Conventional wisdom says that American labor costs so much it can’t compete with Chinese and other Asian sources.
Conventional wisdom says that American companies can’t ramp up as effectively — or hire new, willing and able workers as quickly — as in China.
Conventional wisdom is an ass.
Matt Burns at TechCrunch reports that the backs of some new ultrathin iMacs identify the machines as assembled in the United States. Apple has yet to comment on the findings, but there’s no denying the cost of labor in China is soaring.
Business Insider just published a graph that shows hourly manufacturing costs in China are up 23 percent this year compared to last year, and The Economist quotes an American contract manufacturing expert in China as saying, “Labor costs have surged by 20 percent a year for the past four years.” In fact, the price of labor is increasing so quickly that many Chinese firms are experimenting with production facilities outside of China to take advantage of lower labor costs.
Michael Kan at PC World reported in February, “For workers in Shenzhen, a major manufacturing base for Foxconn, the increase raises monthly salaries to between 2200 yuan ($350) and 2500 yuan.” (Foxconn, based in Taiwan, is the largest electronics assembly company in the world, with a client list that includes Apple, Microsoft, HP, Nokia, Sony, and many other household names.) Extrapolating at the current rate, by early next year a typical Foxconn worker in Shenzhen, China, will be making $420 a month or more. Granted that’s substantially less than a typical worker in the West, but the gap’s narrowing quickly. Transportation costs are rising. Long supply chains mean stores run out of stock more readily. Manufacturing in the United States has a host of advantages, not all of which are economic.
If the iMac was truly assembled in the United States — and FTC rules are strict about making that claim — it begs the question, where? TechCrunch cites a 50 percent workforce increase at the Apple campus in Elk Grove, just south of Sacramento, Calif., as being the possible location of a secret Apple assembly plant.
Google’s ill-fated Nexus Q, the wireless home media player that couldn’t quite decide what it should do, was manufactured in Silicon Valley. The Huffington Post quotes a Google senior director as saying, “We wanted to innovate fast… We wanted to see if we could do fast [design iterations] rather than having our engineers fly across the world.”
The TechCrunch article concludes that “there has to be a way to show Apple that Americans prefer computers assembled by Americans.”
What they forgot to mention is that people outside America frequently prefer devices assembled in the United States. “Made in the USA” is a strong drawing card, worldwide. Perhaps the world is changing once again.
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Apple may be taking some of the burden of assembling the new iMac off Chinese supply partners by performing parts of assembly in the U.S., as a number of newly-purchased standard units are showing an “Assembled in USA” notation usually reserved for made-to-order machines.
“Assembled in USA” notation found on a new 21.5-inch iMac. | Source: iFixit
While the markings don’t necessarily mean that Apple is in the midst of transferring its entire assembly operation from China to the U.S., it does indicate that at least a few of the new iMacs were substantially assembled domestically. Besides built-to-order machines, the 21.5-inch iMacs are some of the first known examples of an Apple computer being assembled in the U.S., according to Fortune.
The publication noted that Apple’s American assembly has been a topic on the company’s Support Communities forum since 2006, with most threads concluding the markings are limited to the addition of extra components in an original order, or for refurbished products. However, the most recent post regarding the matter shows a standard iMac SKU purchased from authorized reseller B&H Photo bearing the “Assembled in USA” marking.
A new iMac purchased by a Fortune reader from the San Jose, Calif., Apple Store as well as the unit torn down by repair firm iFixit have identical labels.
As part of its duties, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission regulates manufacturers’ “Made in USA” and “Assembled in USA” assertions, pointing out that that latter cannot be a simple “screwdriver” assembly where parts made overseas are bolted onto a near-finalized product.
From the FTC regarding the “Made in USA” standard (emphasis of example added):
Assembled in USA Claims
A product that includes foreign components may be called “Assembled in USA” without qualification when its principal assembly takes place in the U.S. and the assembly is substantial. For the “assembly” claim to be valid, the product’s last “substantial transformation” also should have occurred in the U.S. That’s why a “screwdriver” assembly in the U.S. of foreign components into a final product at the end of the manufacturing process doesn’t usually qualify for the “Assembled in USA” claim.
Example: A lawn mower, composed of all domestic parts except for the cable sheathing, flywheel, wheel rims and air filter (15 to 20 percent foreign content) is assembled in the U.S. An “Assembled in USA” claim is appropriate.
Example: All the major components of a computer, including the motherboard and hard drive, are imported. The computer’s components then are put together in a simple “screwdriver” operation in the U.S., are not substantially transformed under the Customs Standard, and must be marked with a foreign country of origin. An “Assembled in U.S.” claim without further qualification is deceptive.
This suggests that there is at least some substantial assembly being performed in the U.S., though it is not clear what that entails or why. One reason could be the redesigned iMac’s constrained supply, which CEO Tim Cook made note of in Apple’s quarterly conference call in October.
As for Apple’s future plans with domestic assembly, Cook said at the D10: All Things Digital conference in May that he wanted more American-made Apple products, but noted workforce limitations when compared to China.
“We will do as many of these things [in America] as we can do,” Cook said, “and you can bet that we’ll use the whole of our influence to do this.”
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Bodacious Cases has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to begin production of their unique new iPhone 5 Band-It Case. It will join existing cases for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.
