Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google To Close Its American Moto X Factory

Posted by timothy on from the cheaper-to-grow-them-in-iowa dept.

An anonymous reader writes "After only one year in operation, Google's Moto X factory in Fort Worth, TX, is scheduled to close at the end of 2014. The decision to close apparently has nothing to do with Google's decision to sell Motorola Mobility to Lenovo and everything to do with poor sales numbers and high labor and shipping costs in the U.S. The factory had, at one point, employed 3,800 people. Their ranks now number at about 700. Moto E and Moto G, newer and cheaper iterations of Moto X, have sold in more profitable numbers overseas, so Google's original rationale of building phones nearer to the largest customer base to decrease time between assembly and delivery to end user will unsurprisingly force the closure of the U.S.-based factory and transfer labor overseas as well."

3 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. As someone who... by Bartles · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...ships product regularly, I have watched domestic shipping costs triple over the last 6-7 years. I understand what Motorola is saying even if I am disappointed by it.

    1. Re:As someone who... by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Informative

      How does making the handsets in China reduce the cost to ship them to American customers? Seriously. Are there some odd shenanigans or something here? otoh, I can't imagine how any company can compete with the kind of wages you can get in the Philippines and China. The time to market thing woulda been nice since they could beat Apple or Samsung to the punch, but then Motorola's engineers and marketing didn't really have the punch they needed :(.

      --
      Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    2. Re: As someone who... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Even the summary already explains that. They expected the Device to sell well in the US, so it made sense to have a factory there. Only it doesn't sell well, but it does sell well in Asia, so they can as well just manufacture it there.