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Toshiba and Apple to Invest $1.2 Billion in Factory to Produce iPhone LCDs
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I totally agree, they got their start in this country, their headquarters is in the U.S. and yet like so many other companies, they're handing jobs to Asia; why? We need the jobs here and it would make a noticeable impact on the business community.
Would I pay more for a U.S. made product? Yes! I am proud to be an American and I support my neighbors. The offshoring of America has killed us, loss of pride in our products, unemployment at record highs, etc., and the worst is yet to come.
Americans aren't the only customers of apple products. Apple only look to increase their profits. That's it.
Notice that, as always, that the anti-american posters alway come up with the "kiddie" thing. It is part of their talking points that they are adults and all-knowing while the rest of us are stupid, naive and childish.
And, as we have seen, they are always scanning discussions here and elsewhere to try to counter any make it in America talk and generally get right on it.
Lol! As an educated American, I would also agree that Japan kicks technology manufacturing a$$. Not only do they do it, they do it very well with good quality. There is a reason that some of the top tech companies are in Japan. Not started here and moved there, but started there and kicked global butt. The Japanese work ethic exceeds the USA right now too. That's not anti American, that's identifing a problem that, if we want to compete in this area, needs to be changed.
Cheering for your country does not mean sticking your head in the sand...
I'm afraid you're correct. Even though the methods for maximizing the manufacturing effectiveness through a focus on quality have been developed by American statisticians (and successfully taught to and adopted by Japanese), the American businesses have not been nearly as successful in this regard. Perhaps the culprit in the US is our focus on a near-term profit as compared to an ability to deliver a long-term value by building successful brands. The Japanese and German companies have been highly successful in making their products synonymous with quality. For the most part, we have not.
The funny thing is that many people legitimately believe that Apple products are made in America. When I tried to sell my iPhone 3G, the guy took one look at the back and said "this is a counterfeit. Apple products are made in the US.....right?". No other firm is vilified (as much) for being an American icon that manufacturers overseas (except maybe Ford). Wonder why...
If you act stupid and talk naive and childish, it's possible to be thought of as such.
I love how you spun this as an international anti-American conspiracy where it's really a anti-stupid "wake-up and smell reality" conspiracy headed by an international cartel of intelligent people.
I don't think anybody is vilifying Apple, at least I'm not, anyway. I think some folks here are just expressing their desire to see a successful American company manufacture their goods here.
Apple recognizes and addresses many concerns their customers have, for instance, being green in their computers & devices and buildings. This is a long term, approach they've taken and used in the marketing. In another instance, they predominantly feature the "Designed by Apple in California" slogan on their packaging. They know this type of consumer appeal is welcome and increasingly necessary for business.
I, and others here, think Apple would do well to bring their manufacturing back to the US, both for the company and the consumer.
Yeah. People are acting like large companies are acting with the interest of a particular nation in mind. It's actually that large companies don't care about nations that is the "problem". All they know is that their product becomes better and/or cheaper if produced in a particular geographical location. And quite frankly, assuming humans are not abused, I have no problem with wealth being spread around, especially to developing nations. I understand that as an American with an above average education that my view is skewed. With help from others I saw that education was the way forward, debt be damned.
Manufacturing built this county, but it will not sustain it, and it is not the future. Other much smaller countries with more fragile economies have figured this out. See Isreal as an example of a country that gets it, and Ireland as a country that sees it and is trying to adapt as quickly as possible.
How much extra would you be prepared to pay for US manufactured Apple products?
10%, 20%, 30%+ ?
Apple products are already very expensive here in Europe and the rest of the world. Increasing the prices even higher wouldn't be very popular, especially as 'made in the USA' doesn't have the same meaning for us as it has for you.
Perhaps they could keep the US made stuff for the home market and charge you the same prices that the rest of us pay.
All I know is that Apple has, what, $35 billion or so in cash reserves, debt free. This is real life money that they could potentially use to buy out some overseas tech or just ride out the recession (even though they are selling at a rapid clip).
