Apple CEO Tim Cook announces plans to manufacture Mac computers in USA

[neufuse Veteran]

http://rockcenter.nb...cid=msnhp&pos=1

In an exclusive interview with Brian Williams airing tonight at 10pm/9c on NBC?s ?Rock Center,? Apple CEO Tim Cook announced one of the existing Mac lines will be manufactured exclusively in the United States next year. Mac fans will have to wait to see which Mac line it will be because Apple, widely known for its secrecy, left it vague. Cook's announcement may or may not confirm recent rumors in the blogosphere sparked by iMacs inscribed in the back with ?Assembled in USA.?

?We?ve been working for years on doing more and more in the United States,? Cook told Williams. It was Cook?s first interview since taking over from his visionary former boss, Steve Jobs, who resigned due to health reasons in August 2011. Jobs died on October 5, 2011, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

The announcement could be good news for a country that has been struggling with an unemployment rate of around 8 percent for some time and has been bleeding good-paying factory jobs to lower-wage nations such as China.

Cook, who joined Apple in 1998, said he believes it?s important to bring more jobs to the United States. Apple would not reveal where exactly the Macs will be manufactured.

?When you back up and look at Apple?s effect on job creation in the United States, we estimate that we?ve created more than 600,000 jobs now,? said Cook. Those jobs, not all Apple hires, vary from research and development jobs in California to retail store hires to third-party app developers. Apple already has data centers in North Carolina, Nevada and Oregon and plans to build a new one in Texas

In an exclusive interview with Brian Williams airing tonight at 10pm/9c on NBC?s ?Rock Center,? Apple CEO Tim Cook announced one of the existing Mac lines will be manufactured exclusively in the United States next year. Mac fans will have to wait to see which Mac line it will be because Apple, widely known for its secrecy, left it vague. Cook's announcement may or may not confirm recent rumors in the blogosphere sparked by iMacs inscribed in the back with ?Assembled in USA.?

?We?ve been working for years on doing more and more in the United States,? Cook told Williams. It was Cook?s first interview since taking over from his visionary former boss, Steve Jobs, who resigned due to health reasons in August 2011. Jobs died on October 5, 2011, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

The announcement could be good news for a country that has been struggling with an unemployment rate of around 8 percent for some time and has been bleeding good-paying factory jobs to lower-wage nations such as China.

Cook, who joined Apple in 1998, said he believes it?s important to bring more jobs to the United States. Apple would not reveal where exactly the Macs will be manufactured.

?When you back up and look at Apple?s effect on job creation in the United States, we estimate that we?ve created more than 600,000 jobs now,? said Cook. Those jobs, not all Apple hires, vary from research and development jobs in California to retail store hires to third-party app developers. Apple already has data centers in North Carolina, Nevada and Oregon and plans to build a new one in Texas..

my favorite part is how he said it doesn't cost more to make stuff here.... although the whole "we don't know how to mfg." quote gets me... maybe it's because we don't have anywhere to train people how to due to the fact we don't do any here anymore?!

I can't help but thing though this is just a marketing tactic though... make it say Assembled in USA... suddenly you have a new group of "never bought one before I'll buy one now since its made here" pop up... even though 99% of it is still made in Taiwan, China and Japan....

[Semtex]

This:

:D

[neufuse Veteran]

This:

:D

but that's how most stuff is now days, we are an international mfg world.... different components made all over assembled somewhere...

[fusi0n]

I agree ^^

[Semtex]

@neufuse

Relax, it is only funny pic, no offense and I think it is show reality ;)

[ATLien_0]

Neofuse is correct, if you look at the outdoor clothing industry, things are made in factories here in the U.S and all over the world. A lot of companies view themselves as global or supporting the global economy.