Ozark, Missouri (PRWEB) November 30, 2012
Bodacious Cases LLC 25-year-old founder and CEO Arianna Russell has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to begin production of her new iPhone 5 Band-It Case in six case colors.
“By meeting our goal of $20,000, we also will be able to add additional case colors for our existing line of iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S cases,” Russell says.
“The Band-It Case is NOT JUST a case. It’s an all-in-one water-resistant, two-piece, snap-together case that comes with an easily interchangeable colored band. The bands give users the option of changing the look of their cases in a matter of seconds without the expense of multiple cases.”
Band-It Cases Made in the USA
“Our mission is to provide all-in-one multi-purpose iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S cases that fulfill as many needs asa possible while at the same time protecting one of your most valuable assets.“
Russell has chosen to use the Web-based Kickstarter program to raise the funds she needs to not only expand her product line, but to keep it 100 percent Made in the USA.
“I had a dream of making all my products completely in America. I love how the Made in America Movement, Made in USA challenge, the Made in America Store and Diane Sawyer from ABC News are reinvigorating the concept of Made in America,” she says.
“It means a lot to me as an entrepreneur that these people take the time out of their busy lives to do things about being Made in America.”
As to the Band-It Case itself, Russell adds she created it out of personal frustration.
“I wanted something different and unique, something truly bodacious. With the Band-It Case, you have the best of several cases combined into one sleek, thin, durable and stylish unit,” she says. “The easily inter-changeable colored bands provide added protection and versatility.”
Between the durable polycarbonate case, band and anti-scratch protective clear covers — front and back — the highly customizable Band-It Case offers ultimate protection for the user’s iPhone if dropped, banged around or soaked.
It also features a built-in credit card slot that will hold an I.D. and 2 credit cards or eight standard business cards. There also is a cleverly concealed place to stash emergency cash.
The Band-It Case for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S — as well as the upcoming iPhone 5 version — slides in and out of your pocket easily. And with cash, ID, credit/debit cards and business cards all with the phone, the owner may not need a purse or billfold ever again.
“I invented the Band-It Case because I wanted options. I wanted what I couldn’t find. I decided that having cases that offer something people can fully customize to match their favorite colors, teams, outfits, logos, businesses was huge,” Russell says.
“But I also felt it was even more important to give them something beyond that, which is where the built-in credit card holder and secret cash stash came in.”
The goal of the Kickstarter campaign is to raise $20,000. Pledges for the iPhone 5 Band-It Case end December 13, 2012. Under the rules of the campaign, if pledges fail to reach $20,000 by that date, Bodacious Cases receives nothing.
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Walmart workers “love their jobs.” Just ask Walmart.
The retail giant took to Twitter and the opinion section of the San Francisco Chronicle Friday to defend itself against allegations from workers and labor organizers protesting on Black Friday, who claimed Walmart pays its employees low wages, offers little room for raises or benefits and retaliates against employees who complain about poor working conditions. Walmart did not immediately respond Friday to request for comment on the tweets:
Walmart is the world’s largest employer and retailer. But Walmart is paying its workers the least out of all big U.S. companies, according to a recent analysis by 24/7 Wall St. of a National Employment Law Project study.
Many Walmart workers are employed part-time, meaning that the company doesn’t have to provide them with benefits. About 70 percent of workers at one Walmart store work part-time.
Low-level Walmart workers typically start at the minimum wage, and Walmart policy dictates that their highest possible pay raise in a year is just 60 cents per hour, according to internal documents reviewed by The Huffington Post. It is rare for hourly Walmart workers to get promoted to a salaried store manager position.
Michael Bender, president of Walmart West, wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday that “the overwhelming majority of Walmart associates who love their jobs deserve a voice, too.” He claimed that 86 percent of Walmart hourly workers said in a survey they agree with the statement “I really love my job.” He did not specify the survey’s response rate.
“Our associates know the truth: We typically pay as much or more than the competition, the majority of our associates work full time, and entry-level pay often exceeds that of union hires,” he wrote. “We also offer careers, not just jobs.”
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Warehouse workers in Southern California have filed a petition in court to name Walmart as a defendant in a federal wage-theft lawsuit, marking a significant turn in low-wage supply-chain workers’ fight with the world’s largest retailer.
11/30/2012
LOS ANGELES — Warehouse workers in Southern California have filed a petition in court to name Walmart as a defendant in a federal wage-theft lawsuit, marking a significant turn in low-wage supply chain workers’ fight with the world’s largest retailer.
Although workers in Walmart’s contracted warehouses in California and Illinois have alleged labor violations in the past, the filing on Friday is the first time Walmart itself has been directly implicated in the claims of abuse. Until now, only the retailer’s subcontractors have been accused in court of shorting workers on pay and forcing them to work in substandard conditions.
“Walmart’s name does not appear on any of these workers paychecks, and the Walmart logo does not appear on the t-shirts they’re required to wear,” Michael Rubin, the workers’ lawyer, said on Friday. “But it has become increasingly clear that the ultimate liability for these workplace violations rests squarely on the shoulders of Walmart.”
While Walmart directly manages much of its distribution network, the company outsources the operation of some of its largest warehouses to third-party logistics firms, which in turn hire low-paid temporary workers to perform the heavy lifting. These warehouses have become the target of a union-backed organizing effort through the groups Warehouse Workers United and Warehouse Workers for Justice, and several of them have been hit with employee lawsuits and labor-law violations.
