Microsoft Manufacturing Surface Hub In the US

overThruster writes: According to the New York Times, Microsoft has chosen to manufacture its Surface Hub in Wilsonville, Oregon. The announcement follows Apple’s decision to build the Mac Pro in Texas. "It makes a lot of sense to manufacture in the U.S.," said Steve Hix, an entrepreneur who founded several Portland-area tech companies, including one that had a manufacturing facility in Wilsonville. "The key issue is quality."

Comments

In other words

[Anonymous Coward]

It's an ultra low volume product that has a very limited audience but looks cool to plebs. Since Chinese manufacturing requires a pretty high volume of sales to pay off, m$ gains good pr by keeping it on this side of the Pacific. Not impressed

Re:In other words

[Anonymous Coward]

Not impressed

Of course not, unless they are doing something that benefits you but does not benefit them at all you wont be impressed. If it keeps a small amount of jobs in the US then surely that is at least even a slightly good thing...though Im sure the resident /. cynics will find some way to put a negative spin on this.

Re:In other words

[jcr]

Exactly. Apple manufactures low-volume products in the USA, and does high volume manufacturing in China. Steve built the original Mac factory and the NeXT factory here, but went overseas in the 90s because staffing a factory in the USA is bloody difficult these days.

-jcr

Re:In other words

[Firethorn]

I remember reading that Chinese shoe factory workers were having their wages double every 3 years - for the last 15 years or so.

CSMonitor has an article which mentions that labor costs are rising 15-20% a year in china, and they're up to $6/hour average - barely under US minimum wage. Add quality issues, delays in product delivery, delivery costs, and automation here in the USA, and 'reshoring' is a thing.

Even if a lot of it's going to Mexico. Thing is, once China approaches equity, then the other southeast asian countries, followed by Mexico, where are manufacturers going to go for cheap labor? Africa? I get the feeling that by the time that happens, Chinese firms will be looking to outsource themselves to save costs(and I've heard they already are), and you end up going from around the worlds richest 50% looking to outsource to the poorest 50%, to 90% of the world looking to outsource to the remaining 10%. IE there just won't be enough 'poor' remaining in the world to absorb the demand for cheap labor. So outsourcing will have to come to a practical end.

Re:In other words

[Demonoid-Penguin]

Since Chinese manufacturing requires a pretty high volume of sales to pay off, m$ gains good pr by keeping it on this side of the Pacific. Not impressed

The key word is manufacture. Call me a cynic but I seriously doubt M$ is going to manufacture much in the US.

To the best of my knowledge only Japan, China and Korea have the plants to make most of the components and I can't find any evidence that there are plans to set up the facilities in the US.

It does seem that the screen itself (multiple 8x3' acrylic sheets with LED inserts around the edges) will be US made - so I guess that justifies the proposed "made in" label (and government funding?). From the referenced news (fluff) article (emphasis mine):-

The product is so unusual — representing one of the largest touch screens of its kind — that Microsoft could not find existing assembly lines in Asia to build it on, the company said.

One reason Microsoft’s factory is in Wilsonville, a city of about 21,000 about 20 minutes south of Portland, is that the Surface Hub originated at a start-up called Perceptive Pixel, which Microsoft acquired in 2012. The start-up had an assembly plant in Wilsonville for its giant touch-screen device

Although many components in the product will come from overseas, the Surface Hub will be stamped with the phrase “Manufactured in Portland, OR, USA.

And yeah - the "can't find existing Asian assembly lines big enough" is a bit of a deliberate furphy as assembly lines are built to suit the order - in this case they're just using the existing Perceptive Pixel assembly lines (which makes sense, as they bought the company which includes it's assets). Guess we'll wait and see. If it stays in the US it'll be interesting - especially seeing how they deal with the tax on the income.

Re:In other words

[fustakrakich]

The negative spin is that an American company opening a factory in the United States is front page news.

Re:In other words

[Anonymous Coward]

The OP was talking about the ultra-low volume of the Surface Hub, meaning the new giant ones costing between $7k and $20k. Those won't be selling very many. That's right in the title.

Re:In other words

[tnk1]

Unless there are location advantages, or artificial barriers, pure labor costs will tend to even out as the global labor pool finds a level.

The major questions are:

Where is that level going to be, and are there enough of those jobs for everyone in the world?

Chances are, the level of payment for labor in an automated world is likely to never again approach what it was due to barriers to work movement and strong unions. The reason for that is fairly clear, the race to the bottom, with the combination of not enough manufacturing jobs for everyone means that there is nothing that props up manufacturing wages except those tasks that have not yet been automated.

So the manufacturing sector is pretty much a dead end for employment, but if we can produce goods without the need for labor, then perhaps we can consider making it unnecessary to maintain a menial job to have a living. I don't know if we're actually there yet, but at some point, we may need to start seriously discussing what it means to not have to have full employment while having the ability to produce more than ever. If someone can come up with a basic income idea that doesn't have us ending up as entitled proles who expect the government to pay for everything, which then turns into shitty politicized central planning, it may be worth serious discussion.

Thanks Slashdot!

[kamapuaa]

Wow, some stuff is getting manufactured, in the nation with the largest manufacturing economy!

Re:Thanks Slashdot!

[ShanghaiBill]

Wow, some stuff is getting manufactured, in the nation with the largest manufacturing economy!

China surpassed the US as the world's largest manufacturer in 2010, and has continued to widen the lead.

Re:Actually the key issue is China couldn't do it

[SgtAaron]

And who buys a touch screen that size?

The producers of "CSI: Cyber." Duh :-)

Re:Actually the key issue is China couldn't do it

[ShanghaiBill]

Tom Cruise used one in Minority Report.

Makes sense...

[ndykman]

The R/D department for this lives in Portland (Perceptive Pixel, acquired by MS). Plenty of room in Wilsonville. Power is still fairly cheap here (hydro power from the Columbia dams). So, yea, makes sense. Sure, milk it for media points, but in the end, it's just a business decision.

It's not so much American Quality

[rsilvergun]

it's just much easier to keep tabs on your supplier (and ship product back for repairs) when they're not across an ocean.

It was only a matter of time

[presidenteloco]

before our robots became cheaper than their workers, and capable enough to do the job.

Don't be fooled into thinking this trend is much of a local employment boon.

(Unless you're a robot.)

Re:Halo Products Made in USA

[bazorg]

Electric guitar manufactures charge a premium for guitars made in the USA.

I noticed that as well. Since I could not tell a good guitar from an excellent one, I've wondered if people are paying the premium for the "made in the USA" tag or whether they do so because there's an actual product difference.

It is my understanding that Japanese and Korean made guitars used to be seen as rubbish knock-offs, but today they carry a more positive reputation. In any case, music and luxury items markets behave differently than consumer electronics. I don't think I'd pay a premium for a Surface table sold as being from 1953 vintage, pre-loved by some of the coolest CEOs of that era and with significant age-related marks.