Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

2013 Mac Pro Made In the USA?

Status
Not open for further replies.
BigJohno

BigJohno

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 1, 2007
1,488
627
San Francisco
Tim Cook mentioned tonight that there will be an existing line of macs that will be made in the US. What are your guys thoughts on this? If I can recall the g4 towers and many of the macs were made in Fremont. I reckon that the Mac Pro will be the one made here because of the Low volume compared to the rest of the macs.
 
Well some of the iMacs are being assembled in the US. I just hope they don't turn out like American cars. :)
 
I mean no disrespect but isn't this just something Americans would care about?

Every single component is more or less made in Asia.
 
Pressure said:
I mean no disrespect but isn't this just something Americans would care about?

Every single component is more or less made in Asia.
Click to expand...

I'm inclined to agree. It's more of a PR exercise - a cheap one at just $1000000.

It will take more companies than Apple alone to bring the Asian dominant skill sets of industrial manufacture to the US. As Tim said it's a fundamental problem in that education US side does not have the focus that is seen in the Asian electronics market. It will take years and years.

Mac Pro's assembled in Ireland i'm sure will continue, the US will assemble US Mac Pro orders and that's the token gesture you're seeing here. It's not even a start at bringing global size electronics manufacture to the US.
 
All Taken said:
I'm inclined to agree. It's more of a PR exercise - a cheap one at just $1000000.

It will take more companies than Apple alone to bring the Asian dominant skill sets of industrial manufacture to the US. As Tim said it's a fundamental problem in that education US side does not have the focus that is seen in the Asian electronics market. It will take years and years.

Mac Pro's assembled in Ireland i'm sure will continue, the US will assemble US Mac Pro orders and that's the token gesture you're seeing here. It's not even a start at bringing global size electronics manufacture to the US.
Click to expand...

That makes no sense, most of the people are migrant workers and farmers, they didn't go to a trade school for manufacturing. The jobs are mindless tedious and repetitive, no person should be subjected to work like this.
 
BigJohno said:
Tim Cook mentioned tonight that there will be an existing line of macs that will be made in the US. What are your guys thoughts on this? If I can recall the g4 towers and many of the macs were made in Fremont. I reckon that the Mac Pro will be the one made here because of the Low volume compared to the rest of the macs.
Click to expand...

I have a bunch of Mac Pros here, ranging in age from 2006 to 2012, and all of them say they're assembled in the USA. I believe they were all CTO models, so that may be why. Regardless, I'm surprised Apple hasn't touted that they're already building some computers here.
 
Chaos123x said:
That makes no sense, most of the people are migrant workers and farmers, they didn't go to a trade school for manufacturing. The jobs are mindless tedious and repetitive, no person should be subjected to work like this.
Click to expand...

Skilled assembly jobs? I'm talking about the skill sets Tim mentioned in his interview, he referenced the lack of US skills in that area, the US has never had those expertise and would need the education system to gear the change. It makes perfect sense.
 
I too believe that it's the Mac Pro that Tim was referring to in his video about being made in America. It lines up with his previous comments regarding the timing of the Pro. Shipping costs for the Pro I'm sure are a consideration & building it here would have to save at least on those costs alone. While I suspect the next model to be smaller & lighter than the current beast, it should still represent the heaviest machine that Apple produces. Also quantities will be a fraction of other models, so bringing back to the US is a symbolic move for Apple at most.
 
Chaos123x said:
That makes no sense, most of the people are migrant workers and farmers, they didn't go to a trade school for manufacturing. The jobs are mindless tedious and repetitive, no person should be subjected to work like this.
Click to expand...

Those mindless, tedious and repetitive jobs are far better than the subsistence farming that many of those workers would be engaged in otherwise.
 
Leander kahaney made a good point on the cult of mac podcast
Most us tv sets are made just over the boarder in Mexico because they are too heavy/bulky to ship economically from Asia.
Maybe it's the rumoured tv set that will be made in the us
 
All Taken said:
Skilled assembly jobs? I'm talking about the skill sets Tim mentioned in his interview, he referenced the lack of US skills in that area, the US has never had those expertise and would need the education system to gear the change. It makes perfect sense.
Click to expand...