In the case amended Friday, six workers at a Walmart-contracted warehouse in Riverside, Calif., sued a series of subcontractors last year, claiming they were paid less than the minimum wage, required to work in excessively hot conditions and retaliated against by superiors as they loaded and unloaded trucks and containers. Although the workers said the products they handled were destined for Walmart stores, the mega-retailer was not originally named in the suit.
Worker advocates have argued all along that Walmart, as the top company in the contract chain, is morally responsible for the working conditions at the warehouses its goods pass through. By trying to bring Walmart into the lawsuit now, they hope to prove that the company is legally and financially responsible as well, arguing that Walmart controls the operation and serves as the ultimate beneficiary of the work.
“I know that Walmart is responsible for all of this, even though they say they have nothing to do with us,” said one of the plaintiffs, David Acosta, speaking in Spanish on a call with reporters Friday. “The boxes say Walmart, the containers say Walmart — everything belongs to Walmart.”
Acosta said he and his colleagues, many of them Latino immigrants, worked 12 to 16-hour days, earning roughly the minimum wage without overtime pay. He said they received a lunch each day but no other breaks. “Our dignity was thrown to the floor,” he added.
The success or failure of the suit could have broader implications for workers who try to sue subcontractors. As HuffPost reported last year, much of the retail sector’s supply chain is now predicated on a system of outsourcing, where larger, brand-name players subcontract the work to smaller, little-seen players, who ultimately hold the legal liability for workers’ well-being. A similar arrangement now persists in many food-processing and manufacturing operations as well.
According to Rubin, the workers are seeking class-action status for their lawsuit, which could involve up to 1,800 affected workers. Rubin argued Friday that the workers are on sound legal footing in suing Walmart, even though the company does not directly employ workers at the facilities.
“Walmart controls the warehouses and everything that happens inside of them,” Rubin said. The retailer, he said, pays “extraordinary attention to details” in the warehouses, including tracking where every truck and container is and what every worker is doing and how much time it takes them to do it.
“[Walmart] owns or leases each of the warehouses at issue in this litigation. It owns all of the equipment and supplies used in those warehouses, from the forklift to the shrink wrap,” he continued. “We allege Walmart has turned a blind eye to systemic violations of worker rights.”
A Walmart spokesman said the company would not comment to The Huffington Post, although the company has said repeatedly that the warehouses involved in the suit are operated by other parties and that the company takes the allegations seriously even if it isn’t responsible for them. Several workers at the warehouses in California went on strike ahead of the high-profile walkouts and protests at Walmart stores on Black Friday.
The suit filed in California last year included among its defendants the Walmart contractor Schneider Logistics, which has been named in similar suits filed by workers in Illinois. Many of the employees were employed by a firm contracted by Schneider, working for “piece rate” — being paid according to how many containers they loaded or unloaded.
The lawsuit alleged rampant abuse, claiming warehouse employees “spend their workdays performing strenuous, unskilled physical labor in an environment where the temperature often exceeds 90 degrees,” where management “routinely responded with threats of retaliation and actual retaliation, including by sending the inquiring workers home without pay, refusing to give them work the next day … and imposing other forms of discipline on them.”
Schneider has denied the allegations in the suit.
Prior to the lawsuit, the California labor commissioner filed a number of labor-law citations against temp companies operating within the warehouse, saying many workers weren’t given complete paystubs for their work. The commissioner, Julie A. Su, told The Huffington Post at the time that the alleged violations epitomized broader problems with subcontracting in the low-wage economy.
“Warehouses are one example of the ever-increasing contracting out of labor. It’s difficult for enforcement, and in many instances it’s a deliberate effort to avoid compliance,” Su said.
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When it comes to texting and updating Facebook, our U.S. culture has an edge on all other societies, but mathematics is a different story altogether. A new research paper looked at how U.S. students fared in comparison to other nations, and found that our national math IQ is lacking.
n the study, U.S. college students were presented with a number line, ranging from -2 to 2, and were asked to pinpoint the location of 0.7 and 13/8. They found that just 21 percent of students answered the equation correctly.
When the students were asked whether a/5 or a/8 was greater, only 53 percent answered correctly. The authors believe that many of the participants could’ve been just guessing, since 36 percent were unable to explain why one was bigger.
The researchers said that since much of math education is just following formulas, students are incapable of tracking problems only slightly different than ones that they have encountered.
A student was asked in the study whether it was possible to check if 462 + 253 = 715. The student correctly answered that you could subtract 253 from 715, but when he was asked whether one could also do 715 – 462, the student “did not think so.”
Another set of questions checked to determine whether students would take advantage of relationships between problems to find easy solutions. These students were asked to solve the following problems: 10 × 3 = ; 10 × 13 = ; 20 × 13 = ; 30 × 13 = ; 31 × 13 = ; 29 × 13 = ; and 22 × 13 = .
Once problem two is solved, the third becomes easier by simply multiplying the answer by two. However, 77 percent of the students never took advantage of those relationships, and simply did the multiplication for each problem.
The researchers found that 77 percent of the students believed that math was not something that could be figured out, or that made sense. Instead, the students believed math was a step of procedures and rules to be memorized.
The team believes the results suggest that U.S. students may be able to do a lot better in math if they can develop a basic conceptual understanding.
