First US-Made Smartphone Just As Cheap To Produce

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This is, without a doubt, the best way to show up your rivals that claim making products in the USA is too expensive. Hopefully Apple and other American companies take notice and bring jobs back to the U.S. (not that Jobs, real jobs).

Motorola's new Moto X phone doesn't cost more to make simply because it's assembled in Texas, research firm IHS said Wednesday. The Moto X is the first smartphone to carry the "Made in the U.S.A." designation. Labor costs are higher in the U.S. compared with Asian factories, where phones are typically made.
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Made in USA or assembled in USA. Pick one. Assembly work is very low cost with good infrastructure.
 
Foreigners in Texas on green-cards for final assembly with foreign sourced parts is not impressive.
 
I still think its a step in the right direction. We need the income in US states, not overseas.
 
This is just one of the many benefit's of the latest economic collapse......large corporations can now pay slave labor right here in the good old USA....:D




j/k.....


its a step in the right direction ...we need all the jobs we can get
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Made in USA or assembled in USA. Pick one. Assembly work is very low cost with good infrastructure.
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One step at a time... Assembled is fine for now. As we move more and more manufacturing to the US, eventually more industries will follow suit, and we'll have more electronics parts made in the US (hopefully, they can fix the pollution issue).
 
Well who cares?
12$ assembly costs * milions of phones means quite a few ppl will have a job.

If you read the article you will notice Motorola is doing custom cases so obviously cases are produced in USA as well. Quite a bit of semiconductors are being produced in your country so maybe they are used and I won't even go into all the little things that can be produced / bought locally.

I would say there's a good chance that over 25% of parts are done at USA facilities and that's an obvious step in the right direction. Milions of dollars stay in USA and you don't have to print loads of $ again and again to import wares from china... say thanks.

I'm waiting for more and more EU products to go the same route.
 
Crosshairs said:
This is just one of the many benefit's of the latest economic collapse......large corporations can now pay slave labor right here in the good old USA....:D

j/k.....
/QUOTE]

Maybe you're j/k, but it's better to get rid of minimal wages and high work standards to have more jobs at home then to leave ppl jobless and on the street because they can't find a job - companies HAVE TO go to cheaper countries to stay competitive and they can't hire someone cheaper (at least in EU) because it's against the law - even when both sides would be ok with it.
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similar thing happened with the RasberryPi and the UK. The 1st batch was done in China, then it was moved to the UK.

For the same number of workers China/India are by far cheaper BUT that isn't always best.
Just like manu picked up over there cause they were able to initially invest in newer equipment that was more efficient taking manu away, the counter is equally happening with improvements in automatic lines and vast improvements in yields
There is then the shipping costs ;)
 
MirekCz said:
Maybe you're j/k, but it's better to get rid of minimal wages and high work standards to have more jobs at home then to leave ppl jobless and on the street because they can't find a job - companies HAVE TO go to cheaper countries to stay competitive and they can't hire someone cheaper (at least in EU) because it's against the law - even when both sides would be ok with it.
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Are we talking USA or EU? I was under the impression that in the USA it was pretty hard to live off minimum wage. If you lowered it further or got rid of it altogether, you'd simultaneously have to lower living costs so people aren't working 2 full time jobs and still being unable to provide for themselves and their families.
 
Crosshairs said:
This is just one of the many benefit's of the latest economic collapse......large corporations can now pay slave labor right here in the good old USA....:D




j/k.....


its a step in the right direction ...we need all the jobs we can get
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Or it's a sign that even China is getting too expensive. Time to go elsewhere .. Africa? ;)
 
Tudz said:
Are we talking USA or EU? I was under the impression that in the USA it was pretty hard to live off minimum wage. If you lowered it further or got rid of it altogether, you'd simultaneously have to lower living costs so people aren't working 2 full time jobs and still being unable to provide for themselves and their families.
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In the US, you can live off minimum wage, but not alone. You need family or friends to share cost of living with. You cannot raise a family on it.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
In the US, you can live off minimum wage, but not alone. You need family or friends to share cost of living with. You cannot raise a family on it.
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No, you can't. They need more high paying, skill required jobs. The minimum wage jobs can be done by pretty much anyone. From the lazy teenager to the single mom that dropped out of high school freshman year. Those jobs are great for the teenager that lives with Mom & Dad (no bills). That's plenty of money. It was for me, back when I was making $4.25 an hour. Washing dishes, pumping gas (well, technically, I made a dime more than minimum wage), janitor helper at the school. Easy stuff. No education or experience required. But, it was great money if you have no expenses (I did save enough for a car, a Sega CD, and lots of toys and comics). There are just a lot of minimum wage jobs and less skilled jobs.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Made in USA or assembled in USA. Pick one. Assembly work is very low cost with good infrastructure.
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By assembling the phone in Fort Worth, Texas, Motorola is able to let customers order custom designs online for delivery within four days. Standard black or white models are available immediately at retail stores.
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Translation, everything is made overseas, all we do is put the case around the circuit board & phone components... but feel free to pick whatever color you want, it'll only cost you $50 more.
 
