Apple plans to join a small but growing number of companies that are bringing some manufacturing jobs back to the United States, drawn by the growing economic and political advantages of producing in their home market, report Catherine Rampbell and Nick Wingfield in Friday's New York Times. But some experts remain skeptical that the move will inspire a broader renaissance in American manufacturing.
On Thursday, Apple's chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, who built its efficient Asian manufacturing network, said the company would invest $100 million in producing some of its Mac computers in the United States, beyond the assembly work it already does in the United States. He provided little detail about how the money would be spent or what kinds of workers might benefit.
“I find it hard to see how the supply chains that drive manufacturing are going to move back here,†Andre Sharon, a professor at Boston University and director of the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation, told The Times. “So much of the know-how has been lost to Asia, and there's no compelling reason for it to return. It's great when a company says they want to create American jobs - but it only really helps the country if those are jobs that belong here, if it starts a chain reaction or is part of a bigger economic shift.â€
Over the last few years, companies across various industries, including electronics, automotive and medical devices, have announced that they are “reshoring†jobs after decades of shipping them abroad. Lower energy costs in America, rising wages in developing co untries like China and Brazil, quality control issues and the desire to keep the supply chain close to the gigantic American consumer base have all factored into these decisions.
Even so, the impact on the American job market has been modest so far. Much of the work brought back has been high-value-added, automated production that requires few actual workers, which is part of the reason America's higher wages are not scaring off companies.
American manufacturing has been growing in the last two years, but the sector still has two million fewer jobs than it had when the recession began in December 2007. Worldwide manufacturing appears to be growing much faster, even for many of the American-owned companies that are expanding at home. General Electric, for example, has hired American workers to build water heaters, refrigerators, dishwashers and high-efficiency topload washers, but continues to add more jobs overseas as well.
Apple has not announced plans to move the complex, faster-growing portions of its product lines. Macs now represent a relatively small part of Apple's business, accounting for less than 20 percent of its nearly $36 billion in revenue in its most recent quarter. The company's iPad and iPhone products, which amount to nearly 70 percent of its sales, will continue to be made in low-cost centers of manufacturing like China, mostly on contract with outside companies like Foxconn.