“This finding helps make sense of the community college students’ lack of conceptual understanding,” Nate Kornell wrote in “Everybody is Stupid Except You,” published in Psychology Today. “They have been taught in a way that deprives them of the chance to work through the concepts they are being taught. No wonder they see math as an exercise in memorization.”
“The concepts are learnable. On the other hand, teaching mathematical concept is deceptively difficult. Teachers need high quality training, and more research (and funding) is needed to make that happen,” Kornell concluded.
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For many years, apparel manufacturing has been slow in the United States due to the availability of cheaper labor and production options overseas. But the industry is currently in the middle of resurgence amidst a growing demand for better quality products that are exclusively ‘Made in the USA.’ A nation-wide initiative to revive and support apparel manufacturing in the country is in action, led by the U.S. Department of Commerce and actively supported by the state of California, particularly by the Los Angeles garment district.
Decline of U.S. Apparel Manufacturing
By 2007, 95% of apparel bought in the U.S. is imported from abroad. It’s primarily a combination of political, economical, and social factors with lower prices as a major driving force. Apparel manufacturing rose shortly after World War II when retailers met the demand from an increasingly affluent American population with the same mass production processes used to make military uniforms for the war.
When Japan and Asian countries came into the picture offering a competitive advantage of cheap labor on mass-produced apparel, the industry started to decline. By the 50s and the 60s, mass retailers were highly dependent on Asian labor to produce clothing designed in the U.S. By the mid-1980s, bulk of American apparel production has been moved overseas.
An economic downturn in the 70s, the emergence of branded labels that sourced from foreign contractors, and a demand for synthetic fibers readily available from Asia eventually led to the almost complete disappearance of clothes Made in U.S.A. In 2005, apparel imports from China rose to almost 100% after import restrictions on textiles and apparel expired in 2004.
Despite the market’s heavy reliance on mass-produced clothes, there have been calls to improve quality and to bring back manufacturing in our own backyard. The textile and apparel sector is also at the forefront of the current administration’s National Export Initiative aimed at doubling U.S. exports by 2014. At present, the industry directly supports 400,000 jobs and the ‘Made in America’ initiative is designed to promote even more.
In August, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the first ever ‘Made in L.A.’ Pavilion at the Sourcing at MAGIC tradeshow, held in Las Vegas in the same month. The announcement came alongside a string of initiatives aimed at promoting L.A. as a major garment and apparel center in the global market; one of which was a city-wide ‘Made in L.A.’ logo design contest.
The Sourcing in the Americas Pavilion was also featured for the second time at the largest apparel sourcing tradeshow in North America. ‘Made in the Americas’ was the central theme of key discussions of the Sourcing at MAGIC’s lineup of seminars.
“Building on the huge success we had last year, we felt it critical to return with another Americas Pavilion and Summit to highlight Made in America products. As the largest textile and apparel event of its kind, this forum provides American businesses with a unique opportunity to highlight Made in America products to a global audience,” Commerce Under-Secretary for International Trade Francisco Sánchez announced then.
In the upcoming edition of Sourcing at MAGIC to be held in February next year, the ‘Made in L.A.’ Pavilion will yet again be highlighted. It will capitalize on a bigger-than-ever demand for Made in U.S.A. products and offer countless opportunities for local manufacturers to promote the quality of homemade garments and to come face to face with thousands of attendees, major retailers, and top design companies in L.A.
Currently, the Department of Commerce is also working with Los Angeles in developing an online registry that will make it easier to look for apparel, textile, and footwear manufacturers in the U.S. While sourcing from abroad is not likely to end anytime soon, this and all other government initiatives will hopefully be the start of an increased global awareness and recognition of American competitiveness in the clothing and apparel sector.
In light of a recent study which showed that three in four Americans believe that buying local is important – even if it costs a bit more – it could certainly be said that America is on the right track.
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More than three in four Americans consider the U.S. origin of a garment an “extremely” or “somewhat” important factor in their purchase decision, according to a survey conducted by the NPD Group for Women’s Wear Daily. That’s a 29.8 percent increase from responses 10 years ago. Although Marshal Cohen, NPD Group’s chief analyst, wasn’t surprised at how attitudes towards domestic manufacturing have changed, he didn’t anticipate the strength of support in a flaccid economy. Still, he remained cautious. “When you ask people to pinpoint their feelings about something, you have to take the numbers with a grain of salt,” he told the fashion publication. “If 40 percent of the people say they care, maybe just 20 percent would act on that. The jobs market has had a big effect on conscious consumer priorities, but the wallet doesn’t always follow when it comes to purchasing.”
MAKING IT HERE
Not that brands and retailers shouldn’t explore the opportunity to “build and sell more American product,” Cohen continued. “The companies that are building product in the U.S. and those selling those products need to exploit it; and those who aren’t sourcing here or using product sourced here need to explore it. Who can overlook the opportunity to address what might be even a 20 percent level of greater passion about the products they’re offering?”
A growing number of Americans say they’re ready to buy American even if it costs more.
Whether they’ll put their wallets where their mouths are remains to be seen, but Americans say that they’re ready to buy American even if it costs more. More than one in five respondents—21.4 percent—said they’d pick a U.S.-made shirt or blouse over a comparable import as long as the price wasn’t 25 percent higher. Another 17.3 percent said they’d choose the domestic option if the price was no more than 10 percent more expensive than the alternative. Three in 10, or 30.4 percent, would buy American only if the prices were approximately the same, while 21.8 percent would buy American “under any conditions.”
