Awesome Story - manufacturing in America

[Joy in Mudville]

Stories like this are happening all over the country...

To get ready to make the GeoSpring at Appliance Park, in January 2010 GE set up a space on the factory floor of Building 2 to design the new assembly line. No products had been manufactured in Building 2 since 1998. An old GE range assembly line still stood there; after a feud with union workers, that line had been shut down so abruptly that the GeoSpring team found finished oven doors still hanging from conveyors 30 feet overhead. The GeoSpring project had a more collegial tone. The “big room” had design engineers assigned to it, but also manufacturing engineers, line workers, staff from marketing and sales—no management-labor friction, just a group of people with different perspectives, tackling a crucial problem.

“We got the water heater into the room, and the first thing [the group] said to us was ‘This is just a mess,’ ” Nolan recalls. Not the product, but the design. “In terms of manufacturability, it was terrible.”

The GeoSpring suffered from an advanced-technology version of “IKEA Syndrome.” It was so hard to assemble that no one in the big room wanted to make it. Instead they redesigned it. The team eliminated 1 out of every 5 parts. It cut the cost of the materials by 25 percent. It eliminated the tangle of tubing that couldn’t be easily welded. By considering the workers who would have to put the water heater together—in fact, by having those workers right at the table, looking at the design as it was drawn—the team cut the work hours necessary to assemble the water heater from 10 hours in China to two hours in Louisville.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...ngle_page=true

[ivanbalt]

It is a good story.

The question is whether big companies in this country will continue to turn to innovation as a cost saving measure. It's so much easier ship labor off to a third-world country and layoff Americans to realize savings.

[flyboy56]

Two things will happen:
1.Unions will jack up the labor wages which will increase the cost of the heater.
2.If the new designed heater is not a patented idea, the Chinese will simplify the heater design and sell if at a lower cost.

In order to compete with the Chinese, and someday South America, America will need to accept a lower standard of living. Period.

[ivanbalt]

In order to compete with the Chinese, and someday South America, America will need to accept a lower standard of living. Period.

The more they industrialize, the more their standard of living will go up. So either America will find new markets for slave labor or Americans will realize that they can't always have low, low prices.

[flyboy56]

The more they industrialize, the more their standard of living will go up. So either America will find new markets for slave labor or Americans will realize that they can't always have low, low prices.

Their standard of living will only go up if their government promotes true capitalism, which most South American countries do not. They follow a more socialistic form of government. So, like China, we will see more sweat shops in South America. China is getting more involved with South America.

[Joy in Mudville]

It is a good story.

The question is whether big companies in this country will continue to turn to innovation as a cost saving measure. It's so much easier ship labor off to a third-world country and layoff Americans to realize savings.

You should read the story. One. The cost of manufacturing in China is rising and two, it is not necessarily that much cheaper to build the stuff there when you consider the shipping costs and various other costs involved with you having your manufacturing plant on the other side of the world.

Some of the people quoted in the article said that a lot of the outsourcing done in the 90s and early aughts was based on bad accounting. Very interesting read.

[Joy in Mudville]

Two things will happen:
1.Unions will jack up the labor wages which will increase the cost of the heater.
2.If the new designed heater is not a patented idea, the Chinese will simplify the heater design and sell if at a lower cost.

Maybe you should try reading the article before prognosticating. It is replete with examples of American manufacturers simplifying products that, until recently, were being manufactured in China.

[ivanbalt]

You should read the story. One. The cost of manufacturing in China is rising and two, it is not necessarily that much cheaper to build the stuff there when you consider the shipping costs and various other costs involved with you having your manufacturing plant on the other side of the world.

Some of the people quoted in the article said that a lot of the outsourcing done in the 90s and early aughts was based on bad accounting. Very interesting read.

I did read the story. And I understand your two points. And I also understand the corporate/executive mindset in this country. It's much easier to save $1 million by laying off $1 million worth of employees than by improving processes and innovation (just made this example up).

[flyboy56]

Try watching CNBC if you aren't already. When they start talking about US manufacturing companies start moving back to the US I will be a believer. Until then, feel good articles like one you posted is just that. I took my rose colored glasses off years ago. When our own government starts setting a better example for everyone, then maybe our economy will turn around as well. Read about what is taking place in South America with China's support. It is another competitor the US will be competing with soon, creating more head winds for us.

[Joy in Mudville]

Try watching CNBC if you aren't already. When they start talking about US manufacturing companies start moving back to the US I will be a believer. Until then, feel good articles like one you posted is just that. I took my rose colored glasses off years ago. When our own government starts setting a better example for everyone, then maybe our economy will turn around as well. Read about what is taking place in South America with China's support. It is another competitor the US will be competing with soon, creating more head winds for us.