I think the only ones who will benefit are those who get the warm and fuzzies for not supporting those "others" across the pond, which from a patriotic standpoint, I can appreciate. But I realize that those (not necessarily you, or anyone else here) who will call for boycotts of companies that produce overseas oft do so while consuming imported goods either knowingly or inadvertently. I doubt Apple haters, who already call Apple goods overpriced, will simply change their tune because it's made in America.
As I said, I'd be willing to pay more. Thing is, how much more would it really cost? I certainly don't know myself. And I don't know that anybody here is qualified to answer that question. I couldn't give an exact figure until I knew the price.
It'd be a huge investment to build facilities, but with $50 Billion in the bank, I'd guess they could absorb the initial cost early on without passing on the prices. If they built in a right to work state, they could bypass Unions. They'd get US, state and local government tax breaks, a marketable angle, significant drop in shipping costs, etc. Again, I'm no economist, but it seems that it's possible to manufacture here without a 30% mark up. Are Japanese laborers really that much cheaper than American workers?
So, you admit that it is an international cartel behind this!!!!!!!! You will be severely punished by your handlers for this gaff.
BTW, how do you get into this cartel of intelligent people? Is there a test to qualify?
Also, your unsophisticated writing clearly indicates that you are a minor functionary, at best, in this cartel of intelligent people.
I didn't really mean the Japanese Toshiba workers in this piece, I was thinking more about the majority of Chinese made Apple made products. And don't forget most of the components used in Apple products are also made in the far east so it would still mean almost the same shipping costs even if you assemble in the US.
I was just interested to see how much extra you was prepared to stump up for US goods.
I work in manufacturing myself and we have lost a few of our customers to far eastern suppliers. On one component we make, our customer was able to buy the finished article from China for less than the raw material costs we were paying in the UK.
Do you think Intel chips are world class? Most if not all are made in the USA.
Could you please list for me all the ways that manufacturing desktop grade CPU chips parallels small LCD manufacturing? Or did you just mentally clump the two processes together based on both of them being beyond your current level of comprehension?
Also, what do you mean "Most if not all are made in the USA"? You couldn't possible mean manufacturers of microprocessors, could you? Because you'd be pretty wrong(Take with the usual wiki-grain-of-salt).
But back on topic...There are any number of ways that manufacturing outfits compete with each other. Cost, quality, contract, time to retool, quantity, secrecy, etc. etc.
Even *IF* Apple wanted to go into LCD manufacturing, which I hope they don't, I'd hazard a guess and say that they'd have a hard time finding employees. Oh don't get me wrong, they could find plenty of people that want a paycheck, but not experienced workers. Countries that already have a history of this can higher a large number of experienced workers, and let the new people filter in and train as they go.
Personally, I'd rather Apple continue contracting out the components, as long as they can find partners that provide the quality. If Toshiba decides to invest they'd money and future in Japan, there is little Apple can/should do about that.
I've worked in semiconductor for 30 years and most of Intels chips are made in the USA. The US can't give all it's manufacturing jobs away. That would leave us in the same position we are in with oil.
Actually, we may have about as much oil reserves as we have semiconductor manufacturers
So I take it than that what you meant was that Intel chips are manufactured here in the US, not that most microprocessors are produced in the US? You didn't directly clarify that point, but it seems to be what you're talking about now. I would agree that most of the Intel chips are produced in the US...I live not too far from a few of those plants
You just named 3 areas that the US pioneered many of the advances in the last couple decades. Aviation, Aerospace, and ridiculous muscle cars. I will not speak to how directly these jobs translate to LCD production, but I'm betting you can't take a closed factory for corvettes (and more likely a crystler minivan) and have them all switch to making LCD displays.
And spy satellites? honestly? Those are not main stream production line components. We are not going to fix unemployment by building more spy satellites, you are going to give educated individuals like myself a chance for a better job... and actually I may not even be smart enough for that kind of work.
The point people were making was not that the US can't do extreme tech. In fact that is America's only path IMHO. We were talking about precision production (for which microprocessors are a better example than what you gave), not the intelligence and ingenuity of the American population.
It's okay that you became confused or sidetracked, you aren't the only one in this thread
tangentially relevant
...and before anyone posts a response without engaging their brain, Tundras are made in Texas....
...and before anyone posts a response without engaging their brain, Tundras are made in Texas....