FANTASTIC plan! ~ but I'm cynical enough to withhold cheering until it happens ~ Sooz

CEO: Apple plans to bring manufacturing of computers back to U.S. next year
By Agence France-Presse
Thursday, December 6, 2012 10:29 EST

NEW YORK — Apple plans to bring some manufacturing of its computers from China to the United States next year, chief executive Tim Cook said, in a move which may help spark more domestic high-tech production.

Cook, in two interviews released Thursday, said one line of Mac computers will be made exclusively in the United States, but did not say which one, nor did he say where the manufacturing would be done.

The interviews with NBC News, to air later Thursday, and with Bloomberg Businessweek, were the first since Cook took the reins at Apple from Steve Jobs, who died last year from cancer.

“Next year we’re going to bring some production to the US,” Cook told Businessweek.

“This doesn’t mean that Apple will do it ourselves, but we’ll be working with people and we’ll be investing our money.”

Cook told NBC one of the existing Mac lines will be manufactured exclusively in the United States, which appeared to confirm rumors on some Apple-monitoring blogs saying people had seen iMacs inscribed with “Assembled in USA.”

“We’ve been working for years on doing more and more in the United States,” Cook told NBC.

Asked why Apple would not move out of China entirely and manufacture everything in the United States, Cook told NBC, “It’s not so much about price, it’s about the skills.”

Cook also told the broadcaster that he hopes the new project will help spur other US firms to bring manufacturing back home.

“The consumer electronics world was really never here,” he said. “It’s a matter of starting it here.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/06/ceo-apple-plans-to-bring-manufacturing-of-computers-back-to-u-s-next-year/

“It’s not so much about price, it’s about the skills.”

I've always wondered why these highly successful companies do not have their own school/training facility if they are so keen on remaining or coming back to the US. It's obvious the schools are doing it or that so many cannot afford that sort of schooling.

It would be in their own best interest, imo. Train employees the way they want. Give them the specific skills they need for their company.
It's not like there are these sort of places on every street corner, so employees may be more long-term. It could even be feasible to train them with the caveat that they must sign a 3-5 year contract if hired. Win-win imo, especially in today's economy.

roseanne: North American companies want an educated, healthy, skilled work force. They want good roads and a modern, up-to-date infrastructure - but - they just don't want to have to pay for it.

they just don't want to have to pay for it.

That's the socialism that is approved.

In some of the right-to-work states, of course, wage rates are down to the point where they are competative with China. Also, most computer manufacturing work is machine driven and not very labour intensive. Apart from a handful of technicians who maintain the machines, it's assembly line type work that doesn't require much in a way of skills.

it's not about the price or the skills, it is about the perception of being a slave driving evil corporation.