Curious, just like the made to order pc market was a few years ago, I wonder if there'll be a boom market for custom made to order mobile phones. If you look at the car market, we Americans pride ourselves on looks and style.

I mean when you reflect about it, when Apple was the minority in the computers they pushed the idea to "think different". Now that they are the majority in mobile (let's face it apple iphone white is like the new beige), who's gonna be the "think different" brand?
 
LeninGHOLA said:
In the US, you can live off minimum wage, but not alone. You need family or friends to share cost of living with. You cannot raise a family on it.
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Which is all fine. There is no god given right to live well on with minimal effort.
 
BBA said:
I still think its a step in the right direction. We need the income in US states, not overseas.
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to a degree this.

most of us on here should be happy, the jobs that this does open up are going to be IT, and engineer jobs to support automation and the production pipeline. they won't be hiring illegals or green cards to maintain expensive mechanical equipment or logistics software.
 
I don't want to run afoul of my employer's social media policy but this is my employer manufacturing this for Motorola. We are hiring people as fast as we can and there are thousands of people employed on that site already. I unfortunately missed my chance to visit that factory last week since I was at our factory in Guadalajara but I hope to get over there one of these days to see what is happening there. One of my coworkers who was there said it was as busy as an anthill. :)
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Made in USA or assembled in USA. Pick one. Assembly work is very low cost with good infrastructure.
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Assembled is not made.

16 year olds assemble Big Macs in towns everywhere. Doesn't mean all those towns are big food industry players.
 
Aluisious said:
Which is all fine. There is no god given right to live well on with minimal effort.
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Since when does minimum wage equal minimum effort?
LeninGHOLA said:
Sure, which is why I don't understand how someone who salts french fries can make $16+ an hour in Australia.
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Well, 2 things to note. First, $16 an hour doesn't get you overly far in Australia, basic day to day shit costs a lot more. So it's less that minimum wage is awesome and more that we don't pay our higher end workers enough (engineers, programmers, etc).

Secondly, Australian minimum wage is age based, it's only over $16 if you're 21 or older. So you must be a fucking awesome french fry saltier yet still too incompetent for a manager position for Maccas to not have replaced you with an 18yo french fry salter ($11 minimum wage) by the time you hit the $16 age.
 
Ducman69 said:
Foreigners in Texas on green-cards for final assembly with foreign sourced parts is not impressive.
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Only points out how you know nothing about life.

How did China get where they are? They started by assembling parts from other countries. It all starts with the seed.
 
kbrickley said:
I don't want to run afoul of my employer's social media policy but this is my employer manufacturing this for Motorola. We are hiring people as fast as we can and there are thousands of people employed on that site already. I unfortunately missed my chance to visit that factory last week since I was at our factory in Guadalajara but I hope to get over there one of these days to see what is happening there. One of my coworkers who was there said it was as busy as an anthill. :)
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I went there to check out the job. I work at a very large semiconductor company in the metroplex and thought it would be interesting to see what was available. I also thought it might be cool to work for Motorola, or so I thought.

I was not happy with the multi-contract layering they were doing. Motorola contracted out the assembly to Flextronics, who then contracted out the work force to Aerotek. To me that says Motorola was looking for an easy way out incase things went south, since they technically weren't responsible to anyone.

Also the people that were showing up at the interview did not look like they were picky about their career. People showing up in wife beaters, shorts, sandals, etc. I was one of the very few I saw that looked I was dressed for an interview.

Anyways, I didn't get the feeling they were going to pay what I make doing my line of work (not to mention the lack of benefits). And I googled Aerotek while I was waiting for the interview and the reviews were typical of the contract companies I have seen at my current place of employment. I ended up walking out of the interview.

Very few of the articles about this phone actually state that Motorola is not the one making or employing the workers.

But I applaud them for making it here. I just wouldn't call this "semiconductor" work.
 
westrock2000 said:
I went there to check out the job. I work at a very large semiconductor company in the metroplex and thought it would be interesting to see what was available. I also thought it might be cool to work for Motorola, or so I thought.

I was not happy with the multi-contract layering they were doing. Motorola contracted out the assembly to Flextronics, who then contracted out the work force to Aerotek. To me that says Motorola was looking for an easy way out incase things went south, since they technically weren't responsible to anyone.

Also the people that were showing up at the interview did not look like they were picky about their career. People showing up in wife beaters, shorts, sandals, etc. I was one of the very few I saw that looked I was dressed for an interview.

Anyways, I didn't get the feeling they were going to pay what I make doing my line of work (not to mention the lack of benefits). And I googled Aerotek while I was waiting for the interview and the reviews were typical of the contract companies I have seen at my current place of employment. I ended up walking out of the interview.