“Consumers are telling us that they’re willing to pay at least a bit more, and occasionally quite a bit more,” Cohen said. “The tolerance [for higher prices on American products] is there and the consciousness is there, but so far there hasn’t been a move in that direction.”
“Made in America” is a more attractive sell because of intangibles such as social responsibility and national pride, Barbara Kahn, director of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, told WWD. “People are more likely to pay for ‘Made in America’ if there was a value proposition tied to it,” she said. “The Italians have done that, and in that kind of a trade-up, people are willing to pay extra money for something. You can market to the economic recovery, the need for more American jobs and social responsibility, but it takes on greater meaning if it’s coupled with emphasis on quality, as some of the premium denim brands have seen.”
Americans may disagree about the premium they’re willing to pay for U.S.-made clothing, but if money were no object, nearly three-quarters—74.2 percent—approve of incentives to rebuild garment and textile production in the United States. Support for new trade barriers to discourage imports was less certain, with 55.7 percent of respondents in favor, 14 percent opposed, and 30.3 percent undecided.
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When President Obama comes to Montgomery County on Friday, he will speak in front of a two-foot-tall toy helicopter, a toy roller coaster, a toy grandfather clock, a motorized toy carousel, and an American flag made of 49,000 K’Nex pieces. Read more
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The Treasury Department said Tuesday that China’s currency remains undervalued, but stopped short of branding the country a currency manipulator.
In its semi-annual report on international exchange rates, the Treasury Department said Chinese authorities “have substantially reduced the level of official intervention in exchange markets” since last year, and have “taken a series of steps to liberalize controls on capital movements.”
Critics blame Beijing for holding down the value of its currency, the renminbi, in order to boost China’s competitiveness in international trade at the expense of other countries.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney vowed during the campaign to brand China a currency manipulator, a potential step towards trade sanctions. The Obama administration, however, has avoided this designation.
he Treasury Department said in its report Tuesday that the renminbi has appreciated by 12.6% against the dollar when adjusted for inflation since June 2010. Nevertheless, it added that the renminbi “remains significantly undervalued, and further appreciation… against the dollar and other major currencies is warranted.”
Treasury said that for China to secure sustainable growth going forward, it needs to increase domestic consumption. Additional renminbi appreciation is a “critical part of this process,” the report said, as a stronger currency increases the purchasing power of Chinese households.
The oft-delayed report was originally scheduled to be published last month.
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'Made in America' Tech Not An Impossible Dream
by MAM TeamConventional wisdom is an ass.
Matt Burns at TechCrunch reports that the backs of some new ultrathin iMacs identify the machines as assembled in the United States. Apple has yet to comment on the findings, but there’s no denying the cost of labor in China is soaring.
Business Insider just published a graph that shows hourly manufacturing costs in China are up 23 percent this year compared to last year, and The Economist quotes an American contract manufacturing expert in China as saying, “Labor costs have surged by 20 percent a year for the past four years.” In fact, the price of labor is increasing so quickly that many Chinese firms are experimenting with production facilities outside of China to take advantage of lower labor costs.
Michael Kan at PC World reported in February, “For workers in Shenzhen, a major manufacturing base for Foxconn, the increase raises monthly salaries to between 2200 yuan ($350) and 2500 yuan.” (Foxconn, based in Taiwan, is the largest electronics assembly company in the world, with a client list that includes Apple, Microsoft, HP, Nokia, Sony, and many other household names.) Extrapolating at the current rate, by early next year a typical Foxconn worker in Shenzhen, China, will be making $420 a month or more. Granted that’s substantially less than a typical worker in the West, but the gap’s narrowing quickly. Transportation costs are rising. Long supply chains mean stores run out of stock more readily. Manufacturing in the United States has a host of advantages, not all of which are economic.
If the iMac was truly assembled in the United States — and FTC rules are strict about making that claim — it begs the question, where? TechCrunch cites a 50 percent workforce increase at the Apple campus in Elk Grove, just south of Sacramento, Calif., as being the possible location of a secret Apple assembly plant.
Google’s ill-fated Nexus Q, the wireless home media player that couldn’t quite decide what it should do, was manufactured in Silicon Valley. The Huffington Post quotes a Google senior director as saying, “We wanted to innovate fast… We wanted to see if we could do fast [design iterations] rather than having our engineers fly across the world.”
The TechCrunch article concludes that “there has to be a way to show Apple that Americans prefer computers assembled by Americans.”
What they forgot to mention is that people outside America frequently prefer devices assembled in the United States. “Made in the USA” is a strong drawing card, worldwide. Perhaps the world is changing once again.
The New iMac: Designed By Apple In California, Assembled In USA
by MAM TeamDecember 3, 2012
The publication noted that Apple’s American assembly has been a topic on the company’s Support Communities forum since 2006, with most threads concluding the markings are limited to the addition of extra components in an original order, or for refurbished products. However, the most recent post regarding the matter shows a standard iMac SKU purchased from authorized reseller B&H Photo bearing the “Assembled in USA” marking.
A new iMac purchased by a Fortune reader from the San Jose, Calif., Apple Store as well as the unit torn down by repair firm iFixit have identical labels.
