Posted on 01/29/2012 4:15:40 PM PST by lyby
In his State of the Union, President Obama stressed the importance of keeping manufacturing in America. The reasoning is that in order to continue to innovate and develop the next generation must-have products, the US needs manufacturing that uses leading edge technology. Nothing wrong with the reasoning, but it may be too late.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationofchange.org ...
Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only option. One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight."If only we could treat our employees like slaves ... America would be a manufacturing powerhouse again!"A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day.
“The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,” the executive said. “There’s no American plant that can match that.”
I agree, this article is a “load of crap”. A relative of mine, who is a PhD, shared this information, and I wanted to get some feedback from SENSIBLE people!!!
Note the web site hosting the article offers a free Michael Moore book in exchange for contributions.
Thanks, DuncanWaring, for pointing out a fact I had overlooked, but already “intuited”... Left-wing, liberal bullsh*t.
$4.2 Trillion, and it increases every year. Manufacturing jobs, however, have declined - automation.
I agree with your slaves comments...
But if we had the slaves, we can pay then $5 a day and compete with the them [/sarc]
As an aside, I have been doing electronics manufacturing in many parts around the world including the US for almost 17 years. I worked in a factory in the US that made +16,000 cell phones a day and we could switch a line over in less than 8 hours in the US and be at 90% capacity. The Apple executive is either full of BS or ignorant. I think they sell that line to people who know better so that they can maximize their profits without getting hammered. We had a factory in the US that could almost compete with China, but we still had to shut it down, because it cost us about $15-20 per phone more in the US.
Education does not = owning a manufacturing business.
It is not that hard to fix US manufacturing...
1. Promote trade schools and community colleges. I went to a university and it was right for me. There should no stigma for people wishing to go on a different path. Line supervisors should have training and not just be people that think they have good people skills. The factory technicians should have 2 year degrees in an appropriate trade.
2. Incentivize production. The factories I have worked in that were most productive gave all the people in the factory (not managers) bonuses if they hit the goal and an extra bonus if they passed the goals. The goals were set at the right level so people were motivated. The bonuses might be only $20 a week, but it gave people a sense of accomplishment...plus they get something the managers do not get.
3. Engineers, engineers, engineers. Engineers are needed to trouble shoot problems in the factory. I am an engineer and I will be the first to say that nearly all of them should never supervise people, they should stick with their education and solve problems or create new widgets. The few engineers that aspire to be manger must take management courses...period.
4. Last but not least. No unions. Enough said. They instill under-performance.
There might be more, but this is what I have learned from actually working in factories....note, not one things is required by government.
It speaks very poorly for our education system if third world countries are stealing jobs because of poor education. Our public education system has poor quality teachers and too many poor quality students. You choose who to blame
What has that got to do with H1B? Nothing, actually.
US workers will lose from three reasons: multinational mentality of corporate CEO’s; fanatical EPA disciples who live in isolated communities with no connection where or how goods and utilities are created; deliberate decision by the Fed Reserve with politician approval to inflate their way out of debt. If workers in America want a fighting chance, eliminate all three because no matter what you do you will never get ahead.
Example lower taxes and regs may keep corporation in the US for a short while because CEO’s will tell the Chinese and Indian workers to lower their wages again before US will reopen the factories in their land. If the Chinese and Indians agree, CEO will demand US workers to lower their wages and gov to eliminate more regs/lower taxes. This cycle will keep going until the gov no longer has any ideas what CEO’s do, corporations will pay no taxes, accountable to no one and American/Chinese/Indian workers will be slaves.
You can have the most educated work force in the US, lower taxes and lesser regs, corporate America will play us against the Chinese and Indians until everyone has very little and corporate CEO’s have everything.
It also means import tariffs to at least partially equalize the cost of labor between here and China.
Raising the price to domestic consumers won’t do a damned thing but make it more costly to the consumer
You didn't get that you posted a summary of Obama's SOTU Address?
because it cost us about $15-20 per phone more in the US.
Because of BS government regulations and taxes, more than wages I’ll bet
That is the point. There are DOMESTIC social, security and fiscal costs of letting slaves do our manufacturing. Right now middle class taxes and the Fed monetary policy have been covering up the mess but that will end, sooner rather than later.
Funny how after 30 years of working as an Engineer in aerospace, I haven't met a single airline pilot working in manufacturing. You must be telepathic.
Automation has nothing to do with offshored labor, genius.
Isn't it amazing that 77 years after the Railway Labor Act, guys like yourself are still protected from foreign carriers operating in the United States, and aircraft manufacturers are still prohibited from owning an airline, something engineered by your union back then because "Boeing would have too sweet of a deal"?
It's the reason Bill Boeing left his namesake company.
well, are you not a pompous one...
***Note the web site hosting the article offers a free Michael Moore book in exchange for contributions.***
That is the comment to which I replied. YES, I realized I had “posted a summary of Obama’s (Obambi) SOTU address!! (D*ckw*d)
Now, I realize... To quote YOU:
“No, I do not respect you. You spend far too much time here.”
Perhaps, YOU should spend time elsewhere.
And just to refresh my memory, did you refer to it as "spot on?"
Apparently, you cannot read nor comprehend the English language... Back up and attempt to re-read and process my comments regarding the article...
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