Now with regards to Apple, I applaud them for moving at least one device over here to the U.S. Maybe we can finally prove that the U.S is capable of building quality components at fair prices. Im still curious if they are planning on building the entire thing here. If the mainboards/chips were made here that would be a real shake up to the electronics industry, but Im afraid its just going to be the aluminum shells

[threetonesun]

Now with regards to Apple, I applaud them for moving at least one device over here to the U.S. Maybe we can finally prove that the U.S is capable of building quality components at fair prices. Im still curious if they are planning on building the entire thing here. If the mainboards/chips were made here that would be a real shake up to the electronics industry, but Im afraid its just going to be the aluminum shells

The only thing I could see them building mostly in America is a new Mac Pro. It would make sense because it's a lower demand, high priced item, and it doesn't share many parts in common with their other lines. They could build the case and board here, and there's no screen to manufacture. It seems unlikely the CPU or GPU would be made in America, though.

[HawkMan]

probably succeed as much as the Nexus Q thingy... a device released and forgotten in a month.

As for the whole made in thing, I believe there's a certain percentage of final assembly needs to be done in the country to be able to say "made in xxxxx" German cars for example, they thread as cose to this line as possible, where all parts are made in cheap east european countries, and I think 30% of final assembly is done in Germany.

The only thing I could see them building mostly in America is a new Mac Pro. It would make sense because it's a lower demand, high priced item, and it doesn't share many parts in common with their other lines. They could build the case and board here, and there's no screen to manufacture. It seems unlikely the CPU or GPU would be made in America, though.

Nothing at al will be made in America, only assembled.

[Stetson]

It's definitely the iMac, since we've already started seeing some (even stock retail models) that have "Assembled in USA" on them. That makes a lot of sense as a product to do this with, since it has a couple of complex manufacturing processes (optical lamination, friction stir welding), and has relatively low shipping volume and large margin (in dollars, not percent) compared to other products like the iPhone or iPad. A new Mac Pro would also make sense for some of the same reasons.

I doubt that everything is going to be made in the US since I don't think there are suppliers who can do the logic boards, LCDs, and such at high enough volumes, but it's supposedly more than just a simple assembly of Chinese made parts:

And next year we are going to bring some production to the U.S. on the Mac. We?ve been working on this for a long time, and we were getting closer to it. It will happen in 2013. We?re really proud of it. We could have quickly maybe done just assembly, but it?s broader because we wanted to do something more substantial. So we?ll literally invest over $100 million. This doesn?t mean that Apple will do it ourselves, but we?ll be working with people, and we?ll be investing our money

http://www.businessw...e-ceo-speaks#p9

Also the FTC has rules about what can be called "Assembled in USA", and simply assembling a box of made-in-china parts doesn't count.

[threetonesun]

Nothing at al will be made in America, only assembled.

That's not what the article says. And, for a low volume product, it's not unrealistic to manufacture in the US these days. If you're going to fabricate 5 million of something for day 1, sure, use Foxconn city.

[neufuse Veteran]

@neufuse

Relax, it is only funny pic, no offense and I think it is show reality ;)

I don't get how I was overreacting by just saying that's how the world works now? :/

I never got why we can't do main board assembly here... heck most of it is an automated picker placer machine with flow soldering...

[threetonesun]

I never got why we can't do main board assembly here... heck most of it is an automated picker placer machine with flow soldering...

Most electronics manufacturing is just a race to the bottom, to the point where differences of a few cents will determine where this stuff gets made. It might be all well and easy to build them, but if waste disposal fees or building permits, or any number of other factors in one country are higher than another, that's going to become a huge cost consideration over millions of parts.

Obviously there are a lot of factors, but for something cheap and replaceable built in high quantities, external factors can quickly cost more than the manufacturing costs. Conversely, look at cars, where today it's very common for cars to be built in the country / distribution channel that is going to sell them.

[theyarecomingforyou]

Considering the amount of money that Apple makes it is only fair that it build its products in the territories in which it sells them. By that I mean products made for the European market should be made in the EU, products made for the North American market should be made in the US or Canada, etc. Being that Apple is an American company it makes sense for its production to take place in the US. That said, by making the production of an entire product line in the US that simply bumps up the price in other regions or takes jobs from those economies.

Not everything should be about maximising profits for shareholders. Businesses have an obligation to behave in an ethical manner and they should be respectful of the markets in which they operate - not only is that the right thing to do but it will increase consumer loyalty. This move is good for the American market but is a backwards step for other regions. This is also dependent on Apple absorbing at least some of the increased cost, as otherwise it will simply put its products at even more of a premium.