As part of its duties, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission regulates manufacturers’ “Made in USA” and “Assembled in USA” assertions, pointing out that that latter cannot be a simple “screwdriver” assembly where parts made overseas are bolted onto a near-finalized product.
From the FTC regarding the “Made in USA” standard (emphasis of example added):
As for Apple’s future plans with domestic assembly, Cook said at the D10: All Things Digital conference in May that he wanted more American-made Apple products, but noted workforce limitations when compared to China.
“We will do as many of these things [in America] as we can do,” Cook said, “and you can bet that we’ll use the whole of our influence to do this.”
Bodacious Young Entrepreneur Makes Case for Kickstarter Expansion Support for Her Customizable iPhone 5 Band-It Case
by MAM TeamBodacious Cases LLC 25-year-old founder and CEO Arianna Russell has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to begin production of her new iPhone 5 Band-It Case in six case colors.
“By meeting our goal of $20,000, we also will be able to add additional case colors for our existing line of iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S cases,” Russell says.
“The Band-It Case is NOT JUST a case. It’s an all-in-one water-resistant, two-piece, snap-together case that comes with an easily interchangeable colored band. The bands give users the option of changing the look of their cases in a matter of seconds without the expense of multiple cases.”
“I had a dream of making all my products completely in America. I love how the Made in America Movement, Made in USA challenge, the Made in America Store and Diane Sawyer from ABC News are reinvigorating the concept of Made in America,” she says.
“It means a lot to me as an entrepreneur that these people take the time out of their busy lives to do things about being Made in America.”
As to the Band-It Case itself, Russell adds she created it out of personal frustration.
“I wanted something different and unique, something truly bodacious. With the Band-It Case, you have the best of several cases combined into one sleek, thin, durable and stylish unit,” she says. “The easily inter-changeable colored bands provide added protection and versatility.”
Between the durable polycarbonate case, band and anti-scratch protective clear covers — front and back — the highly customizable Band-It Case offers ultimate protection for the user’s iPhone if dropped, banged around or soaked.
It also features a built-in credit card slot that will hold an I.D. and 2 credit cards or eight standard business cards. There also is a cleverly concealed place to stash emergency cash.
The Band-It Case for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S — as well as the upcoming iPhone 5 version — slides in and out of your pocket easily. And with cash, ID, credit/debit cards and business cards all with the phone, the owner may not need a purse or billfold ever again.
“I invented the Band-It Case because I wanted options. I wanted what I couldn’t find. I decided that having cases that offer something people can fully customize to match their favorite colors, teams, outfits, logos, businesses was huge,” Russell says.
“But I also felt it was even more important to give them something beyond that, which is where the built-in credit card holder and secret cash stash came in.”
The goal of the Kickstarter campaign is to raise $20,000. Pledges for the iPhone 5 Band-It Case end December 13, 2012. Under the rules of the campaign, if pledges fail to reach $20,000 by that date, Bodacious Cases receives nothing.
For more information or to make a pledge, please visit: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bodaciouscases/the-band-it-case-by-bodacious-cases?ref=live
Walmart Wants You To Know That Their Workers 'Love Their Jobs'
by MAM Team11/30/2012
Michael Bender, president of Walmart West, wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday that “the overwhelming majority of Walmart associates who love their jobs deserve a voice, too.” He claimed that 86 percent of Walmart hourly workers said in a survey they agree with the statement “I really love my job.” He did not specify the survey’s response rate.
“Our associates know the truth: We typically pay as much or more than the competition, the majority of our associates work full time, and entry-level pay often exceeds that of union hires,” he wrote. “We also offer careers, not just jobs.”
Warehouse Workers Move To Name Walmart In Wage-Theft Lawsuit
by MAM Team“Walmart’s name does not appear on any of these workers paychecks, and the Walmart logo does not appear on the t-shirts they’re required to wear,” Michael Rubin, the workers’ lawyer, said on Friday. “But it has become increasingly clear that the ultimate liability for these workplace violations rests squarely on the shoulders of Walmart.”
While Walmart directly manages much of its distribution network, the company outsources the operation of some of its largest warehouses to third-party logistics firms, which in turn hire low-paid temporary workers to perform the heavy lifting. These warehouses have become the target of a union-backed organizing effort through the groups Warehouse Workers United and Warehouse Workers for Justice, and several of them have been hit with employee lawsuits and labor-law violations.
In the case amended Friday, six workers at a Walmart-contracted warehouse in Riverside, Calif., sued a series of subcontractors last year, claiming they were paid less than the minimum wage, required to work in excessively hot conditions and retaliated against by superiors as they loaded and unloaded trucks and containers. Although the workers said the products they handled were destined for Walmart stores, the mega-retailer was not originally named in the suit.
Worker advocates have argued all along that Walmart, as the top company in the contract chain, is morally responsible for the working conditions at the warehouses its goods pass through. By trying to bring Walmart into the lawsuit now, they hope to prove that the company is legally and financially responsible as well, arguing that Walmart controls the operation and serves as the ultimate beneficiary of the work.
“I know that Walmart is responsible for all of this, even though they say they have nothing to do with us,” said one of the plaintiffs, David Acosta, speaking in Spanish on a call with reporters Friday. “The boxes say Walmart, the containers say Walmart — everything belongs to Walmart.”
Acosta said he and his colleagues, many of them Latino immigrants, worked 12 to 16-hour days, earning roughly the minimum wage without overtime pay. He said they received a lunch each day but no other breaks. “Our dignity was thrown to the floor,” he added.
