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Why Amazon Can't Manufacture a Kindle In the US
theodp writes "Ever wonder why all those job listings for Amazon subsidiary Lab126 — the internal group behind the Kindle and, by all accounts, an upcoming Android tablet — have travel requirements? Over at Forbes, Steve Denning explains why Amazon can't make a Kindle in the U.S., and why that really does matter. 'The idea that there is a lot of outsourcing going on is hardly news', writes Denning. 'The idea that it is irreversible and destructive of the economy's ability to grow is less well known. Even so, it's not exactly new news: the HBR article that I cite is two years old. What is really new news is that (1) these fairly obvious truths haven't yet dawned on economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, CEOs, accountants, politicians, among others and (2) the way to manage in a radically different way to deal with these issues is now more fully articulated than it has been before.' Denning concludes his trilogy-of-management-terror by noting that the decline is also occurring in software."
Not really. The US used to have much better manufacturing plants than Taiwan, South Korea, China... what happened is that companies decided to outsource for slave-labor wages.
What is killing US manufacturing now is both slave-labor wages in other countries and the fact that the fab plants have moved there. This wouldn't have happened in the first place if the dickfaced politicians on the take from an elitist multibillionaire class hadn't been so gung-ho on "global free trade", aka Slavery Exported.
Read the article - it seems you completely missed the point. When you trade entire industries, you are also changing the comparative advantages of the remainder. If you get stuck in a feedback loop you will essentially keep going until you have gutted entire sectors of the economy - this is exactly what the West have been doing for many years.
The highly polished injection-molded case is made in China because the US supplier base eroded as the manufacture of toys, consumer electronics and computers migrated to China.
Considering I've worked on advanced injection molding machines IN the US this is such pure bullhockey.
The controller board is made in China because US companies long ago transferred manufacture of printed circuit boards to Asia.
Another BS line, again I've worked with an assembly line making PCB's and finished boards, right here in the midwest.
The Lithium polymer battery is made in China because battery development and manufacturing migrated to China along with the development and manufacture of consumer electronics and notebook computers.
The worlds largest lithium-ion battery facility is just being finished outside Dearborn, Michigan right now.
This whole article reads like some rant by a coastie who has no idea that we still make things here in the midwest, and if the MBA's would stop deciding to chase short term profits at the cost of long term brand erosion and control we would be happy to keep doing it. Over the next decade increased fuel costs paired with a decoupling of the Chineese Yuan from the dollar will lead many companies to pull manufacturing back to the US.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
The arguments that retooling is hard, just doesn't make it. Planned retooling is now designed into the manufacturing process. The U.S. helped develop the the Japanese manufacturing base by ignoring Demming. The Japanese were known for poor quality, so even with their lower labor rates. The Japanese improve their quality by following Demming and eventually overtook U.S. manufacturing and steel production. The remaining U.S. industries learned to focus on statistically analysis integrated quality control, and designed retooling became part of the process. So what drives the decision to outsource: 1) lower environmental standards, 2) lower overall employee costs, 3) tax benefits, 4) economic stability.
I think the underlying article hits the problem straight on. These economic factors are enticing from a cost accounting perspective, but not from a competitive one. Eventually, the knowledge is transferred to the low cost producers and they no longer need the costly U.S. managers to drive the business. We see that now with the rise of Haier and Chinese manufacturers who are beginning to dominate the lower end market. Eventually, they will displace the high margin businesses.
The U.S. main advantage in the past has been easy access to capital via efficient markets. With the current crisis and the idiotic standoff over debt, these markets may give rise to competing capital markets in SE Asia. The Chinese are flush with cash and it won't be long before they start to bypass the Western capital markets.
So what do we do? First, stop letting corporations drive the political agenda, because their short term focus is killing our industry. If we changed our focus to research that will enable lower cost production even with high labor rates, we can pull back manufacturing. This will have to be done at a grass roots level, because Wall Street will not invest in this kind of retooling when they can invest in companies that outsource. This means that we need to stop electing corrupt corporate lackies and uneducated religious nutcases, and change the rules so we encourage companies to invest here. Here a though, remove ALL corporate loopholes, and offer tax incentives only to those companies that in-source production and service jobs. Offer tax breaks to companies who invest in basic research programs that will innovate product and keep the technology here. This incentive can extend to University research which is most corporate funded anyway.
If you believe our problems stem from big government and the fear of socialism, then you are an idiot. Socialism is beating the f..king pants off of us right now, so that can't be the main issue. We as citizens must drive the political agenda and encourage Wall Street to invest in companies who develop our local economies. Otherwise, start learning Chinese because they are destined to be your overlords.
It isn't Unions, socialism, or big government that is killing us. It is the short term thinking of Wall Street. Once Wall Street was temporarily taken out of the picture at GM where they perpetuated a management culture that was adverse to change, the company was able to shed its high cost assets and return to profitability. In essence, it took government action to force the correct change in direction.