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Foxconn Is Reconsidering Plan For Wisconsin Factory (cnn.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Foxconn, the giant Taiwan-based company that announced plans for a $10 billion display-making factory in Wisconsin, now says it is rethinking the project's focus because of "new realities" in the global marketplace (Warning source may be paywalled; alternative source). The company said Wednesday that it remained committed to creating as many as 13,000 jobs in Wisconsin, and continued to "actively consider opportunities" involving flat-screen technology. But it said it was also "examining ways for Wisconsin's knowledge workers to promote research and development." "The global market environment that existed when the project was first announced has changed," Foxconn said in a statement. "As our plans are driven by those of our customers, this has necessitated the adjustment of plans for all projects, including Wisconsin." But the company said its presence in Wisconsin remained a priority, and said it was "broadening the base of our investment" there. The statement followed a Reuters report quoting Louis Woo, a special assistant to Foxconn's chairman, Terry Gou, as saying that the costs of manufacturing screens for televisions and other consumer products are too high in the United States. "In terms of TV, we have no place in the U.S.," Mr. Woo told Reuters. "We can't compete." Some Wisconsin Republicans blamed the company's change in plans on the election of Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, to succeed Mr. Walker, a Republican, in November. In a joint statement, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and the Senate majority leader, Scott Fitzgerald, said it was "not surprising Foxconn would rethink building a manufacturing plant in Wisconsin under the Evers administration." The lawmakers added: "The company is reacting to the wave of economic uncertainty that the new governor has brought with his administration."
This just gave them an excuse to go all out, instead of downsizing their overly ambitious plans,
Lol, how much of that Kool-Aid did you drink?
Get back to me next year and we'll see if Foxconn is building anything in Wisconsin.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Where's the value for Foxconn to use American workers?
There are numerous benefits. In no particular order:
1) Products made in the US for sale in the US do not have to worry about exchange rate fluctuations or import tariffs
2) Reduced freight costs and production lead times to the US market
3) Production flexibility - gives Foxconn the ability to produce products in the most sensible market for a given product
4) US worker productivity is among the highest in the world (it's how we compete)
5) US manufacturing workers are among the best in the world (the US has a $3 Trillion/year manufacturing sector)
6) Automation will necessarily be used extensively to offset labor costs
7) It gets Foxconn and companies that use them (Apple, etc) political points and the ability to lobby state and federal governments
8) For products with relatively low labor content US workers make tremendous sense, especially for products that are sold in the US.
Your question would apply equally to Honda or BMW or Siemens or any other large manufacturing concern. They make a products in the US because it makes economic sense to do so. Not every product of course but some will benefit.
They're expensive. Wisconsin is a union state too.
There is no such thing as a "union state". There are companies that have unions in Wisconsin but there are plenty more that do not. Just because a company sets up shop in Wisconsin does not mean a union will be able to organize that company.
Which means that Foxconn will have union labor issues just building the factory and keeping it running will just be a nightmare.
I'm sure there will be unions interested in organizing the plant just like every other large manufacturing concern. Unions mostly have been losing these organizing efforts in recent years so I doubt Foxconn is overly worried. There are things that worry Foxconn about such a big project but unions are pretty far down the list these days.
As for skills, Wisconsin the state has no fiscal responsibility, it has not fiscal stability, it has an almost 3rd world infrastructure.
Feeling hyperbolic today are we? Pretty much none of that is true. The rest of your post is just similar provocative nonsense.