The success or failure of the suit could have broader implications for workers who try to sue subcontractors. As HuffPost reported last year, much of the retail sector’s supply chain is now predicated on a system of outsourcing, where larger, brand-name players subcontract the work to smaller, little-seen players, who ultimately hold the legal liability for workers’ well-being. A similar arrangement now persists in many food-processing and manufacturing operations as well.
According to Rubin, the workers are seeking class-action status for their lawsuit, which could involve up to 1,800 affected workers. Rubin argued Friday that the workers are on sound legal footing in suing Walmart, even though the company does not directly employ workers at the facilities.
“Walmart controls the warehouses and everything that happens inside of them,” Rubin said. The retailer, he said, pays “extraordinary attention to details” in the warehouses, including tracking where every truck and container is and what every worker is doing and how much time it takes them to do it.
“[Walmart] owns or leases each of the warehouses at issue in this litigation. It owns all of the equipment and supplies used in those warehouses, from the forklift to the shrink wrap,” he continued. “We allege Walmart has turned a blind eye to systemic violations of worker rights.”
A Walmart spokesman said the company would not comment to The Huffington Post, although the company has said repeatedly that the warehouses involved in the suit are operated by other parties and that the company takes the allegations seriously even if it isn’t responsible for them. Several workers at the warehouses in California went on strike ahead of the high-profile walkouts and protests at Walmart stores on Black Friday.
The suit filed in California last year included among its defendants the Walmart contractor Schneider Logistics, which has been named in similar suits filed by workers in Illinois. Many of the employees were employed by a firm contracted by Schneider, working for “piece rate” — being paid according to how many containers they loaded or unloaded.
The lawsuit alleged rampant abuse, claiming warehouse employees “spend their workdays performing strenuous, unskilled physical labor in an environment where the temperature often exceeds 90 degrees,” where management “routinely responded with threats of retaliation and actual retaliation, including by sending the inquiring workers home without pay, refusing to give them work the next day … and imposing other forms of discipline on them.”
Schneider has denied the allegations in the suit.
Prior to the lawsuit, the California labor commissioner filed a number of labor-law citations against temp companies operating within the warehouse, saying many workers weren’t given complete paystubs for their work. The commissioner, Julie A. Su, told The Huffington Post at the time that the alleged violations epitomized broader problems with subcontracting in the low-wage economy.
“Warehouses are one example of the ever-increasing contracting out of labor. It’s difficult for enforcement, and in many instances it’s a deliberate effort to avoid compliance,” Su said.
Study Shows US College Students Suck At Math
by MAM TeamWhen the students were asked whether a/5 or a/8 was greater, only 53 percent answered correctly. The authors believe that many of the participants could’ve been just guessing, since 36 percent were unable to explain why one was bigger.
The researchers said that since much of math education is just following formulas, students are incapable of tracking problems only slightly different than ones that they have encountered.
A student was asked in the study whether it was possible to check if 462 + 253 = 715. The student correctly answered that you could subtract 253 from 715, but when he was asked whether one could also do 715 – 462, the student “did not think so.”
Another set of questions checked to determine whether students would take advantage of relationships between problems to find easy solutions. These students were asked to solve the following problems: 10 × 3 = ; 10 × 13 = ; 20 × 13 = ; 30 × 13 = ; 31 × 13 = ; 29 × 13 = ; and 22 × 13 = .
Once problem two is solved, the third becomes easier by simply multiplying the answer by two. However, 77 percent of the students never took advantage of those relationships, and simply did the multiplication for each problem.
The researchers found that 77 percent of the students believed that math was not something that could be figured out, or that made sense. Instead, the students believed math was a step of procedures and rules to be memorized.
The team believes the results suggest that U.S. students may be able to do a lot better in math if they can develop a basic conceptual understanding.
“This finding helps make sense of the community college students’ lack of conceptual understanding,” Nate Kornell wrote in “Everybody is Stupid Except You,” published in Psychology Today. “They have been taught in a way that deprives them of the chance to work through the concepts they are being taught. No wonder they see math as an exercise in memorization.”
“The concepts are learnable. On the other hand, teaching mathematical concept is deceptively difficult. Teachers need high quality training, and more research (and funding) is needed to make that happen,” Kornell concluded.
Growing Demand for ‘Made in U.S.A.’ Apparel and Textiles
by MAM TeamDecline of U.S. Apparel Manufacturing
By 2007, 95% of apparel bought in the U.S. is imported from abroad. It’s primarily a combination of political, economical, and social factors with lower prices as a major driving force. Apparel manufacturing rose shortly after World War II when retailers met the demand from an increasingly affluent American population with the same mass production processes used to make military uniforms for the war.
When Japan and Asian countries came into the picture offering a competitive advantage of cheap labor on mass-produced apparel, the industry started to decline. By the 50s and the 60s, mass retailers were highly dependent on Asian labor to produce clothing designed in the U.S. By the mid-1980s, bulk of American apparel production has been moved overseas.
An economic downturn in the 70s, the emergence of branded labels that sourced from foreign contractors, and a demand for synthetic fibers readily available from Asia eventually led to the almost complete disappearance of clothes Made in U.S.A. In 2005, apparel imports from China rose to almost 100% after import restrictions on textiles and apparel expired in 2004.
