Steve Jobs wanted ultra-optimized US manufacturing, Apple vets say
Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was, for a time, deadset on U.S.-based manufacturing of computers, an effort which collapsed after just eight years.
A factory in Milpitas, Calif., circa 1984.
Steve Jobs had "deep convictions" about Japanese-style manufacturing, according to Randy Battat, who told the New York Times about his time as an electrical engineer at Apple and helping to launch early laptops. The company established U.S.-based Macintosh manufacturing in the early 1980s, beginning with a heavily automated factory in Fremont, Calif.
"The Japanese were heralded as wizards of manufacturing," Battat explained. "The idea was to create a factory with just-in-time delivery of zero-defect parts. It wasn't great for business."
In fact the result was "really shameful" and slipshod, said Jean-Louis Gassee, a French office automation specialist who became president of Apple's product division in 1988, well after Jobs' departure. He blamed the issue at least in part on overall deficiencies in U.S. infrastructure.
"We don't have a manufacturing culture," Gassee complained, "meaning the substrate, the schooling, the apprentices, the subcontractors."
President Donald Trump and others have urged companies like Apple to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. Decades of corporate offshoring have drained the country of its capabilities in that area however, and higher labor, safety, and environmental standards would likely increase Apple's expenses and already high pricetags. The company has nevertheless done some U.S. manufacturing in the post-Jobs era, namely building the cylindrical Mac Pro in a factory in Austin.
A factory in Milpitas, Calif., circa 1984.
Steve Jobs had "deep convictions" about Japanese-style manufacturing, according to Randy Battat, who told the New York Times about his time as an electrical engineer at Apple and helping to launch early laptops. The company established U.S.-based Macintosh manufacturing in the early 1980s, beginning with a heavily automated factory in Fremont, Calif.
"The Japanese were heralded as wizards of manufacturing," Battat explained. "The idea was to create a factory with just-in-time delivery of zero-defect parts. It wasn't great for business."
In fact the result was "really shameful" and slipshod, said Jean-Louis Gassee, a French office automation specialist who became president of Apple's product division in 1988, well after Jobs' departure. He blamed the issue at least in part on overall deficiencies in U.S. infrastructure.
"We don't have a manufacturing culture," Gassee complained, "meaning the substrate, the schooling, the apprentices, the subcontractors."
President Donald Trump and others have urged companies like Apple to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. Decades of corporate offshoring have drained the country of its capabilities in that area however, and higher labor, safety, and environmental standards would likely increase Apple's expenses and already high pricetags. The company has nevertheless done some U.S. manufacturing in the post-Jobs era, namely building the cylindrical Mac Pro in a factory in Austin.
Comments
If we don't want to manufacture anything, we don't want to build anything, we don't want to work in agriculture, we don't want to study sciences, we don't want to work as engineers, we don't want to be doctors, what the hell are we good for? Are we going to be pigs for the rest of the world to raise until we get fat enough to be slaughtered?
We can have robotic factories built in the US and train our citizens to maintain and program robots. If we don't know how to do this, let's invite Chinese, Japanese, and Germans to help us out, pay them handsomely, and learn how to make our own crap efficiently by leveraging the latest robotic technologies for manufacturing. This could not be done three decades ago, but with the advance of technology, it is now possible.
http://profoundlydisconnected.com
Until we see a balance of more stuff like the above it's only going to get worse. For over 50 years we have denigrated those who don't go off to college to be properly indoctrinated and then wonder why when politics is put above all else we are loosing our edge?
https://youtu.be/sT6aphdX0rI
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk306ZkNOuc
What was created was a process and a system to turn components into phones. It can be done anywhere it’s just a question of profitability and margins.
It is the American education system that cause the shortage of doctor and IT professional in US. Look how much money it will cost a family to put a child in med school or maybe just university.
It will be super easy for Apple/Foxconn to triple iPhone production in China in few days. It will takes months for Apple to do the same in US. And years to fired the people they don’t need.
The problem with automation at this level, it become costly to always update as new products and designs come down the pike. Apple manufacturing at the time had a very low labor content, but had high capital expense.
All good comments above.
Just a couple of thoughts: 65,000 American factories moved overseas in the last 30 years or so. Gutting the middle class. (Short-term CEO's didn't care China was stealing IP.)
Having said this, I had a friend who worked for Ford all his life at a dealership. in 1968 he ordered a new Mustang from the factory. When it arrived, there was a rattling noise in the passenger door. He removed the inside door panel to find an empty glass Coke bottle. On a whim, he removed the driver's side door panel. Yep, you guessed it! He found another empty glass Coke bottle. Anecdotal, I know, but it's one of the reasons Executive Management moved plants overseas.
My CEO dad used to say, a window washer making a $11/hr., does not want to pay an auto-worker $36/hr. to make his car. That was in the late 70's.
All the Common Core curriculum has been terrible. Gloss over everything and learn almost nothing.
I'm always uncomfortable with people going after the individuals who are trying to improve their lot in life by taking advantage of programs like H1B. I have a lot of respect for people with drive and initiative. Blame for destructive policies should be placed on those who create and implement the policies, not those who are trying to make a living. Yeah, those workers who are being replaced due to high salaries, age, diminishing skills, or any other factors that companies deem to impact their bottom line (whether legal or not) are also in a bad place. Unfortunately, unless you or your mom or dad own the company, you are just another chicken in the slaughterhouse, and what good is solidarity among chickens when your collective fates are predetermined by the system, which in this case is capitalism itself? Everyone loves it when it the system works in their favor, but when the tables are turned, you're going to lose your feathers, and your head.