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Google On-shores Manufacturing of the Nexus Q

Posted by Soulskill on from the tapping-the-cheeseburger-specialists dept.

An anonymous reader sends this quote from the NY Times: "Etched into the base of Google's new wireless home media player that was introduced on Wednesday is its most intriguing feature. On the underside of the Nexus Q is a simple inscription: Designed and Manufactured in the U.S.A. The Google executives and engineers who decided to build the player here are engaged in an experiment in American manufacturing. 'We've been absent for so long, we decided, "Why don't we try it and see what happens?" ... It has become accepted wisdom that consumer electronics products can no longer be made in the United States. During the last decade, abundant low-cost Chinese labor and looser environmental regulations have virtually erased what was once a vibrant American industry. ... At $299, the device costs significantly more than competing systems from companies like Apple and Roku. Google says this is in part because of the higher costs of manufacturing in the United States, but the company expects to bring the price down as it increases volume. The company is hoping that consumers will be willing to pay more, though it is unlikely that the “Made in America” lineage will be part of any marketing campaign.'"

27 of 326 comments (clear)

  1. It *should* be part of the marketing by therealkevinkretz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "The company is hoping that consumers will be willing to pay more, though it is unlikely that the “Made in America” lineage will be part of any marketing campaign.'"

    People excoriate execs and companies who move parts of their businesses offshore (often rightly, and also often without questioning the policies that contribute to it often being cheaper and easier to employ people thousands of miles away in other countries).

    They (and especially the most indignant among them) should be happy to pay a little more to keep the work local; after all, they're demanding that others do it.

    1. Re:It *should* be part of the marketing by SJHillman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Keeping jobs on American soil. There's a phone for that."

    2. Re:It *should* be part of the marketing by metalmaster · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I've met many people that say they'd be more than happy to pay premiums for things that are made in America, and I believe them. The problem being is that tech isnt really their thing; certainly not a media server. The people with this attitude are often those who know nothing about tech and dont care to learn.

    3. Re:It *should* be part of the marketing by halfEvilTech · · Score: 4, Informative

      Except this is not the phone or tablet. This is their social media player.

      The Nexus 7 tablet is not what is being discussed here and that is still at $199

    4. Re:It *should* be part of the marketing by Guspaz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They (and especially the most indignant among them) should be happy to pay a little more to keep the work local; after all, they're demanding that others do it.

      It costs three times more ($299) than the closest competitor (Apple TV, $99) that it seems to have a similar feature-set to. That's not "a little more", that's "nobody will buy it because it costs three times more".

    5. Re:It *should* be part of the marketing by SomePgmr · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, though it's hard to bug anyone about getting them mixed up. Nexus S, Nexus Q, Nexus 7... uhg. What would've been so wrong with: Nexus Phone, Nexus TV, Nexus Tablet? Then just call later generations, "second generation", etc.

      Someone over at Google needs to hire away a marketing genius from Apple and give them the reigns on public facing decisions like that.

    6. Re:It *should* be part of the marketing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I live and work in China and my students are always mystified as to why a rich westerner would own any products that were made in China. I can't blame them for that, the Chinese products I buy here in China are of significantly lower quality than the ones I buy in the US.

      More than that, companies don't offshore work because they want better quality, offshoring generally means that it's harder to maintain quality as it's harder to monitor the quality by the CEO and staff.

    7. Re:It *should* be part of the marketing by AngryDeuce · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They (and especially the most indignant among them) should be happy to pay a little more to keep the work local; after all, they're demanding that others do it.

      Abso-fucking-lutely. Look at how many people out there gladly pay the Apple Tax for devices that are really not that different, on a fundamental level, from their competitors (and before I get screamed at over that, Apple obviously agrees, otherwise we wouldn't be watching this patent war bullshit unfold at every turn). If they're willing to spend extra because it's got a shiny case and "It Just Works! (TM)(R)(C)" then I see no reason why Made In America wouldn't be a selling point, especially these days.