Unfortunately this comes after high profile scandals at their manufacturing facilities in China. It seems this is designed to stem the negative publicity the company has seen in recent years, rather than being that the company has suddenly realised the error of its ways. I mean, you know you're doing something wrong when your manufacturing facilities have to install anti-suicide nets to prevent workers jumping to their deaths.

[ahhell]

"So we?ll literally invest over $100 million."

Big ****ing deal. Our group of companies (about 22000 employees) just spent $150 million on their own datacenter.

$100 million to Apple is pocket change they found in a couch.

[.Neo]

"So we?ll literally invest over $100 million."

Big ****ing deal. Our group of companies (about 22000 employees) just spent $150 million on their own datacenter.

$100 million to Apple is pocket change they found in a couch.

So you rather have them not investing money at all? Cool.

[Guest]

So you rather have them not investing money at all? Cool.

lol, exactly - not sure what point he's trying to make :s

[HawkMan]

That's not what the article says. And, for a low volume product, it's not unrealistic to manufacture in the US these days. If you're going to fabricate 5 million of something for day 1, sure, use Foxconn city.

That's because the rules are stupid and if enough assembly is done in a country it can be called made in that country.

[neufuse Veteran]

So you rather have them not investing money at all? Cool.

it is pretty much nothing when people like Intel shell out billions to build fab's in the USA... Intel's Fab 42 in Arizona is going to cost about $5 billion to build, compare that to Apple's $100 million....

although Intel is always funny, their fabs are in the USA but the end chips are "made in Taiwan" or "made in costa rica"... even though they are fab'ed here

[cybertimber2008]

probably succeed as much as the Nexus Q thingy... a device released and forgotten in a month.

The Nexus Q has not been sold beyond pre-order because Google wanted to tweak it more and sell a better device in the future after they received quite a bit of feedback. The changes haven't yet come out to retail.

Source: http://www.androidcentral.com/google-postpones-nexus-q-retail-launch-will-give-pre-order-customers-free-sphere

[threetonesun]

it is pretty much nothing when people like Intel shell out billions to build fab's in the USA... Intel's Fab 42 in Arizona is going to cost about $5 billion to build, compare that to Apple's $100 million....

although Intel is always funny, their fabs are in the USA but the end chips are "made in Taiwan" or "made in costa rica"... even though they are fab'ed here

Cutting edge chip manufacturing is exponentially more expensive than what Apple is doing.

[.Neo]

it is pretty much nothing when people like Intel shell out billions to build fab's in the USA... Intel's Fab 42 in Arizona is going to cost about $5 billion to build, compare that to Apple's $100 million....

Maybe because what Intel is doing is more expensive... My question still stands though: You rather have Apple not invest any money at all?

[ahhell]

Maybe because what Intel is doing is more expensive... My question still stands though: You rather have Apple not invest any money at all?

Where exactly did ANYONE say that?

The "assembled in the USA" is just marketing.

[.Neo]

Where exactly did ANYONE say that?

The "assembled in the USA" is just marketing.

It's a very simple question I'm asking you're not giving an answer to, since you're complaining about the company only investing $100 million. The realistic alternative being they won't invest any money at all. Apple is a commercial company, not a charity organization. So yeah, if there's some positive PR value attached to this they'll use it. Capitalism has worked like this for quite some time now.

[neufuse Veteran]

Maybe because what Intel is doing is more expensive... My question still stands though: You rather have Apple not invest any money at all?

really? because Apple "makes" (Designs) their own chips now, they could easily move their own chip fabrication here... just as expensive as what Intel is up to

It's a very simple question I'm asking you're not giving an answer to since you're complaining about the company only invests $100 million. The realistic alternative being they won't invest any money at all. Apple is a commercial company, not a charity organization. So yeah, if there's some positive PR value attached to this they'll use it. Capitalism has worked like this for quite some time now.

Apple is investing more money in construction of their new headquarters then they are investing in assembly in the USA... still money invested in the USA

[.Neo]

really? because Apple "makes" (Designs) their own chips now, they could easily move their own chip fabrication here... just as expensive as what Intel is up to

They're still in the process of acquiring more expertise. Who's to say they won't eventually when they're more independent from others?