I love the overtones of this article indirectly (but surely not accidentally) refer to self-replicating machines ala Von Neumann:
Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata : http://cba.mit.edu/events/03.11.ASE/docs/VonNeumann.pdf
All NeXT Inc.'s Plant Lacks Is Orders (1990)
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Re: All NeXT Inc.'s Plant Lacks Is Orders (1990)
#12Here's a low quality video of the factory from back in the day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhfUKEu7sJ0 (The copy of the video is low quality that is, the original production values were excellent)
Here's a better quality video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb7foG1rtlA
Re: All NeXT Inc.'s Plant Lacks Is Orders (1990)
#13The best I could find on the fate of this factory was from Wikipedia [1].
"NeXT withdrew from the hardware business in 1993 and the company was renamed NeXT Software Inc; subsequently 300 of the 540 staff employees were laid off. NeXT negotiated to sell the hardware business including the Fremont factory to Canon. Canon later pulled out of the deal. Work on the PowerPC machines was stopped along with all hardware production."
The choice of storage technology always seemed to me to be the reason it didn't take off. Kind of a bummer that it didn't work out (some would say it did, à la Apple).
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXT#1993.E2.80.931996:_NeXT_So...
Re: All NeXT Inc.'s Plant Lacks Is Orders (1990)
#14"In Mr. Jobs's view, the factory testifies to the fact that the United States can still compete as both a low-cost and a world-class manufacturer when it sets its mind to the task." I suppose he has changed his position?
Manufacturing in the US has never been better. It's the number of people needed to manufacture stuff in the US that's been declining.
Do you have a link where you read that? Not implying it's not true-- just want to know more and searches are coming up empty
Re: All NeXT Inc.'s Plant Lacks Is Orders (1990)
#15The best I could find on the fate of this factory was from Wikipedia [1]. "NeXT withdrew from the hardware business in 1993 and the company was renamed NeXT Software Inc; subsequently 300 of the 540 staff employees were laid off. NeXT negotiated to sell the hardware business including the Fremont factory to Canon. Canon later pulled out of the deal. Work on the PowerPC machines was stopped along with all hardware pro…
I remember well going to a NeXT exhibit at Michigan State. I was blown away by the beauty of the machine but thought the disk storage and lack of color graphics were deal killers.
The sales guy working the booth was quick to let me know that I could order a machine with a hard drive and that I didn't have to take the optical disk. In fact he said everyone was ordering them that way. But he grew silent when asked when asked about the availability of color monitors.
Sure wish I had known when the universities NeXT cubes went through salvage because I would have certaintly bought one - they were absolutely beautiful.
Re: All NeXT Inc.'s Plant Lacks Is Orders (1990)
#16"In Mr. Jobs's view, the factory testifies to the fact that the United States can still compete as both a low-cost and a world-class manufacturer when it sets its mind to the task." I suppose he has changed his position?
Manufacturing in the US has never been better. It's the number of people needed to manufacture stuff in the US that's been declining.
I'm assuming that you have relatively recent experience in order to make this kind of statement. If you are happy with the cost, quality, capability and flexibility of your US-based contract manufacturing solution, please name names as there are many people who would be interested.
Re: All NeXT Inc.'s Plant Lacks Is Orders (1990)
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Manufacturing in the US has never been better. It's the number of people needed to manufacture stuff in the US that's been declining.
Due to wage/cost inflation in China and the coming rise of the Yuan (along with the weakness of the dollar), the US is about to become the cheapest place for high end manufacturing in the world.
Modulo regulatory approval, of course. Most of my family works in various manufacturing industries (high end foundry, steel mills, etc.) and you're looking at years to get even the most basic permits through unless you are in one of the states that allow you to "purchase" fast-track approval. Companies end up buying the old, dead husks of manufacturing plants that went out of business not because they want any of the machines or people but because their permits are often still valid and in some cases transferable to your other locations.
Even if you wanted to expand to meet increasing demand, the opportunity will be gone before you can get approval to build out for it (even in relatively business-friendly states like IN). And the company-purchase strategy has to be taken carefully, both because business capital is hard to come by today and because manufacturing operates with margins so small that there's no room for error.
Further, you have the risk of OSHA shutting you down or penalizing you to unprofitability. As I understand it, safety regulations are much like traffic laws -- if a police officer wants to pull you over while you're driving, they can almost definitely find something to charge you with, even if it's just their interpretation -- and the same is true of your OSHA inspector.
Wages/productivity play a large portion of being a good place to do high end manufacturing, but are still a relatively small part of your ability to profitably grow and run a manufacturing business.
Re: All NeXT Inc.'s Plant Lacks Is Orders (1990)
#18"In Mr. Jobs's view, the factory testifies to the fact that the United States can still compete as both a low-cost and a world-class manufacturer when it sets its mind to the task." I suppose he has changed his position?
Manufacturing in the US has never been better. It's the number of people needed to manufacture stuff in the US that's been declining.
In Mr. Jobs's specific case, he doesn't seem to be convinced, since Apple manufactures virtually nothing in the United States.
Re: All NeXT Inc.'s Plant Lacks Is Orders (1990)
#19Apropos of nothing, burning a NeXTcube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkvQ-BJD2rU
Re: All NeXT Inc.'s Plant Lacks Is Orders (1990)
#20"Start-up" company "Steven P." Jobs "United States can still compete as both a low-cost and a world-class manufacturer" So, what other items become amusingly ironic thanks to the lens of retrospect?
In what way? Entrepreneurs are still failing and then eventually hitting home runs. Steve's full name is still Steven P. Jobs. And the US can still complete as both a low-cost and a world-class manufacturer.