The U.S. Will Surpass China as the No. 1 Country for Manufacturing by 2020

Post by lftl » Fri, Dec 30, 2016, 1:58 PM UTC

memracom wrote: post #131

maxxxxx wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We really need economic indicators that reflect conditions for most people, not just the top few. Indicators that are often used in the news like rising GDP, house prices and manufacturing output are pretty useless if only a few get benefits from them.

The people who make money by moving plants offshore, are also behind the design of the economic indicators, knowing that if you can control what is measured then you are in charge of the conversation, and therefore in charge of the politics. That is what American oligarchs have been doing for the past 5 decades, distorting the entire system from top to bottom so that nobody can figure out what is going on. It's the s…

Post by SpikedCola » Fri, Dec 30, 2016, 2:44 PM UTC

blhack wrote: post #164

Animats wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For off-the-shelf electronic parts in small quantities, everybody orders from Digi-Key, or maybe Mouser. Order by 8 PM Central time, delivery by 10:30 AM the next morning if you pay for FedEx. That's what wiped out local parts stores. You never knew what they had in stock, and the markups were huge. Also, Digi-Key doesn't have a counterfeit parts problem. Digi-Key deals directly with manufacturers. The supply chain i…

The problem with digikey (in my mind, as a hobbyist) is that you don't actually know the total until after the order has shipped.

Post by organsnyder » Fri, Dec 30, 2016, 3:12 PM UTC

afarrell wrote: post #116

organsnyder wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still a lot of truth to this. Here in West Michigan, there are tons of auto parts manufacturers, both "boring" manufacturing (plastic molding, etc.) and emerging tech.

Preserving this cluster was the reason for the auto bailout, correct?

Post by akshatpradhan » Fri, Dec 30, 2016, 3:55 PM UTC

lambdasquirrel wrote: post #178

mc32 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly this. North San Jose (the 237 triangle) used to have PCB, chip, chassis, component, etc., manufacturers in proximity to each other. Consider: Sun used to make and assemble their "workstations" over in the East Bay not far from the 237 triangle. As the late '90s approached much of that local manufacturing was off-shored to the Foxconns and Flextronics, etc. as well as overseas foundries.

And when it all went over there it made room for Google and Facebook. Today it's hard for a startup to find space in downtown PA because of Palantir. What's a "problem" for the rest of the U.S. is creative destruction here. I worry we may have learned the wrong lessons because of current politics and inequalities. And it's worth remembering that automation is going to result in that manufacturing resulting in less jo…

Post by yourapostasy » Fri, Dec 30, 2016, 5:11 PM UTC

kurthr wrote: post #75

throwaway2016a wrote: post #7

I haven't been myself but my wife is a process engineer and had to go to China to install and train people on a new machine so this is only second hand... But one of the reasons China is so good at manufacturing is because everything is in one place (or at least clusters)... need 10,000 of an Integrated Circuit? The company that makes it is literally down the street. Need some raw materials? That's down the other str…

Yes, mostly we sell the equipment and design services that make the manufacturing possible. There is huge leverage in that and the higher margins that WallStreet demands. For quite some time (mostly) Asian governments have been investing in education, infrastructure, and equipment to manufacture the consumer items of the world. It is much harder to do development and understand the real manufacturing bottle necks whe…