Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China

#331

Post by d-sc » Sat, Jun 29, 2019, 5:45 PM UTC

codeisawesome wrote: post #297

ascorbic wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main reason to manufacture in China isn't cost. It's far from the cheapest. It's supply chains. There's nowhere else that can compete.

Could you please link to any good self-contained material that covers the info on this advantage, for a layman like me? This sounds like a massive opportunity space.

To picture the manufacturing capabilities of the US: Image trying to bake a cake, except all the ingredients come with a 8 week lead time and the people with the mixer, measuring cups and ovens are all 200 miles minimum away from each other. Then imagine 2 days before the cake is supposed to be done, the chef asks to change one ingredient.

In China everything is one or two days away.

Re: Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China

#332

Post by pfranz » Sat, Jun 29, 2019, 9:12 PM UTC

tcpekin wrote: post #325

webmobdev wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What other reasons are there apart from low cost and lax environment regulations and weak labour laws?

Some interesting quotes (can be found in other accounts as well): For Mr. Cook, the focus on Asia “came down to two things,” said one former high-ranking Apple executive. Factories in Asia “can scale up and down faster” and “Asian supply chains have surpassed what’s in the U.S.” The result is that “we can’t compete at this point,” the executive said. “The entire supply chain is in China now,” said another former high…

Thank you for pulling a source and some specifics!

I also remember Apple talking about expertise. The number of people experienced in running a large factory exist in the US, but at a much smaller number. Which means they're harder to hire and likely warrant a higher salary.

I also think people greatly over emphasize the role of assembly. I believe it's less than 10% of the cost of each phone. But, in light of all that, it was good to see attempts to onshore more of the production.

Re: Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China

#333

Post by swebs » Sun, Jun 30, 2019, 12:52 AM UTC

c-smile wrote: post #267

Ok, forget about Macs … Is there any factory left in US or Canada that produces plain blankets for example? These are actually strategic goods ...

L.L. Bean makes most of their stuff in Maine.

Re: Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China

#334

Post by baby » Sun, Jun 30, 2019, 4:02 AM UTC

dmix wrote: post #66

baby wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly this is a very one-sided view of the issue. The life of Chinese people definitely improved with economic improvements.

In spite of the Chinese party... The Chinese gov may be massive and seem all encompassing but they don’t have an economic and financial administrative system yet comparable to the US (or Europe) which is involved in licensing and oversight of everything at multiple tiers of gov in the west, from who can be an interior designer (4yrs! of education is mandatory in some states) to who can cut hair. When China does have…

> in spite of the government

It's often like that. If you think the government of Trump is responsible for America's progress let's chat. The point is that it is permissive enough.

Re: Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China

#335

Post by ascorbic » Mon, Jul 01, 2019, 7:50 PM UTC

d-sc wrote: post #331

codeisawesome wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you please link to any good self-contained material that covers the info on this advantage, for a layman like me? This sounds like a massive opportunity space.

To picture the manufacturing capabilities of the US: Image trying to bake a cake, except all the ingredients come with a 8 week lead time and the people with the mixer, measuring cups and ovens are all 200 miles minimum away from each other. Then imagine 2 days before the cake is supposed to be done, the chef asks to change one ingredient. In China everything is one or two days away.

If you're in Shenzhen, you can have your parts in hours.

Re: Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China

#336

Post by magduf » Tue, Jul 02, 2019, 5:07 PM UTC

40acres wrote: post #151

chrisjc wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to dilute the conversation and the point you're trying to make, but I've had absolutely no luck grasping what this 'woke' meme is. Something about liberals finally understanding what conservatives have been saying all along?

Woke is shorthand for awoken, or awakening. It's generally used to signify an agreement (or at least understanding) of left leaning perspectives on civil rights. Personally, despite my beliefs, I am not comfortable with corporations co-opting movements like LGBTQ pride on one hand (how many rainbow branded beer bottles have you seen this month?) and advocating policies that are diametrically opposed with the other.

>Personally, despite my beliefs, I am not comfortable with corporations co-opting movements like LGBTQ pride on one hand (how many rainbow branded beer bottles have you seen this month?) and advocating policies that are diametrically opposed with the other.

Yeah, this reminds me of when I went to the DC Pride parade last year and saw a bunch of floats and participants from various corporations: banks, airlines, etc. I'm all for accepting LGBT people, but the corporate-ness of the festivities really disturbed me. What's next, a Million Man march sponsored by Nike, or a women's march sponsored by Johnson&Johnson? I don't remember MLK needing corporate sponsorship when he did his marches.