      The concept of it being "cheaper" to hire people in other countries is bullshit, anyway, because it depends on ignoring very real costs that are put off on those developing countries. If we paid the real cost of manufacturing in China, to include the future cost of environmental clean-up, not to mention the social ills that come along with those sweatshops, then I doubt it would really be that much cheaper to manufacture overseas. The costs go so far beyond the typical rants about hourly wages and regulations that don't allow factories to dump the byproducts of electronics manufacturing (noxious shit) into the environment like they do over there...

    8. Re:It *should* be part of the marketing by lordfoul · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well Apple keeps Jobs in American Soil, That has to count for something.

    9. Re:It *should* be part of the marketing by cptgrudge · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well some of the folks at Google I/O have been dutifully hacking away at these, which were in the goody bags.

      I know it isn't a perfect solution, but maybe Google will see the potential. And in the meantime, if it turns out to be as hackable as the Nexus phones are, hooray for us.

      --
      Qualitas edurus commercium, nullus penitus net rimor, nullus deus beneficium
    10. Re:It *should* be part of the marketing by Webcommando · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "The company is hoping that consumers will be willing to pay more, though it is unlikely that the “Made in America” lineage will be part of any marketing campaign.'"

      People excoriate execs and companies who move parts of their businesses offshore (often rightly, and also often without questioning the policies that contribute to it often being cheaper and easier to employ people thousands of miles away in other countries).

      I use to work in manufacturing (wrote machine vision algorithms back then...fun stuff) and the cost can be very competitive with overseas. The key is design for manufacturing and automating as much as possible.

      Labor isn't your highest expense when you have high-speed chip shooting lines and automated assembly processes. For a high volume builder such as Apple, the economies of scale work in it's favor too. Low volume manufacturing needs a board house to do the work otherwise capital equipment goes under utilized. That's not Apple or Google's problem.

      I'm sure Apple and everyone's designs fit in the designed for manufacturability category so why not assemble in the states. Invest the capital on equipment and put some assemblers back to work!

      I know having a lack of locally sourced parts (they are all over seas now, right?) will make it hard, but I would love to see leading brands bring manufacturing back to the states. For Apple, this would be a blessing in minimizing knock-offs and leaks anyway and a little less margin isn't going to put them out of business.

      --
      I love the sound of distortion in the morning -- webcommando
    11. Re:It *should* be part of the marketing by itsdapead · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Abso-fucking-lutely. Look at how many people out there gladly pay the Apple Tax for devices that are really not that different,

      Except in the case of the Nexus Q vs. the Apple TV (...or the WD TV Live) we seem to have a Google tax of 200%.

      (TFA is talking about the 'Q' media streamer which is bizarrely more expensive than the new Google tablet).

      --
      In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
    12. Re:It *should* be part of the marketing by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Raise your hand if you want "social media" mixed with your TV watching experience. *crickets*

      You are asking in the wrong forum. I have no interest in this, but I think my wife would like it, and I am sure my kids would love it.
      Slashdot is not a good place to get a representative sample of the consuming public.
       

    13. Re:It *should* be part of the marketing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      The only winning move is not to Google Play.

  2. The only problem is... by fufufang · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Quite a lot of the components inside the device are probably imported.

    1. Re:The only problem is... by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 5, Insightful

      devices are made entirely by robot. chips, transistors, etc.

      but *assembly* of a phone or tablet or pc is still by hand.

      so it DOES MATTER that G is making this in the US. as much as I dislike G these days, I'll give them a solid attaboy! for this one!

      good job, G. unexpected but good job nonetheless.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
  3. Industry clusters are also important. by Kergan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "low cost Chinese labor and looser environmental regulations"

    Those aren't the only factors. The fact of the matter is that pretty much everything is clustered in SE Asia nowadays, and that the labor market is a lot more dynamic. Need slightly shorter screws? Call the factory down the street, they'll start arriving within the next hour. Changed the specs for your unibody case? The factory downtown will deliver new ones the same day. Need a new assembly plant? Build it and staff it by next week. Everything is done locally, reducing ETA and shipping costs in the process. These things also count tremendously.