Wait, let me get this straight. You are suggesting that someone can become more informed by watching more television? This...explains...alot.

[flyboy56]

Wait, let me get this straight. You are suggesting that someone can become more informed by watching more television? This...explains...alot.

Nice move to turn the discussion. CNBC gets much of their information from business related newspapers and magazines. They will include a reference that can be researched. If you just look for feel good articles then you will not see the big picture. Example, several years ago the administration was pushing hard for US based solar equipment companies, even giving them huge sums of money. No surprise most have gone out of business. But at the time it made people feel good about the US manufacturing. CNBC was reporting a more realistic view about how the US could not compete with China. If anyone had invested in those failed companies because they believed the hyped reports, they lost money.

[ms maggie]

Try watching CNBC if you aren't already. When they start talking about US manufacturing companies start moving back to the US I will be a believer. Until then, feel good articles like one you posted is just that. I took my rose colored glasses off years ago. When our own government starts setting a better example for everyone, then maybe our economy will turn around as well. Read about what is taking place in South America with China's support. It is another competitor the US will be competing with soon, creating more head winds for us.

http://m.cnbc.com//id/47323840/After...ing_Home_to_US
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000070252

Here are a couple from CNBC. You call the Atlantic article "feel good". What specifically is specious?

[ms maggie]

Nice move to turn the discussion. CNBC gets much of their information from business related newspapers and magazines. They will include a reference that can be researched. If you just look for feel good articles then you will not see the big picture. Example, several years ago the administration was pushing hard for US based solar equipment companies, even giving them huge sums of money. No surprise most have gone out of business. But at the time it made people feel good about the US manufacturing. CNBC was reporting a more realistic view about how the US could not compete with China. If anyone had invested in those failed companies because they believed the hyped reports, they lost money.

Provide me the list of solar equipment companies the govt invested huge sums of money in that went belly up. A dozen or so would do.

People keep referencing this as a well known fact and as far as I know, there has been one company.

[flyboy56]

If you don't like the reference I provided you can still research the companies this article lists and research further.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011...t-rock-bottom/

[flyboy56]

On Tuesday, Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman wrote an editorial for "USA Today" in which he blamed China in part for the failure of U.S. solar energy manufacturers to compete.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011...#ixzz2EHMTQiq3

[Rael]

Provide me the list of solar equipment companies the govt invested huge sums of money in that went belly up. A dozen or so would do.

People keep referencing this as a well known fact and as far as I know, there has been one company.

Well there is this:
http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/30/tech...ower/index.htm

and this:
http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/28/news...rupt/index.htm

These are just the first two links that popped up.

Never mind. This one meets your dozen requirement:

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/24/...nded-failures/

[ms maggie]

If you don't like the reference I provided you can still research the companies this article lists and research further.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011...t-rock-bottom/

Ok so there's one more. Perhaps 2 if "reportedly received $500,000" counts.

You stated a CNBC report on manufacturing returning to US would make you a believer--no comment on articles I posted?

And I ask one more time, you dismiss the Atlantic article based on what? Other than it doesn't fit yr narrative.

[ms maggie]

Well there is this:
http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/30/tech...ower/index.htm

and this:
http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/28/news...rupt/index.htm

These are just the first two links that popped up.

Never mind. This one meets your dozen requirement:

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/24/...nded-failures/

No this does not meet my requirement--solar equipment companies that the govt invested in.

[Joy in Mudville]

Provide me the list of solar equipment companies the govt invested huge sums of money in that went belly up. A dozen or so would do.

People keep referencing this as a well known fact and as far as I know, there has been one company.

He is right in the sense that solar energy manufacturers have been risky to bad investments for stock investors even though the industry has expanded at a pretty robust pace. Alot of this has to do with China's age old practice of price dumping - it's driven the price of photovoltaic cells way down which is great for consumers but not so good if you're trying to launch a start up building photovoltaic cells. Meanwhile, if you're a company that installs solar cells business has been booming over the past several years and the product is cheaper than ever.

[flyboy56]

He is right in the sense that solar energy manufacturers have been risky to bad investments for stock investors even though the industry has expanded at a pretty robust pace. Alot of this has to do with China's age old practice of price dumping - it's driven the price of photovoltaic cells way down which is great for consumers but not so good if you're trying to launch a start up building photovoltaic cells. Meanwhile, if you're a company that installs solar cells business has been booming over the past several years and the product is cheaper than ever.

Installs, as in service industry. We have become a service industry because we are struggling with manufacturing due to the low cost of living in emerging markets of 3rd world countries.