You can easily answer, “Because labor costs
in China is so low”. Is this only a reason?
In the article, “New hubs arise to serve ‘Just in case’ distribution”, the author
defines that a case is like a hurricane and an earthquake. I think that the
short period production of millions of iPhone5ss before Apple’s announcing the
new product is also a case. I researched how Apple deals with the case.
The article written by Moyer says that
before releasing an iPhone, Apple headquarters changed the specification of the
screen glass. A production line was also changed, due to the change of the
glass. At midnight, the new parts arrived at the factory in China. Despite of
midnight, workers woke up and started to attach the parts to the frames of
iPhones by a twelve-hour work shift. If the report is true, I think that the
flexible work shift in China enables Apple to manufacture millions of iPhones
that can be sold at the same timing in the world though the new production line
is unstable.
Furthermore, the article reports that
Foxconn can employ 3,000 workers a night, offer them a dormitory, and include
its production lines in China. Foxconn also has employed 870 engineers who
supervise its production lines in fifteen days. I think that the huge labor
market in China enables Apple to build quite speedy supply chain of iPhone, a
product of which demand wave surges temporarily.
According to the article written by Duhigg
and Bradsher, since the US does not have such a flexible, huge labor market,
Apple cannot create a supply chain like that in China. The reason why Apple
manufactures iPhone in China, I think, is not only cheap labor cost but also
flexibility of labor market that can speedily deal with temporary increased
production for “Just in case”. However, do you think that excessive dependency
on flexibility of labor power causes unstable employment and breaks a
sustainable supply chain?
Reference
Duhigg, C; Bradsher
K. (2012, January). How the U.S. Lost Out
on iPhone Work. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=0
Hudgins, M. (2013,
February). New hubs arise to serve ‘Just
in case’ distribution. The new york times.
Moyer, E. (2012,
January). A tale of Apple, the iPhone,
and overseas manufacturing. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57363434-37/a-tale-of-apple-the-iphone-and-overseas-manufacturing/
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