As a made in USA shopping and style site, we generally prefer to be a source of positive news and high quality American-made products. But as a long-time Apple fan and dedicated iphone user, it could not escape my notice that the front page of this week's Sunday New York Times featured an article entitled, “How the United States Lost Out on iPhone Work.” I highly recommend reading the complete article when you have time. Written by Charles Duhigg and Keith Brasher, it is fascinating, compelling, infuriating and, actually, very, very sad.
Duhigg and Brasher's article is long and well-researched; to try to summarize it in a paragraph would do it a disservice. It begins with president Barack Obama asking Steve Jobs to his face, “What would it take to make iPhones in the United States?” The article tries to answer the question and, unfortunately, the answer it gives is something along the lines of, it's not gonna happen — that ship has sailed. The reasons why are many, but descriptions of Chinese workers living in dormitories, working 12 hour days, six days a week, were depressing. Apple's transition from a company that proudly boasted of being “a machine made in America” just 10 years ago to a company drawing more than 90% of its manufacturing form overseas is disheartening.
An unnamed Apple executive said in the article, “We shouldn't be criticized for using Chinese workers… The U.S. has stopped producing people with the skills we need.” This statement stood out as the scariest of all because it ominously echoes the comments we have heard from the small companies we have talked to who are earnestly trying to make a go of manufacturing in the US. We are hearing that the state of manufacturing in America is dangerously precarious, at urgent risk of passing the point of no return. We were glad to hear of Obama asking questions along the lines of, “what would it take” to make American manufacturing stronger? Let's all keep asking. What would it take to bring back manufacturing as a foundational source of middle class jobs? What would it take to bring our most successful products home?
And please to continue to visit USA Love List to find the businesses and products keeping their work in the USA. They need our support as they are our best hope to rebuild for the future.
Sarah: What amazed me about the NY Times articles is how the authors just took it as gospel any whopper that the Apple exec happened to tell them. Apple needs to be in China because China has such a great supply network? Well that might be true if iPhones were actually manufactured in China, but they are not. They are assembled at Foxconn of subassembles that arrive at Foxconn from all around the globe. That is why Foxconn is going to start assembling iPads in Brazil this year. They can be assembled almost anywhere. Like in America. Please visit my blog at simply-american.net and enter Apple in the search bar and you can read all sorts of interesting posts on Apple. Really like your website/blog. All the best, John
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SparklySarah, I did hear that This American Life story and I was still letting in marinate in my mind when this one came along. I do recall that everyone loved to complain that Apple products were too expensive back when they were manufactured in the US. I didn't complain because I though they were superior products. The NYT article suggests that manufacturing in the US would add about $65 in labor costs to each iPhone. I don't think this is an insurmountable difference, but the article did say that the labor costs were only part of the equation because the speed and flexibility in the supply chain is an issue as well.
Patricia, thank you SO much for weighing in so thoughtfully with your expertise. So you are calling BS on the Apple exec's statement that the US is not training workers correctly? I have seen similar reactions elsewhere. One thing I noticed in the NYT article: they were profiling the man from CA who had worked in the Apple manufacturing facility and had lost his job. It said something along the lines of, the level of education needed for manufacturing is more than a high school diploma, but an actual engineering degree or full college degree would lead to a worker being over qualified. Hmm… that seems to be a pretty fine line. So some trade skills are needed. How are today's students supposed to prepare for such specific training requirements? What role does business have in training workers to do the jobs they require? Are Asian workers getting their skills in school? Or on the job? How has the burden/responsibility of job training shifted in the US over the last 20-50 years? I wish I had the answers… just throwing these questions out there…
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I love my Iphone and my Macintosh, (I am a recent convert,) but it bothered me when my Fedex Tracking revealed that they were coming all the way from Shenzhen, China. It seems ridiculous to me that Americans can't do the manufacturing, but we probably do need to pay more for things. Did you hear the This American Life piece on the subject?
I guess I'm confused. As an HR practitioner for almost 30 years that has worked in the Global area and has visited China, India, Vietnam and South American etc. where these factories reside I find it ludicrous that these comments are accepted as credible.
The majority of Chinese and Asians are manufacturing workers are unskilled farm laborers with less than a junior high school education that can not finish their “state” schooling because there family can not survive if they do not abandon their education. They move to these large manufacturing centers and produce products in unsafe, uncivilized working conditions and when they are allowed to leave there work areas are locked into dormitories at night. The are REQUIRED to live on-site and purchase all goods from the companion for survival so they remain in debt to their employer and live the lives minimally above slavery.
The statement that we don't produce the people they need simply means to be that yes, we Americans do not intentionally allow grade school children to start working to support their family, we also don't allow employers to lock their employees into unsafe buildings, condone harassment of workers or allow employer to force employees into “slavery/indentured servant” work relationships.
We educate or children that will someday be the workforce of tomorrow that they are entitled to be paid for their work, choose where they live and where they purchase their goods and services. Our acceptance of ridiculous comments like that from Apple, demeans the gains we have made as a country, developed over the last 100 years. We can look to the former mills and manufacturing sights that created untold injury, maiming and deaths that brought us to today.
I live in the footprint of Lawrence, Lynn and Peabody MA, that were huge manufacturing communities until about 30 years ago, when the Reagan Republicans decided trickle down was defined as retaining most favored nation for PROC after the Tienanmen Square Massacre. They opened the floodgates for slave labor under the communist regime and those gates are finally being forced closed.
All Americans should think seriously about purchasing products from companies like Apple.
I'd have more respect if they simply stated the truth Americans workers are more productive, have better accuracy and make better products (per all relevant data) but they cost more and we'd rather have a HUGE profit margin so we produce in Asia and are willing to produce inferior products.