The Beer Game -or- Why Apple Can’t Build iPads in the US
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The Beer Game -or- Why Apple Can’t Build iPads in the US
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Re: The Beer Game -or- Why Apple Can’t Build iPads in the US
#2I think they teach this game at most business schools, and it seems to be a popular and eye-opening experience. If you hit wikipedia, there are a number of links to online versions you can play (some for free, some not).
Re: The Beer Game -or- Why Apple Can’t Build iPads in the US
#3In case anyone's curious why beer was used as the product in the game, it's likely because US law requires that alcohol be distributed in (almost) this way:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-tier_(alcohol_distributio...
Re: The Beer Game -or- Why Apple Can’t Build iPads in the US
#4Apple could afford to reopen the plants they had in Fremont, they just might not be able to produce 100% of their products there. From the NY Times article he refers to: paying American wages would add up to $65 to each iPhone’s expense.
Fender does this--they offer you the choice of a Chinese, Mexican, Japanese, or American made guitar and just price accordingly. I would pay more for an iPhone that I knew was made in America. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Other examples: Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Annie's Homegrown (BNNY).
Re: The Beer Game -or- Why Apple Can’t Build iPads in the US
#5Will 3d printing and manufacturing advances (Foxconn can hire 3,000 employees overnight, but robotics lower labor needs) make the supply chain effect less important, lowering the costs of moving manufacturing back to the US? Will they come back to be closer to retailers?
Re: The Beer Game -or- Why Apple Can’t Build iPads in the US
#6See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_cluster
It's worth noting that one needn't offset all the advantages of a cluster for production outside of it to make sense: There is no shortage of US auto manufacturing plants that are not in Detroit nor in places with anything remotely like its cluster advantage.
But for rapidly-changing products, the advantages of a cluster are compounded. If you're not changing screens and screws and implementing brand new technologies on an annual basis, being able to get a custom part ASAP is less of an advantage. But if you are changing things every single year ...
I wouldn't be surprised to see US manufacturing return. Particularly as energy (shipping) prices continue to increase, China's wage advantage dissipates and automation matures. But it's going to start with fairly mature, static and/or commodified products.
Re: The Beer Game -or- Why Apple Can’t Build iPads in the US
#7People often draw analogies between software development and manufacturing. If you’re going to do that, it’s vital to take the “supply chain” of information into account. The inefficiencies inherent in creating a supply chain consisting of a developer, a tech lead, a product manager, an operations manager, and finally a user resemble the supply chain in the drinking game. Orders go one way, features go the other way.
Re: The Beer Game -or- Why Apple Can’t Build iPads in the US
#8That is an interesting theory but I would guess that the real reason is their devalued currency which allows apple to save a huge percentage on production.
Sure cheap labor helps, but is cheap partially due to the currency difference.
Despite anecdotal stories, The US still makes up 20% of world manufacturing and retains its spot as the global leader. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_States
The colocation theory (the theory which the author is talking about) is a good thoery to explain silicon valley though.
If you want to run a tech company, you want it to be colacated near your supply chain (engineers), and other service providers. This is probably a big reason why Silicon Valley has remained dominant despite so many other cities trying.
Re: The Beer Game -or- Why Apple Can’t Build iPads in the US
#9I don't know, do all the unemployed people in a America right now want to work on assembly lines in factories? I know, just because I don't want to doesn't mean everyone else thinks that way, but it just doesn't seem like the correct long-term fix for unemployment. Factory work just doesn't seem like a viable long-term career.
I suppose it's the non-hourly-wage assembly-line jobs that come with manufacturing that are desirable, but how many of those jobs would be created by making the huge investment to build factories and supply chains here in the U.S.? A non-zero number, but is there a more efficient way of creating career-for-life support-a-family type jobs in the U.S.?
Re: The Beer Game -or- Why Apple Can’t Build iPads in the US
#10Will 3d printing and manufacturing advances (Foxconn can hire 3,000 employees overnight, but robotics lower labor needs) make the supply chain effect less important, lowering the costs of moving manufacturing back to the US? Will they come back to be closer to retailers?
The robot tech might be developed in the US (or where ever) but is still built in China. That makes sense, because it's used in China. And as expertise in building stuff concentrates in China all they need to do is keep quality high, keep costs low, and maybe keep an eye on human rights, and they'll keep the jobs.
The barriers to US companies become higher. You've got to get the machines. You then need people to run those machines. Those people will consider themselves to be skilled or semi-skilled, and require high wages. You need to run the machines 24hours, thus you need 3 shifts per day; two of those shifts will require higher wages than the day shift.
I doubt that huge volume manufacturing is going back to the US anytime soon.