components from China, battery and all other major components are from some other country in the far east; how will it make sense to have your manufacturing in the USA?
It would be feasible for Apple to manufacture in America if the parts they need are also made in USA. That sort of thing requires government intervention. Those fat cats in congress should start earning their keep and pass laws that make it attractive to invest in american manufacturing again.
It would be feasible for Apple to manufacture in America if the parts they need are also made in USA. That sort of thing requires government intervention. Those fat cats in congress should start earning their keep and pass laws that make it attractive to invest in american manufacturing again.
This is already done in industries like automobiles. Nissan, Toyota and other foreign corps have factories here. Obviously their parts are sourced from all over, but they are assembled in the USA. I'm not suggesting that Apple immediately switch 100% to local manufacturing, but at least assembly would be a good start.
I certainly agree with that!
This doesn't hold up- it's like saying "they sell them in the USA- why do they make them all the way over in China?".
The point is a moral one anyway for the most part. It doesn't make sense right now from a financial standpoint. Not until enough of their customer base care enough about it, anyway.
Its more than just the labor that makes the american toaster $55. (better materials, quality control, build quality) The costs of assembly are much less than you would actually think, especially considering the efficiency an assembly line. Apple could make a phone here and still make boatloads of money. The assembly costs are only a couple of percent of the price of the product. We're talking only a few dollars at most increase in cost to apple, something they could easily absorb.
You are either very uneducated or spreading falsehoods intentionally. Apple has been conducting audits at companies in China and providing reports about the results since 2007.
I personally have been employed by a US company in violation of labor law while I was underage. Not a small company, but one whose stock symbol is a single letter. What you may not realize is that underage workers are employed because they want to work. The money that I made at that company which employed me contrary to labour law helped significantly financing my years at university, so I wasn't complaining. If you think building a plant in the USA would prevent underage employment, that would only be true if there is not a single young person in the USA who is not quite 16 yet, wanting to make money, and willing to lie about their age.
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Posts here say a US-made iPhone would cost anywhere from $1000 to $2500! C'mon, how much labor is there in a phone?
BTW, many cars made here are assembled from both parts made here and from parts brought in. Somehow it doesn't seem too daunting to bring in a battery connector when other plants bring in entire car engines...
BTW, many cars made here are assembled from both parts made here and from parts brought in. Somehow it doesn't seem too daunting to bring in a battery connector when other plants bring in entire car engines...