Yeah he said the skills and education are not in the USA. Failed to mention that most of the workers at Foxconn got the jobs with no experience or schooling. What are you talking about?
 
Chaos123x said:
Yeah he said the skills and education are not in the USA. Failed to mention that most of the workers at Foxconn got the jobs with no experience or schooling. What are you talking about?
Click to expand...

Do you think that the majority of assembly line workers in Foxconn are unskilled workers? Who supports the assembly line workers? The supporters (Engineers) all have an Asian education.

It is the lack of Industrial Engineers US side that stops US manufacture dead in the water - it's all about unavailable skill sets. That is what I mean, do you understand it now? Below is a couple of qoutes that might help more:

Steve Jobs, Apple's late CEO, brought the issue up during an October 2010 meeting with President Obama. He called America's lackluster education system an obstacle for Apple, which needed 30,000 industrial engineers to support its on-site factory workers.
"You can't find that many in America to hire," Jobs told the president, according to his biographer, Walter Isaacson. "If you could educate these engineers, we could move more manufacturing plants here."
In a May interview with AllThingsD, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he agreed with Jobs' assessment.
"There has to be a fundamental change in the education system to bring back some of this [labor]," he said.
 
Last edited:
chrfr said:
I have a bunch of Mac Pros here, ranging in age from 2006 to 2012, and all of them say they're assembled in the USA. I believe they were all CTO models, so that may be why. Regardless, I'm surprised Apple hasn't touted that they're already building some computers here.
Click to expand...

I've had a couple that were made in Cork,Ireland.
 
Pressure said:
I mean no disrespect but isn't this just something Americans would care about?
Click to expand...

Really? I'm in the USA and I really prefer European made goods over Chinese made goods. I guess I mistakenly assumed it would work the other way around too. Are American goods and Chinese goods really considered equivalent in Denmark? That's disappointing to me.

With so many news stories coming out of China about food, toys, and other goods that are laced with dangerously high levels of heavy metals and other industrial poisons, I just prefer products made in countries with better reputation, oversight, environmental laws, and worker protections.
 
Peace said:
I've had a couple that were made in Cork,Ireland.
Click to expand...

The final assembly of these machines is simply 'plug X in here and place Y in there'. That's all Ireland and US 'assembly' is doing.

Does anyone think the entire logic board, daughter board, enclosures etc etc will be manufactured instead of assembled US side?
 
TjeuV said:
I sure hope so. May the beast be unleashed early 2013
Click to expand...

Well as there is no proof of a new mac pro. Tim didn't specify the mac pro, everything is pure conjecture.

Which is a pain in the backside, as I'm starting to think about replacing my 08.

Saying that they have something coming later next year that the professionals will really like is not exactly a way of installing confidence.

As for the benefits to the US economy? Are you kidding? It will be negligible at best. It's nothing more than a PR stunt.
 
ActionableMango said:
Really? I'm in the USA and I really prefer European made goods over Chinese made goods. I guess I mistakenly assumed it would work the other way around too. Are American goods and Chinese goods really considered equivalent in Denmark? That's disappointing to me.

With so many news stories coming out of China about food, toys, and other goods that are laced with dangerously high levels of heavy metals and other industrial poisons, I just prefer products made in countries with better reputation, oversight, environmental laws, and worker protections.
Click to expand...

I see your viewpoint and would agree, simply viewed a person may perceive production of X item to be better if produced in one country vs another.

The way I see it is that it is more the company designing the item and controlling the materials used. If you can do that then production becomes location free (Providing the skill set in the production country is available) - Back to Apple, an iPad manufactured in Brazil vs an iPad made in China, do you see a difference in materials and quality? It's all about controls.

Personally I couldn't give a monkeys where my Mac products are produced as I know Apple control the design and materials like no other. This is more of a PR and moral exercise as the products will all be the same regardless.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back