State report says Foxconn's Wisconsin plant 'more of a showcase' than a factory
A Wisconsin state report on Foxconn's troubled factory concluded that the project shows no sign of actual LCD manufacturing, and likely never will.
Credit: Engineering News-Record
The evaluation contradicts statements from Foxconn, which insisted earlier in 2020 that the plant would be producing LCD panels sometime this year.
The report on Wednesday, issued by the Wisconsin Division of Executive Budget and Finance, states that Foxconn's plant "may be better suited for demonstration purposes rather than as a viable commercial glass fabrication facility." The Verge was the first to report on the analysis.
Foxconn has yet to properly outfit the factory with the necessary equipment. And even if the facility were to produce LCD panels, the state report indicated that it would be the smallest Gen 6 plant in the world -- not the sprawling Gen 10.5 LCD factory that the company promised.
If the company did any manufacturing in the facility at all, the analysis continued, it would likely only be the final assembly of components shipped from other plants. That project would be much smaller in scope that Foxconn's contract with the state proposed.
In fact, earlier in October, the state denied Foxconn's bid for tax subsidies of that. At the time, state officials suggested that they were still open to negotiate new terms for the plant.
Foxconn said that it would open the plant in May 2020 with 1,500 jobs, about 300 short of the number necessary to secure subsidies. That has, of course, been delayed, and it isn't clear if any manufacturing will take place at the facility at all.
The report on Wednesday said that the factory "would appear to be more of a showcase than a business viable for the long term."
Credit: Engineering News-Record
The evaluation contradicts statements from Foxconn, which insisted earlier in 2020 that the plant would be producing LCD panels sometime this year.
The report on Wednesday, issued by the Wisconsin Division of Executive Budget and Finance, states that Foxconn's plant "may be better suited for demonstration purposes rather than as a viable commercial glass fabrication facility." The Verge was the first to report on the analysis.
Foxconn has yet to properly outfit the factory with the necessary equipment. And even if the facility were to produce LCD panels, the state report indicated that it would be the smallest Gen 6 plant in the world -- not the sprawling Gen 10.5 LCD factory that the company promised.
If the company did any manufacturing in the facility at all, the analysis continued, it would likely only be the final assembly of components shipped from other plants. That project would be much smaller in scope that Foxconn's contract with the state proposed.
In fact, earlier in October, the state denied Foxconn's bid for tax subsidies of that. At the time, state officials suggested that they were still open to negotiate new terms for the plant.
Foxconn said that it would open the plant in May 2020 with 1,500 jobs, about 300 short of the number necessary to secure subsidies. That has, of course, been delayed, and it isn't clear if any manufacturing will take place at the facility at all.
The report on Wednesday said that the factory "would appear to be more of a showcase than a business viable for the long term."
Comments
There's an absolutely buck-wild podcast episode about this boondoggle, includes absolute jaw-dropping excerpts of town hall meetings in the Mount Pleasant where the project gets railroaded through. You truly need to listen to believe it. https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/wbhjwd/132-negative-mount-pleasant
https://www.theverge.com/21507966/csk-8th-wonder-of-the-world
Amazing that this is the same company that assembles so many of Apples hundreds of millions of iPhones every year.
The benefits usually attributed to capitalism only works on a market with strong buyers, and instead we've ended up with capitalistic systems with predominantly strong sellers; which not only gives a weirdly tilted market for the consumer, but we also end up with politicians that by not being able to do the math behind the deals end up giving the corporations incentives to work against the interests of the people/taxpayers.
Most people wanting to be in politics, and that want to negotiate with the corporate representatives, are straight up too incompetent to be doing that; and the politicians aren't supported by teams of accountants (and game theory experts) that can make sure that they understand the deals that they make.
I'm not saying we should pay people less, just that it's hard for U.S. workers to compete with people in other countries that are willing to work for (literally) a few dollars a day!
Th truth is that 1,800 factories have disappeared, and the increase in jobs is no different than annual gains over the past decade. (BLS 2020; U.S. Census Bureau 2020a, 2020b).
https://www.epi.org/publication/reshoring-manufacturing-jobs/