Feb 16 2012
Just a placeholder for a future post. For now, just a link to an interesting discussion on why, in the US, the focus on increasing the number of manufacturing jobs (as opposed to service sector jobs, for example) may be unhealthy. http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/146942816/obama-s-manufacturing-push-meets-some-expert-skepticism
Feb 07 2012
I like it when I read people making my point better than I can. Mr. Bolaji Ojo, writing in EBN Online does just that. His article is entitled ”Are Chinese Workers Really Defenseless?” His main point is that Chinese workers are more vocal and have more power to effect positive changes in labor rates and working conditions. …
Feb 02 2012
Here’s an example of how industrial leadership seems to be working here in China, and why some form of it should be considered in target industries in the USA. This article from Global Sources (h/t Sinoland) shows how Guangdong province targeted an industry (in this case, LEDs) and invested in manufacturing capacity and infrastructure. The result: …
Feb 01 2012
Just some random thoughts on the latest round of Apple/Foxconn bashing in the media. Earlier this week, Foxconn hired 5000 workers in it’s Shenzhen facility. This during a lobor shortage! I actually run a factory in Dongguan and I can tell you that it is 100% possible (but not easy) to run a factory here …
Jan 29 2012
The “Make it in America” crowd are just making populist noises. Lots of talk about this NY TIMES article, How U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work. The article just reinforces what I’ve been telling the “make it in America” crowd for years– the decision to manufacture in China was not just a matter of cheaper …
Jan 09 2012
Labor unrest in China– ? What to do? So you are responsible for the performance of a China-based factory, and the headlines are getting scary. Thousands strike at LG Factory in Nanjing. Strikes at Singapore-owned Hi-P. Etc. etc. Also, it seems that strikers are targeting foreign-owned companies, like yours. To be sure, the usual media echo chamber (along with the …
Jan 05 2012
As labor rates rise in China, more and more people are talking about automation as a means to offset these costs. It is true that automation can drastically improve productivity, thereby lowering labor costs, but over-automation (or “mis-automation”) can actually increase production costs, and can do so in ways which are occluded in most cost …
Dec 22 2011
US Government stands idly by while executives of 2 US companies are visited and probed by aliens, then forced into unholy industrial relationships with Chinese factories!!!!!! OK, I made up the part about the alien probing, but the article from the Mercury News Two Los Gatos companies forced to manufacture products in China sure makes it …
Nov 01 2011
I’ve argued many times (here, here, here, here, here, here and here, for instance) that cheap labor was never a good reason to stay in China, and that the “end of cheap Chinese labor” is not a good reason to move out of China. Now two new posts on EBN (part 1 & part 2) support similar conclusions, …
Oct 28 2011
Some time ago, I posted an article from the Financial Times proposing that rising China prices would result in “cost-push inflation”, pushing prices up through the supply chain, which I believed would relieve some of the cost pressures on Chinese manufacturing. My point was that rising production costs in China would not necessary push factories …
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