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Foxconn's Founder Opens Up About Making iPhones
eldavojohn writes "Bloomberg Businessweek has an article of interest resulting from a three-hour interview with Foxconn founder Terry Gou (single page), whose company manufactures 137,000 iPhones a day. The article profiles Gou's rise to Foxconn but also offers some interesting tidbits you might not know. On why he is not opening factories in the United States, Gou frankly states, 'If I can automate in the US and ship to China, cost-wise it can still be competitive. But I worry America has too many lawyers. I don't want to spend time having people sue me every day.' If you're interested in how a modern day Henry Ford thinks, you can read the rest about the man steering the ship of the world's largest producer of electronics components and China's largest exporter. This unprecedented transparency was part of an agreement Gou made with his customers during his delayed response to an increasing number of Foxconn suicides."
I'm still waiting for an iPhone manufacturer that pays its workers a decent wage and respects meaningful safety standards. I'm willing to pay an extra $100+ for my iPhone to not have a guilty conscience. C'mon invisible hand, supply my demand already.
"Anonymous Coward" is for whistleblowers, not unpopular opinions.
or....
Perhaps the US does have too many laws and lawyers. Perhaps it is more competitive to produce products somewhere else. Perhaps US workers think they are more valuable than they really are (so they erect laws to "enforce" that value). Did you ever consider that maybe it's not exploitation he is after but a better sense of balance? The world is not black and white. This is not a "workers of the world unite" vs "the evil business owners". You do recognize there is a middle ground, don't you?
This guy is telling you exactly what his risk/reward calculation is and you only look at one side of the equation.
Instead of responding with cries of exploitation, as yourself this: could he be right?
What data do you have to support this? My understanding is that there is a waiting list to work at Foxconn. You sign a contract to work there, with termination penalties, and there is multi-week training before you actually start working. While in training, you are paid, housed, and fed. Not saying you are wrong, but would like to learn more about where you are getting your data.
I'm saying that we uphold our values and protect our interests. Is that really too much to ask of a nation that has been touted as the best on Earth?
Why should give them the benefit of our trade when they do not behave in a fair manner? You seem to be saying we shouldn't hold our trading partners accountable for their human rights violations. Why is it okay to do business with some mass murderers and not others?
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Which part? China is a prime example of a hydraulic empire, and their culture reflects that. Considering that they had their first major empire collapse in 500BC or so and six major players left were fielding million man, iron equipped armies at the time, I'm really not sure what you are referring to as 'nonsense.'
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
In fact, you almost have to bribe someone to get a job interview!
There isn't really multi-week training, you are put on easier lines first and work up to your aptitude.
But just because there's a line to get in doesn't mean there's any job security. When things slow down, you simply aren't brought back next week.
When you get too old for the dextrous work or your fingers grow to be too large to do some work (because their lines are virtually all 16-20 year old women) or merely when someone else will do the job cheaper because they are younger, you are out on your ear.
Like I said, I don't hate Foxconn. But it's not the same as Ford where he employed workers long term and invested in their development.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
Is it so unreasonable to focus instead on producing the same products with less labor (and thus less cost) than those willing and able to propagate such practices?
That sounds great. I'm all for increasing efficiency and applying technology to the issue. But there's limits. Some jobs are difficult to automate. And even when you can automate, the machines have to be paid for and someone has to run the machines.
This leads us to two issues. One, the machines have to be more cost-effective than an exploited work-force. And even then, what can be automated here can be automated there where the workforce that runs the machines are cheaper (read: exploited).
THis is aside from the fact that - at least from TFA - working conditions might not be quite as bad as the media hysteria has made them out to be.
Yes - I'm sure the suicides and the expose on working conditions at the company by China Business News were just aberrations of an overzealous imagination. Meanwhile, Foxconn hired a New York public relations firm because they just want to get their name out there.
why not develop improved manufacturing technology and capability -- demonstrating that it's possible to make competitive products without "exploiting" the poor?
Exactly, this is a good strategy for countries that can develop advanced industrial robots. The top 10 countries by robot density all have successful economies when compared with the rest of the world. There are some industries where high levels of automation are not possible yet (sewing clothes together, assembling complex 3D structures, picking vegetables, things that rely on hand-eye coordination and human mobility); these are the human labour intensive industries where cost pressures mean labour is generally sourced from other countries (where outsourcing is possible), or immigrants (where local). But for everything else, the developed world needs to continue to move from a culture of "building stuff" to a culture of "building robots that build stuff". Competing directly with countries like China to provide cheap labour is not going to work, waiting for the salary of the average Chinese to reach Western levels will take too long, and starting a trade war through punitive taxation is only going to hurt both sides in the long term. I do find it odd that people seriously still think the Western world could be competitive with China in traditional manufacturing - it is simple economics that work will flow to the human worker who costs 1/10th of the competition.