Re: A Bully Mentality


"Islander" <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:UeCdnU7MYMdj2iXZnZ2dnUVZ_r2dnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I don't understand why we cannot excel at manufacturing. There are many
products where manufacturing is heavily automated, especially in
electronics. So, this cannot be just an unskilled, low cost labor issue.
Yet, the Japanese beat the pants off us in auto manufacturing and
basically anything that has an engine in it. Small Honda engines are now
the best in the world. They did it with automation. I visited
semiconductor plants in Japan and Korea before I retired and they were
heavily investing in automation. I thought that we were supposed to be
the world experts in software! Likewise for assembly of miniaturized
electronic devices like laptops, PDAs, cameras, cell phones and IPODs. All
automated assembly and done abroad. Why?

That is a good question. I suspect there is more than one reason why that
is. One would be the cost of labor, I would think. Even highly automated
plants need people.... If there are two manufacturing plants, both with the
same level of automation, both paying the same for the materials needed to
produce the product, then I would think it then boils down to the cost of
labor, and the cost of doing business, I would think. There are probably
other factors, but those are the two that come to mind.

I suspect that it is because US corporations consider manufacturing to be
secondary to product design. Modern manufacturing requires skilled
employees, usually requiring a college degree and US corporations refuse
to pay comparable wages to that paid to a design engineer. As a result,
the Asian countries are investing in trained engineers for manufacturing
jobs and are eating our lunch.

Doesn't that also depend on what the "comparable" wages are for that skilled
worker in say Japan vs. the United States? Is the "comparable" wage for an
educated design engineer in Japan, the same as the "comparable" wage for an
educated design eningeer in the United States?


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: A Bully Mentality
    ... So, this cannot be just an unskilled, low cost labor issue. ... the Japanese beat the pants off us in auto manufacturing and ... They did it with automation. ... Doesn't that also depend on what the "comparable" wages are for that skilled ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: A Bully Mentality
    ... So, this cannot be just an unskilled, low cost labor issue. ... the Japanese beat the pants off us in auto manufacturing and basically anything that has an engine in it. ... I visited semiconductor plants in Japan and Korea before I retired and they were heavily investing in automation. ... usually requiring a college degree and US corporations refuse to pay comparable wages to that paid to a design engineer. ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: A Bully Mentality
    ... the Japanese beat the pants off us in auto manufacturing ... they were heavily investing in automation. ... One would be the cost of labor, ... "comparable" wage for an educated design engineer in Japan, ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: A Bully Mentality
    ... So, this cannot be just an unskilled, low cost labor issue. ... the Japanese beat the pants off us in auto manufacturing and ... They did it with automation. ... to pay comparable wages to that paid to a design engineer. ...
    (soc.retirement)
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