“Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook said he would like to see more of the company’s products assembled at home than in China and contain more U.S. components such as semiconductors,” Alexei Oreskovic reports for Reuters.
“Cook, who took the helm of the world’s most valuable technology company in August shortly before founder Steve Jobs died, said manufacturing in the United States was difficult because of declining tool-and-die manufacturing expertise, among other things, but he was working on it,” Oreskovic reports. “‘There are things that can be done in the U.S., not just for the U.S. market but that can be exported for the world,’ Cook told this year’s All Things Digital conference, an annual gathering of A-list technology and media executives in the upscale California coastal resort town of Rancho Palos Verdes. ‘On the assembly piece, could that be done in the U.S.? I hope so, again, one day,’ he added.”
Oreskovic reports, “Cook noted that Apple does some component manufacturing in the United States, including the main microchip that runs the iPhone and iPad. Apple makes the A5 processor in a 1.6 million square-foot factory in Austin, Texas, owned by Korean electronic giant Samsung Electronics. Cook also said some of the glass for the iPhone and iPad is made in a plant in Kentucky.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Cook’s exact quote was, “On the assembly piece, could that be done in the U.S.? I hope so, again, one day.”
Unless you plan to dedicate entire towns to low wage CE assembly line workers or you come up with improved robotics that can replace most of what people currently do in the assembly process or you plan on taking America back to third world status, then those types of jobs are never coming back to the U.S.A.
If Cook wants to bring product assembly back to the U.S.A., then he must be thinking robotics.
Related articles:
Foxconn’s 2012 plan: More robots, no layoffs, zero suicides, new factories – November 22, 2011
Foxconn to replace some workers with 1 million robots within 3 years – July 31, 2011
Former Reagan staffer: Apple has an obligation to help solve America’s problems – April 3, 2012
Economists weigh in on Apple’s U.S. job creation claims – March 5, 2012
514,000 U.S. jobs created thanks to Apple Inc. – March 2, 2012
Launched by Apple, ‘App Economy’ has created 466,000 jobs in the U.S. alone since 2008 – February 7, 2012
Apple and the American economy – January 24, 2012
Apple, Steve Jobs, Obama, America and a squeezed middle class – January 21, 2012
How Rick Santorum would lure Apple to move assembly from China to Charleston – January 21, 2012
Apple’s real market value: How many U.S. jobs it creates – November 21, 2011
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How many U.S. jobs has Apple’s iPod created? – July 8, 2011
MDN take: “If Cook wants to bring product assembly back to the U.S.A., then he must be thinking robotics.”
He could also be thinking House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) et al. They all excellent workers, I’m assured.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see more of Apple’s products assembled in the US and in locations serving other major markets too, but it won’t be creating large numbers of jobs.
But the only way it’s going to happen is if robotic assembly becomes a practical proposition so that it’s no longer necessary to employ vast numbers of people.
Then EVERYONE will be on benefits – instead of just half of the country.
When’s te last time you had your oil checked?
I think both Cook, as well as his interviewers knew very well that the statement was put out there just to placate some people. There is no doubt in my mind that Cook knows full well that “those jobs are never coming back. Ever.”. His precise answer was “I hope so, one day”. I’m sure he was sincere about that (I hope to win lottery one day. I know full well that it will never happen, though).
Cook is the best thing that ever happened to Apple, after Steve.
The interviewer is just retarded. The retardation doesn’t end with the question of jobs in the USA but of ignoring the fact that Steve Jobs had already addressed the issue by telling President Obama that manufacturing jobs are not coming back to the USA unless they can get a ready supply of trained workers.
If the greatest CEO in the world told the president of the United States the bald uncomfortable truth, in what way would you expect a different answer from Mr. Cook.
The retardation of Walt Mossberg & Kara Swisher never ends.
Agreed. It was a gentler version of the Jobs quote BLN cites. I think he handled the question pretty well.
Adjusted for inflation, US wages for hourly workers peaked in the early 1970s and have been on a long slide down since that time, The same could be said for the average level of education, with mathematics and language scores steadily in decline.
A revolution is underway in manufacturing with 3D printing technology and the thousands of nimble hands working for cheap wages may not be needed much longer. Besides, China is moving rapidly to transfer technology in order to add more value in manufacturing within it’s industries.
The United States needs to again be a nation that makes things- as in manufacturing and fabrication- but in a high value added mode. The days of minimal preparation and an hourly factory job equalling a middle class lifestyle are largely gone. In order to get there a lot must change, starting with the bedrock of American k-12 education.
What if you think of the world as, “Earth, Inc.?” Earth the corporation having management centers, manufacturing centers, etc.?
I don’t see manufacturing EVER coming back to the United States. As you indicated we have a work force that isn’t interested in education, an education system that is more geared to maintaining mediocrity (like it or not due to unions), yet the same workforce would think that it should be the highest paid in the world simply due to entitlement. There are regulatory issues, and also who really wants to do manufacturing work? You can’t make it fun. You can’t make it engaging. It is repetitive, boring, and dehumanizing. The goal is to automate as soon as possible.
Also, long before K-12 can do anything, the idea that education is vital must start in the home.
The robots that populate US are mind-numbed students in government-run schools being taught what to think rather than how to think. I’m sure the current versions of these robots will be more inclined to que up for government handouts that for job interviews with Apple (or any other tech corporation).
The ‘entitlement’ word is a bit harsh. How do i compete with the Chinese, they work for $2/day. My point is, Apple goes to China because it is cheep over there. Until chinese labor gets more expensive we are screwed. Or we innovate and do other stuff Chinese can’t do yet.
I think both sides are right here, in different ways. Robotics can do wonders… Ever see a robot populate a dense PC board with micro components. Its accurate and very fast.
But American companies need to wise up too. Its not about making tons of money for the owner (only), that leads to building crap and paying your workers as little as possible. IF that is the way you think, you are headed for a third world community.
One has to think different. Even today.
Just a thought,
en
Well put.
Henry Fords genius was that he realized he needed to pay his workers enough to afford his products. Since about the early ’80s American workers wages have been flat, while their productivity has grown by 150%. This means two things 1. Capital has been keeping it all for themselves, and 2. American Labor can do a lot with the right opportunity, but the economy only stays strong if they share in the rewards. This economy relies on making and consuming things. No money means no consumers.
The hands on final assembly of Apple products is very small and Apples margins are very large. They could pay a median US wage for that effort and not affect the bottom line or price very much at all. But, in America, Apple would have to own that factory, because American Capital has failed to produce the Foxconn equivalent in the US, the contract product assembly house. How much of that does Apple want to tackle?
And where do they find the talent. Running the infrastructure of a modern electronics manufacturing facility is not a bunch of HS dropout, finally figured out the rock band wasn’t going to happen, slacker tasks. It takes an American realization that we’re lucky when we’re able to get by and we need to be working hard from day one. I’ve had the pleasure of working with some Japanese business people and I promise, every one of them is a no BS samurai when it comes to getting the job done. The Chinese are different, but every bit as committed to being successful and making money. If you consider the top 10% as being “Honor Students”, we must recognize our disadvantage. China has more Honor Students than we have students.
I propose that Apple look closely at Fort Erie, Canada to build a manufacturing plant. It’s right across the border from New York, has plenty of space to build and would do the region a HUGE favour by providing jobs in an area that is woefully economically distressed. There is a large pool of talented individuals suffering from unemployment (me being one). Currently the unemployment in the area stands at around 12% and there’s not a lot of hope on the horizon due to a lack of interest by the provincial government in this nearly forgotten border town.