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Originally Posted by pauldun170
Research firm iSuppli estimates the iPad 2 costs $10 to manufacture, which - using the $1.11/hour rate - works out to about 9 hours each to complete. If assembly and manufacture took the same amount of time in the U.S. as it does in China (another possibly unrealistic assumption), the cost of making each iPad 2 comes out to $292.77!
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I think there are a few issues . Because of very high turnover rates for workers in China most workers are the definition of unskilled. Those workers also require pretty much constant supervision. If it is taking Chinese workers 9 hours then American workers should be able to do it significantly faster. An American workforce should also be more consistent in the long run resulting in less defects.
That turnover creates other issues too because it tends to be unpredictable. Everybody leaves for almost a month for Chinese New Year (creating its own issue because all the factories are shut down including suppliers) and you never know who is coming back. I've heard on bad years it can be as much as 30-35% of a factories workforce just never returns. Now that factory has to desperately hire a ton of new people at the same time every other factory in the area tries to do the same.
Everything I have heard, though anecdotally so take it for what that is worth, is that operating in China is a major pain in the ass with costs significantly higher than anticipated. I have also heard from most that there are significant regrets about moving production and if the costs weren't so high to relocate back they would be doing it. It wouldn't surprise me if Apple had similar regrets with the bad press they have been getting, especially since Apple is based on image more than most.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Homeslice
Cuz I didn't know whether any batteries were made in the US? Yeah, like the average person is up on that kind of trivia.
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It may also be because the batteries used in modern electronics don't "pollute the land and poison the population" of the countries in which they are made. They have lithium-ion batteries and because of the form the lithium is in most constructions have nowhere near the environmental issues associated with older battery technologies like lead-acid and nickel-cadmium.