Mac manufacturing coming back to North America?
Aside from the Mac Pro, it’s been years since any Apple products were manufactured on this side of the Pacific. That is apparently going to change. The company’s manufacturing partner, which purportedly makes most iPods, the iPhone and iMac, is setting up shop just Southwest of El Paso, Texas.
El Paso Times reports that Foxconn (aka Hon Hai) plans to hire 7,500 people by the Fall at its assembly plant in San Jeronimo, Chihuahua. Further, over the next five years the company expects to have 10,000 workers at the fenced and secure facility, which will purportedly manufacture products for Apple, Dell and Hewlett-Packard.
“Foxconn is the largest contract electronics manufacturer in the world,” says Francisco Uranga, corporate vice president, Foxconn, Latin America. “Terry Guo, the founder, started the company (in 1973) with a $7,500 loan from his mom.”
Right side of the pond, wrong side of the river
The Power Macintosh was the last Mac manufactured by Apple in the U.S. with production at the company’s Elk Grove, CA plant ending back in 2004. Although the erstwhile Power Mac and current Mac Pro are said to be made by a third-party in North America, no other Apple products are known to be manufactured here.
Given that Dell and HP are also said to be customers of Foxconn’s Mexican plant, it seems likely that the facility will specialize in just-in-time final assembly of computers to be shipped directly to customers in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. That said, this move won’t boost employment in Michigan or Maine, but it’s good that the jobs are closer to home and it might keep a few tons of carbon out of the atmosphere, too…
What’s your take?
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June 14th, 2009
Headline:
Mac manufacturing coming to Mexico?
Mexico is not really considered North America, rather a region of its own.
Keep carbon out of the air? You must hate plants and dislike exhaling. Perhaps another helping of alGore-aide?
June 14th, 2009
If people like PIF are making them, I expect reliability to drop.
June 14th, 2009
@ PIF: Mexico sure is considered North America. Ever heard of NAFTA?
That said, I don’t see how doing final assembly closer to the final destination is any “earth-friendlier,” if the components being assembled are still coming from halfway around the globe; the same mass still has to be moved the same distance.
June 14th, 2009
You’re absolutely right. We exhale carbon dioxide and plants breath it in to create new oxygen. This madness about carbon emissions is going to lead to nothing less than being taxed and criminalized for breathing; all the while cars and factories will churn out the real toxic compounds.
June 14th, 2009
What a grand example of “Don’t sweat much for a fat girl” reporting.
If Steve Jobs stabbed 10 people to death this Blog would sing the praises about the amount of future Social Security money that was being saved and how socially responsible he was to remove sources of CO2.
http://www.themanufacturer.com/us/detail.html?contents_id=3753
And the other shoe:
http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2009/03/09/daily26.html
June 15th, 2009
thanks,good idea can ı help you
June 15th, 2009
Nice increase in employment numbers.
June 16th, 2009
“That said, I don’t see how doing final assembly closer to the final destination is any “earth-friendlier,” if the components being assembled are still coming from halfway around the globe; the same mass still has to be moved the same distance.”
Final assembly to customer deliver is probably the most energy intensive phase and trimming the air freight portion will certainly cut costs and some carbon (ie Fedex from Shanghai vs Fedex from El Paso).
June 17th, 2009
So just how many Macs and iPods would be airfreighted from China to North America?
Fuck all….
June 24th, 2009
tons of macs and ipods are air freighted from china, especially early in the product cycle and for hot products. just check the origin on your next purchase. there’s a very good chance it won’t originate in north america
July 21st, 2009
thak you,