Very few of the articles about this phone actually state that Motorola is not the one making or employing the workers.

But I applaud them for making it here. I just wouldn't call this "semiconductor" work.
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Yep, I work for Flextronics ... but I am in a corporate role ... I am hoping to get over there soon but since they are having exempt workers on the line while they are hiring I will try and wait until things calm down a little ... Google/Motorola transferred all of their phone manufacturing sites to Flex (including this one)
 
they gotta start somewhere...start assembling here and eventually it will be worth trying to spin up parts manufacturing here as well.
 
maademperor said:
they gotta start somewhere...start assembling here and eventually it will be worth trying to spin up parts manufacturing here as well.
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That is a very good point.

There is not much actual manufacturing capacity left in the states. We have fabs here for processors, but once you get those wafers made everything moves overseas (or south to Costa Rica) for packaging and board assembly. After that is done, then back to the US for final assembly. I guess companies are thinking about how long to amortize the costs, or if they can amortize the costs of new manufacturing plants for these middle process steps. Short term, I just don't see it being worth the investment.

China is feeling the heat. Other companies in other countries are cranking up sweatshops that make Foxxcon look like a Detroit UAW shop in the early '70s.

As far as the post above about moving Asian jobs down to Mexico........remember history. It was China that killed a lot of the maquiladoras along the Mexican border. Maybe Mexico will be competitive again as China's standard of living/wages increase.
 
Aluisious said:
Which is all fine. There is no god given right to live well on with minimal effort.
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I don't think anyone would argue that a person making minimum wage should be living well, however I do believe every human being who is a productive member of society has a god given right to live their life without fear of how to make it to the next day.

Watch the documentary 'A Place at the Table' and explain to a few of those families about minimum wage and jobs. To me, America is a screwed up country. There is so much money in this country that absolutely no one should need for anything (want is a different story all together). If a person desires to be a functioning, productive member of society we have a place for them here and at that point, as a basic humanity, I believe they have a right to live their life without fear of the next meal or eviction, etc. This all takes into account responsibility, of course, to handle their finances (and not have kids they can't handle), but it also shouldn't force them into squalor. Public education should be good enough to help them get out of that rut as well, but, again, here in this great country of ours, public education is a joke. All this money and look what we have to show for it.

I absolutely agree with the whole risk/reward model, but when you have CEO's getting golden parachutes for driving the company down, that just goes to show the whole cronyism of how the rich work. The rich do indeed keep getting richer here b/c they know, or pay, to have their income/earnings/dividends etc sheltered and/or manipulated. It's a loaded system.
 
ravx25 said:
I don't think anyone would argue that a person making minimum wage should be living well, however I do believe every human being who is a productive member of society has a god given right to live their life without fear of how to make it to the next day.

Watch the documentary 'A Place at the Table' and explain to a few of those families about minimum wage and jobs. To me, America is a screwed up country. There is so much money in this country that absolutely no one should need for anything (want is a different story all together).
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The fundamental problem is that your implying that there is enough money to "go around". Once you do that, money looses its value. Money, or any currency, gets its value from lop sided possession.

The problem is the money itself, not who has it and who doesn't. It's also the mind set of several thousand years of using money. Most of our logic and ideology is based on the notion of "worth". It's damn near impossible for people to imagine a successful system that does not use this.
 
Tudz said:
Well, 2 things to note. First, $16 an hour doesn't get you overly far in Australia, basic day to day shit costs a lot more. So it's less that minimum wage is awesome and more that we don't pay our higher end workers enough (engineers, programmers, etc).

Secondly, Australian minimum wage is age based, it's only over $16 if you're 21 or older. So you must be a fucking awesome french fry saltier yet still too incompetent for a manager position for Maccas to not have replaced you with an 18yo french fry salter ($11 minimum wage) by the time you hit the $16 age.
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Yes, it is only one side of the problem, just a symptom.

Why aren't your specialist jobs paid well? Is it due to proximity with SE asian countries?
 
ravx25 said:
I don't think anyone would argue that a person making minimum wage should be living well, however I do believe every human being who is a productive member of society has a god given right to live their life without fear of how to make it to the next day.
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I made minimum wage once upon a time, I lived with a bunch of room mates and drove a shitty car. But I had skills so once the local economy turned I got a real job.

If someone has no kids and can't make it on minimum wage, they're gigantic fuck ups. And if they're making minimum wage after the age of 25, they're gigantic fuck ups. I have no pity for someone who can't spend an hour a night learning any kind of skill at all that will make more.
 
BryanSTG said:
Partially assembled in the USA by immigrants and made with parts from Asia.
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QFT. I was impressed when i first read it a few weeks back -- i still think its a step in the right direction though. It might be my next phone too
 
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