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Some Apple iMacs "Assembled In America"
whisper_jeff writes "A number of newly-purchased standard units are showing an "Assembled in America" notation. While the markings don't necessarily mean that Apple is in the midst of transferring its entire assembly operation from China to the U.S., it does indicate that at least a few of the new iMacs were substantially assembled domestically."
The summary and title are misleading. If you read the article, the pictures clearly shows "Assembled in USA". My first thought when I saw "Assembled in America" was that Foxconn has facilities in Brazil now - so perhaps it was really "Assembled in South America". But, no, it really is in the USA. Very cool, Apple.
I couldn't care less about where it was assembled. The parts are still made in China
If you cared about both things then you had better not be typing on a computer less than twenty years old.
Otherwise why are you harping on Apple for slowly shifting some assembly AND manufacture (remember they make chips in Texas) to the U.S. and giving every other company a free pass?
It's obvious it's going to take some time to move much of the whole process back to the U.S., if it can be done at all. At least Apple is trying.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
This has been the case for Configure-to-order (CTO) Macs for a long time.
Basically, bulk shipping across the Pacific is cheap; point-to-point shipping across the Pacific is expensive.
Stock-model PCs can be shipped on the proverbial slow boat en masse to a US distribution center, essentially in a convoy, and then unloaded and shipped UPS/Fedex to your door when you order them. You only have to wait for delivery from the dist center, since appropriately configured models are arriving every day.
When you CTO a Mac, a unit has to be specifically configured to your spec before it can be shipped to you. If this were done in China, it would have to be air-freighted directly to your address from China, which is horrendously expensive. (Shipping the unit by boat would take forever.)
I have seen this done even when the "configuration" is to include the full-format wired keyboard instead of the wireless compact keyboard. Apple's fulfillment process basically breaks down to not-custom-at-all (= China) or any-customization-no-mater-how-minor (= US) For US customers, at least. I think they also had a similar operation in Cork Ireland at one time.)
So instead, when you CTO, the manufacturer bulk-ships enclosures, motherboards, LCD panels, and such to a US fulfillment center, then snaps the right pieces together to complete your order. It is quite literally assembly of the system. (About as much work as building your own PC from components from Newegg, I would say.)
I would guess that most PC vendors do much the same thing, but since typical PC towers are much more easily configurable than an Apple iMac, they probably have to do even less work stateside.
I knew this time would come.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
There are very strict rules (the FTC enforces them) about the terms "Made in the USA" and "Assembled in the USA".
The former means that all or virtually all of a product is made in the US. Obviously, the iMac doesn't quality for this (the FTC proposed defining it as 75% of manufacturing costs were spent in the USA AND the product was "last transformed" in the USA).
"Assembled in the USA" means that it's made up of foreign parts, but the last substantial transformation (or assembly) of the product is done in the US. Interestingly, "screwdriver" assembly of foreign parts does not count. This could easily mean that the iMac was more than importing the parts into the US and put-together there - perhaps the case assembly was produced from US manufacturing processes (including say, the friction-stir-welding), then the rest of the parts (which are China and foreign made out of supply-chain necessity)
Do not confuse the two terms "Made in USA" and "Assembed in USA" as they are significantly different in meanting. The FTC enforces the terminology and has found companies liable for violating "Made in USA" rules. Heck, I think some companies dubiously put "Made in USA from domestic and foreign parts"....
Over the past 30 years, wages in the U.S. have remained flat while productivity has doubled. So the average worker is producing twice as much for the same pay. Where do you think all of that extra free production capacity goes? It maybe is related to the concentration of wealth at the top. Whatever your take on Unions, they're labor cost are still inadequate compared to production. But whatever, keep sucking up to the rich and maybe they'll actually let you kiss their ring one day.