!VAR HAGENDOORN

Where iPhones Come From

Excellent, much commented, article in the New York Times on why Apple products are designed in California and made in China. Some of the key advantages of China, according to the article, are supply chain, scale, speed and flexibility. To quote just one excerpt:

"Another critical advantage for Apple was that China provided engineers at a scale the United States could not match. Apple’s executives had estimated that about 8,700 industrial engineers were needed to oversee and guide the 200,000 assembly-line workers eventually involved in manufacturing iPhones. The company’s analysts had forecast it would take as long as nine months to find that many qualified engineers in the United States. In China, it took 15 days."

The article focuses on Apple and will no doubt upset many readers in the U.S. However, Philips, the Dutch electronics company, has also outsourced most of its manufacturing to Asia. It's just that in the Netherlands it is generally accepted that it is impossible to compete with China when it comes to manufacturing electronics.

And before you jump to any conclusions, consider the fact that for many Chinese working in a factory assembling iPhones is a major improvement over working the land as a farmer.