Widespread adoption of robotics has certainly lowered production costs around the globe, though it remains unclear whether a similar surge would help spur American tech manufacturing. Some say automation will be at the core of Apple’s plan to bring some Mac production back to the US, noting that the $100 million initiative could prove the feasibility of a robotics-based manufacturing model.
But labor costs are just one part of the equation. Companies like Apple currently depend on a complex, and well-ingrained supply chain, anchored largely in Asia. With some exceptions, most of Apple’s parts are sourced from within the same geographic area, making it relatively easy to orchestrate and implement rapid changes in a product’s design. Large scale Chinese manufacturing therefore allows Apple to execute orders with greater speed and flexibility, as the New York Times reported earlier this year.
Woo struck a similar chord last week, when Foxconn announced plans to expand operations to North America. In an interview with Bloomberg, Woo said the move came in response to demands for “Made in USA” products, though he acknowledged that the “supply chain is one of the biggest challenges for US expansion.” Overcoming this obstacle, Woo said, would require Foxconn to harvest American engineering — hinting, perhaps, at a more robotics-driven future. “Any manufacturing we take back to the U.S. needs to leverage high-value engineering talent there in comparison to the low-cost labor of China,” the spokesman said.
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