Apple is unable to move production of its devices in the US

Tim Cook was one of those who helped the company move production to China. There is simply no way back

In the US, they talk a lot about starting the process of returning production from China "to their homeland." Politicians like to argue about this, representatives of various companies talk to attract attention to themselves. The initiator of the return process was the current president of the country, Donald Trump.

As far as can be judged - all this is just talk, there is no real possibility to start production on a large scale (for example, those required by Apple). Proof of this can be at least the fact that the corporation in 2012 announced its desire to begin production of their laptops in the United States. But things are there.

The inscription “Assebmled in USA” still appears on the Mac, not so long ago some gadgets began to be collected (but not produced) in the state of Texas. But even assembly is a problem for Apple. There is a shortage of everything — capacity, infrastructure, and even stocks of the simplest parts, like those proprietary cogs that the Apple Company loves so much.

The corporation got too deeply stuck in China to change something drastically now. The inability to supply the required number of screws was the reason for postponing the start of sales of “American” Macs. The Texas division of the company needs about 1000 screws a day, but the American company is not able to bring production to the required volume so far.

The corporation had to order screws from China to get the opportunity to assemble their laptops in the USA. None of the countries except China can manufacture enough spare parts for Apple. Certainly, the United States cannot be such a country; there simply isn’t just the right company for the combination of staff experience, infrastructure elements, and material and production costs.

It should be understood that we are talking about Apple - one of the richest companies in the world. Smaller companies that depend on China cannot even think about moving their production from this country.

By the way, China is also one of the most important markets for Apple. Sales of devices are gradually falling, and for the first time in 16 years, Apple has announced that revenue may be lower than expected. The company made this statement on January 2. Things are going well, but investors just did not expect such a statement, so Apple shares began to fall.

The situation may be complicated in the event that the administration of the Trump will continue to put pressure on companies whose production is located in China. The current president of the United States promises to ensure that American goods begin to produce again in America. It sounds beautiful (and even then not for everyone, even Americans), but the economy is suffering, and quite strongly.

Apple is trying to diversify its supply chain, because the trade war with the Middle Kingdom can adversely affect the infrastructure of the corporation. However, the search is not in the US, Apple sees alternative production in countries such as India and Vietnam.

Officially, the company said that last year the company paid to suppliers from the United States (9000 companies) about 60 billion, the total number of jobs created by the corporation in the United States reaches half a million.

Parts for the company's devices are manufactured not only in China, but also in other countries - from Norway to the Philippines. Then all this is brought to the Celestial, integrated there with parts produced in China and assembled into a single whole. The cost of an hour of work of the gadget collector from China was $ 2.10 earlier, and later, under pressure from the public, payment was raised to $ 3.15. But still, it is several times lower than the cost of work performed by an employee from the United States. Chinese factories allow Apple to maintain a high margin of their devices. If you transfer all this to the United States, it is unclear what the final price of gadgets will be.

Another problem is that in China an employee can participate in an emergency workflow, if it is necessary to fulfill the norm. In the same Texas, this is unlikely to succeed - an American will not go to the factory "on alert" just because the company needs more components. And if it goes, then for double or triple payment, which will further reduce product margins.

Despite all the statements of Apple, the corporation does not seek to transfer production in the United States, and even if it is able to do so in the near foreseeable future, even if it really wants to. It's not just a matter of cogs, but many other factors, the situation is too complicated.