Stamping the ‘Made in USA’ Quality
Despite the market’s heavy reliance on mass-produced clothes, there have been calls to improve quality and to bring back manufacturing in our own backyard. The textile and apparel sector is also at the forefront of the current administration’s National Export Initiative aimed at doubling U.S. exports by 2014. At present, the industry directly supports 400,000 jobs and the ‘Made in America’ initiative is designed to promote even more.
In August, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the first ever ‘Made in L.A.’ Pavilion at the Sourcing at MAGIC tradeshow, held in Las Vegas in the same month. The announcement came alongside a string of initiatives aimed at promoting L.A. as a major garment and apparel center in the global market; one of which was a city-wide ‘Made in L.A.’ logo design contest.
The Sourcing in the Americas Pavilion was also featured for the second time at the largest apparel sourcing tradeshow in North America. ‘Made in the Americas’ was the central theme of key discussions of the Sourcing at MAGIC’s lineup of seminars.
“Building on the huge success we had last year, we felt it critical to return with another Americas Pavilion and Summit to highlight Made in America products. As the largest textile and apparel event of its kind, this forum provides American businesses with a unique opportunity to highlight Made in America products to a global audience,” Commerce Under-Secretary for International Trade Francisco Sánchez announced then.
In the upcoming edition of Sourcing at MAGIC to be held in February next year, the ‘Made in L.A.’ Pavilion will yet again be highlighted. It will capitalize on a bigger-than-ever demand for Made in U.S.A. products and offer countless opportunities for local manufacturers to promote the quality of homemade garments and to come face to face with thousands of attendees, major retailers, and top design companies in L.A.
Currently, the Department of Commerce is also working with Los Angeles in developing an online registry that will make it easier to look for apparel, textile, and footwear manufacturers in the U.S. While sourcing from abroad is not likely to end anytime soon, this and all other government initiatives will hopefully be the start of an increased global awareness and recognition of American competitiveness in the clothing and apparel sector.
In light of a recent study which showed that three in four Americans believe that buying local is important – even if it costs a bit more – it could certainly be said that America is on the right track.
76 Percent of Americans Say Buying American Made Apparel is Important
by MAM TeamNot that brands and retailers shouldn’t explore the opportunity to “build and sell more American product,” Cohen continued. “The companies that are building product in the U.S. and those selling those products need to exploit it; and those who aren’t sourcing here or using product sourced here need to explore it. Who can overlook the opportunity to address what might be even a 20 percent level of greater passion about the products they’re offering?”
A growing number of Americans say they’re ready to buy American even if it costs more.
Whether they’ll put their wallets where their mouths are remains to be seen, but Americans say that they’re ready to buy American even if it costs more. More than one in five respondents—21.4 percent—said they’d pick a U.S.-made shirt or blouse over a comparable import as long as the price wasn’t 25 percent higher. Another 17.3 percent said they’d choose the domestic option if the price was no more than 10 percent more expensive than the alternative. Three in 10, or 30.4 percent, would buy American only if the prices were approximately the same, while 21.8 percent would buy American “under any conditions.”
“Consumers are telling us that they’re willing to pay at least a bit more, and occasionally quite a bit more,” Cohen said. “The tolerance [for higher prices on American products] is there and the consciousness is there, but so far there hasn’t been a move in that direction.”
“Made in America” is a more attractive sell because of intangibles such as social responsibility and national pride, Barbara Kahn, director of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, told WWD. “People are more likely to pay for ‘Made in America’ if there was a value proposition tied to it,” she said. “The Italians have done that, and in that kind of a trade-up, people are willing to pay extra money for something. You can market to the economic recovery, the need for more American jobs and social responsibility, but it takes on greater meaning if it’s coupled with emphasis on quality, as some of the premium denim brands have seen.”
Americans may disagree about the premium they’re willing to pay for U.S.-made clothing, but if money were no object, nearly three-quarters—74.2 percent—approve of incentives to rebuild garment and textile production in the United States. Support for new trade barriers to discourage imports was less certain, with 55.7 percent of respondents in favor, 14 percent opposed, and 30.3 percent undecided.
President Obama Touring K’NEX Manufacturing Facility at The Rodon Group
by MAM TeamWhen President Obama comes to Montgomery County on Friday, he will speak in front of a two-foot-tall toy helicopter, a toy roller coaster, a toy grandfather clock, a motorized toy carousel, and an American flag made of 49,000 K’Nex pieces.
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Treasury Declines to Brand China a Currency Manipulator
by MAM TeamNovember 27, 2012
Critics blame Beijing for holding down the value of its currency, the renminbi, in order to boost China’s competitiveness in international trade at the expense of other countries.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney vowed during the campaign to brand China a currency manipulator, a potential step towards trade sanctions. The Obama administration, however, has avoided this designation.
he Treasury Department said in its report Tuesday that the renminbi has appreciated by 12.6% against the dollar when adjusted for inflation since June 2010. Nevertheless, it added that the renminbi “remains significantly undervalued, and further appreciation… against the dollar and other major currencies is warranted.”
Treasury said that for China to secure sustainable growth going forward, it needs to increase domestic consumption. Additional renminbi appreciation is a “critical part of this process,” the report said, as a stronger currency increases the purchasing power of Chinese households.
The oft-delayed report was originally scheduled to be published last month.