    1. Re:Industry clusters are also important. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or, you could proceed the Brazillian way, and toss in a 100% tax on any consumer electronics not assembled locally. (Foxconn is setting up an iPhone plant over there, so Apple can work around the tax.)

    2. Re:Industry clusters are also important. by Charliemopps · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Not anymore there aren't.
      My father runs a small custom electronics manufacturing plant. They basically build one-off type parts for companies. For example, building a gas station chain? Need a coin-op for your car washes? Well, you only need 100 of them... it's hard to get an order like that done out of asia. So that's where his company fits in. One of their biggest problems is sourcing parts. EVERYTHING is in asia, and everything is geared to that market now. It wasn't that way 20 years ago but it certainly is now. Often it's cheaper for them to buy pre-assembled boards designed for something out and remove the components they need to put on the new product. One time they found a lamp at the home depot that had a part they needed in it, that met spec. The lamp was cheaper than ordering the part from anywhere so they bought 5 pallets of the lamp from home depot and set about tearing them down. Silly, but it got the job done.

  4. hmmm by slashmydots · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "But where do all the parts come from?"....anyway, it's expensive as hell to make something here but there's some business value and even cost saving in the fact that they can get any manufactured phone to any place in America in 1 day with Fedex. Even the fastest but still economical shipping methods from Asia are 2-3 weeks lead time at least because it's all ship-based. Get your stuff held up at the port? Time to order another couple thousands then because you've got waiting customers. The other option is to just over-order and pay lots of money to ship and guard your expensive inventory state-side and then have to put them on clearance when the sales figures don't match up with their overblown estimate. Do you know how much Nintendo lost on Wii shortages? Do you know how much HP lost on excess tablets? So there's some value in making things in the US from a cost saving perspective.

  5. No paywall links by wcrowe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There should be a rule on Slashdot that no paywall links are allowed to be posted. How can we comment on an article that we cannot see?

    --
    Proverbs 21:19
    1. Re:No paywall links by Kergan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There should be a rule on Slashdot that no paywall links are allowed to be posted. How can we comment on an article that we cannot see?

      Copy the URL, google it, and bypass the paywall by clicking the result from there:

      http://www.google.com/search?q=http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/technology/google-and-others-give-manufacturing-in-the-us-a-try.html

    2. Re:No paywall links by Bill+Dimm · · Score: 5, Funny

      How can we comment on an article that we cannot see?

      I'm tempted to mod you +1 funny for that.

    3. Re:No paywall links by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 5, Informative

      Login: slashdotnyt
      password: slashdotnyt

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    4. Re:No paywall links by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Are those paywall account details or subliminal instructions?

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
  6. Re:I don't care. . . by JavaLord · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because at the end of the day you will pay either way. Either pay more for your products and give your fellow citizens a reasonable living or pay more in taxes for their unemployment, food stamps and welfare and on top of that deal with the social ills such as higher crime rates that can come when someone has nothing to lose.

  7. I don't get the Q by TheSkepticalOptimist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So, this is not a Google TV device yet can connect to a TV with limited functionality. Its too expensive as a standalone network media streamer compared to other products available. I don't need a network device to power its own speakers. Compare this to a $120 Apple TV or even a $190 Boxee Box and its a very over-priced and mediocre competitor. So what is the point?

    Obviously if Google is using on-shore manufacturing they are already assuming this as a niche product and don't have to worry about huge demand and high production costs.

    I think Google mucked this product up as they are positioning it as an expansive hipster device in a market already saturated with better value and feature rich products. All Google should have done is create a little HDMI dongle that sits on a TV/Receiver that provides AirPlay like connectivity for Android devices which are capable of providing all the same functionality as the Q and could do so for a small fraction of the cost.

    --
    I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.