Posted on 06/18/2011 3:57:21 PM PDT by BfloGuy
You don’t hear news like this too often these days, but according to Japanese business daily The Nikkei, HP is planning to shift part of its notebook production from China to Japan in the next few months. The Californian company plans to eventually manufacture all computers for sale in Japan in factories in Akishima near Tokyo.
For that, HP plans to hire 50% more workers in Akishima, boosting the number of employees there to 450. According to the Nikkei, labor costs in Japan are about four times higher than in China. But with this move, HP apparently wants to increase efficiency, be closer to the market, stand out with a “made-in-Japan” moniker, and push down delivery times especially to Japanese business customers.
(Excerpt) Read more at crunchgear.com ...
As someone who translates the internal business reports of various Japanese firms, China is not as great of an investment as people think. My clients are leaving China for Thailand or leaving to central China.
Productivity of all but the most basic materials is low, wages are rising dramatically on the coast though production is mediocre, while the wages of central China are low and productivity is abysmal.
Japanese workers do not work as proxy slaves as the Chinese do. Add to the fact that China is becoming more and more unstable. Korea and Japan are expensive places to put plants, but productivity is way better.
“Good maybe HP quality will go up. I know the last two notebooks I bought from them were junk...”
That’s because they are junk. HP laptops are THE worst in terms of build quality, reliability and longevity. Except for their old Omnibook series, they always have been and still are.
Right now, in the consumer class, I’ve been recommending Dell laptops first and then Toshiba. Essentially the special models made for BestBuy, et. al.
Amongst the business class laptops, the Panasonic Toughbooks are head and shoulders above the best, and Panasonics have ALWAYS been made in Japan, though service and support is all in the good ol’ USA, with all warranties runnning for three years.
Panasonic is also just now releasing a new model, the CF-53, which moves them a little more into the mainstream now in terms of features and weight. Heretofore, the Toughbook line consisted of tank-like models and those little slimmed down skinny jobs that cost a fortune.
Works for me. You would be surpised to know just how many companies are currently doing just that out here in the “boonies”. We have a loyal non-union workforce, and can always use the work.
I am glad to hear another person also say that HP laptops are junk. Their PCs are no better. When people call me to fix their dead technology toys, a lot of it is HP.
You’ve reminded me of changing my tag line,
The Economic Boom Heard Around The World => TEA Party 2012
Japan will be fine.
HP’s consumer line is lower quality, just like Dell/Toshiba/Lenova/etc. Their business-lines as well as their Envy lines are quite good.
the new Envy’s match (in some cases,) the Macbook pro line but you’ll pay for it.
I suspect this move is for those higher end lines.
>.Good maybe HP quality will go up. I know the last two notebooks I bought from them were junk...<
Yup. JUNK. Will NEVER buy Hp ever. Their customer service is the worst, even their tIER 2 CS in Vancouver, canada. (No wonder they riot so much).
If the production costs are higher, they will pass on the “savings” to their customers so their cheapest crappy laptops will probably sell for $500 more. Oh goody. (s/)
The keyboards will glow in the dark. Don’t you like that? I had to pay extra for it last year. Now free.
Great news!! Hope this trend to move away from China-made junk continues!
Because corporations are in business to make money. Taking a hit on higher pay to the Japanese will produce better quality products in the long run (albeit slightly irradiated).
Higher taxes are coming to US businesses and the rule of law has pretty broken down so it is not a climate conducive to business.
I’ve had good luck with HP Desktops. Laptops, not so much.
because HP forgot who they came to the with.
“When people call me to fix their dead technology toys, a lot of it is HP.”
Ditto. And frequently they’re so broken they’re not cost-effective to repair so I have to tell people they’d be better off to buy a new laptop.
Take a look at them moccasins. What kind of skins is them? What's that writing mean? Nikkei...what is that?
China, Japan, and the UK: the United States’ greatest three debt holders, correct?
Or for that matter, look for a nice lady to settle down and get busy with.
Or to help raise any children, too.
How did there ever get to be 100,000,000 Japanese? Someone was doing some fooling around somewhere.
Correction, 127 million.
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