Where are the Mac Pros produced?

[aviationwiz]

I got my Mac Pro from the Apple Store Ridgedale in Minnetonka, MN, and here's what the serial number reader says about mine:

Factory: YM (China (Hon Hai = Foxconn) Configured in Czech
Republic?)

If you're not familiar with the Apple serial number reader, you can see it here: http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html

 

[dkoralek]

I was at a friends place, the Mac Pro's, or at least a good percentage are assembled in USA. if you want ill post a pic on the label

I don't think that anyone is doubting that final assembly for many machines is in the US (this isn't a criticism of Apple on my part by any measure). But, I guarantee that almost all the parts came from foreign sources. Sure, there are uneducated Chinese, just like their are undeducated Americans. And honestly, how much skill do you really need to assemble a part of a computer on an assembly line? I'm not talking about assembling one computer, but assembling the same part on the same model for 1000s of itterations.

What I don't get is the ignorance that a part manufactured in China, or elsewhere would not be of the same quality as one manufactured in the US. Seems a wee bit xenophobic to me. I think there are debatable issues about globalization, etc. But this is not the appropriate forum for such discussions.

The whole "assembled in the USA" thing, though, is a complete PR thing in most cases and Apple is nowhere near the top of the heap of companies that do this (auto manufacturing is a particularly striking example of this).

 

[bousozoku]

I don't think that anyone is doubting that final assembly for many machines is in the US (this isn't a criticism of Apple on my part by any measure). But, I guarantee that almost all the parts came from foreign sources. Sure, there are uneducated Chinese, just like their are undeducated Americans. And honestly, how much skill do you really need to assemble a part of a computer on an assembly line? I'm not talking about assembling one computer, but assembling the same part on the same model for 1000s of itterations.

What I don't get is the ignorance that a part manufactured in China, or elsewhere would not be of the same quality as one manufactured in the US. Seems a wee bit xenophobic to me. I think there are debatable issues about globalization, etc. But this is not the appropriate forum for such discussions.

The whole "assembled in the USA" thing, though, is a complete PR thing in most cases and Apple is nowhere near the top of the heap of companies that do this (auto manufacturing is a particularly striking example of this).

They used to say the same thing about Japanese products 40 years ago and there was some truth to it, as there is some truth to Chinese products, but they tend to forget how poorly American products are made. There has even been some press on it and watching Chinese factory managers admit to the need to come up to world standards in cars, etc., it's apparent that they're quite aware.

I saw something the other night where they mentioned that the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan were up to the quality standards of some of the best quality cars in the world. They held them up as shining examples of American cars. They didn't mention the heritage of the cars as Japanese.

 

[dkoralek]

They used to say the same thing about Japanese products 40 years ago and there was some truth to it, as there is some truth to Chinese products, but they tend to forget how poorly American products are made. There has even been some press on it and watching Chinese factory managers admit to the need to come up to world standards in cars, etc., it's apparent that they're quite aware.

I saw something the other night where they mentioned that the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan were up to the quality standards of some of the best quality cars in the world. They held them up as shining examples of American cars. They didn't mention the heritage of the cars as Japanese.

Yep. For years they used to talk about China as the sleeping giant and it seemed that she would be forever sleeping. Times have changed. At least in my limited view, it is completely a management issue. Japanese companies knew that they needed to enter the market at low cost to compete initially (Korean manufacturers are now where the Japanese were 20 years ago, the Chinese are probably not that far behind). Then they went for quality. A Honda assembled in Ohio is more reliable than a comporable GM, for example. And it isn't because of the skill level of the workers...

cheers.

 

[nitynate]

Yep. For years they used to talk about China as the sleeping giant and it seemed that she would be forever sleeping. Times have changed. At least in my limited view, it is completely a management issue. Japanese companies knew that they needed to enter the market at low cost to compete initially (Korean manufacturers are now where the Japanese were 20 years ago, the Chinese are probably not that far behind). Then they went for quality. A Honda assembled in Ohio is more reliable than a comporable GM, for example. And it isn't because of the skill level of the workers...

cheers.

 

[Bigheadache]

This thread is just bizarre. Clearly some of you still live in a bubble of some sort and need to do a google search for "globalisation". Like just about every product currently manufactured anywhere, the Mac Pro has parts from all over the world. Your mac pro may be US assembled, but Foxconn make the mobo in China/taiwan, using parts from all over. Eg good capacitors only come from Japan, most of the Intel chips are packaged in Malaysia, the RAM probably comes from Korea, and so on.

it's also kind of ironic that some of you make a big deal about being US made. Here in Australia, US made cars (the ones that made it over like the Mustang, Explorer, and Taurus) generally aren't known for build quality. Even the BMW X5 and Mercedes M Class which are US made are noticeably lower quality than German made BMWs and Mercs. Anyway, as far as the MacPro goes, as long as it continues to be designed in Cupertino then I'm happy.

 

[akadmon]

I'm sad to report that my brand new Mac Pro was made in China

But it's working great so far!