Slashdot Mirror
Foxconn Invests $210 Million To Build New Production Line For Apple
redletterdave writes "On Monday, Foxconn agreed to invest $210 million to help Apple build out a new production line for 'unspecified components.' The 40,000-square-meter plant plans to hire roughly 35,800 new employees to help assemble parts for either desktop and laptop computers, iPhones, iPads, iPods, or possibly even new products or devices. Apple projects the plant's annual output between $949 million to $1.1 billion, and also estimates the import and export value at roughly $55.8 million."
In some places people are cheaper than robots.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest that ALL the employees will not be present at the SAME TIME.
I would assume the employees are working in multiple shifts, in other words, not all 35,800 are in the building at the same time.
Huh? Huai'an city is not in Hainan. It's in Jiangsu province, about 100km west of Shanghai. Hainan is an island off the southern coast of China, near Vietnam.
The China Daily article says there are two separate projects. Foxconn is both building this plant in Huai'an and starting up a new manufacturing base down in Hainan. The Hainan facility is not necessarily Apple-oriented.
I'm sure they know what they're doing. But I do find it interesting that this foxconn plant will employ ten times as many people as all of facebook.com (with 3500 employees). The idea that there could ever be enough "knowledge worker" jobs to replace what manufacturing used to be just doesn't hold up.
If you watched the Foxconn video (or seen any industrial production video), you'd see that for certain types of assembly it's cheaper and easier to get people to do it than to mechanize.
Mechanization requires lots of tooling and is relatively hard to change once built. It's easier to just hire a lot of people and change their procedures when needed.
There's no secret to mass assembly - it's just a serious logistical challenge. Everything needs to be specified, exactly.
There's another way. Stop this suicidal race to the bottom. It would be nice if we had CEOs that weren't a bunch of Randist supermen, who might actually consider helping the society that let them reach their current heights. Since that doesn't seem likely to happen, I'd settle for raising their taxes. They always complain that increasing taxes will drive away the job creators. From where I sit, those people aren't creating any American jobs, so their argument falls flat.
I don't own one single Apple product
And some decide to stay in the gutter. That is your choice, but don't pretend you are better than me because of it.
Why do you think he is pretending he is better than you? The rest of the quote you conveniently left out is
because I don't buy into walled gardens, it's that simple.
It sounds to me like the closed ecosystem doesn't appeal to him. Saying that "some decide to stay in the gutter" sounds like you are pretending that you are better because you purchased a particular brand.
There's another way. Stop this suicidal race to the bottom.
Unfortunately there is no way to stop this blind rush to the bottom
How much are you willing to pay for your next iPAD? $7,999.00 or $499.00 ?
How much are you willing to pay for your next iTV? $18,999.00 or $999.00 ?
You are the consumer, you vote with your wallet. and get to decide where your next purchase will be made
If you want your next gadget to be made in the US of A, be prepared to pay more, much more than what you are currently willing to pay
Do not blame the CEO, the "Top 1%", for the outsourcing of jobs
It's YOU and ME, the consumers, who have told corporations such as Apple, LOUDLY, with our collective wallets, that we want our next gadget to be CHEAP - and the corporations oblige, by seeking out the place where they can make the gadget with the lowest cost possible, namely the Far East
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !