A long time ago, iMacs were made in the USA. A bold sticker proclaimed “Assembled in America.” Throughout the past few years, Apple has found it more cost-effective to create iMacs in foreign lands. But, the iMac might be coming back to the USA – and bringing lots of new jobs with it.
Made In America Once Again
If you know a bit about Apple, you might be wondering how the company will make any of its computers in the USA. After all, Apple shut down its last USA operating plant many years ago. Well, NBC is reporting that Apple will spend more than $100 million dollars working on a manufacturing setup for the new iMacs. Whether Apple will go it alone or partner with another company has yet to be determined, but the latter makes a lot more financial sense. Why is Apple bringing iMacs back to the United States? There are a number of reasons why this process makes a lot of sense.
For some time now, consumer electronics have been making their way back to USA manufacturing plants. Many companies have found that two things occur when manufacturing is on home turf. The first is that Americans like to purchase products that are made in the USA. The second is that a company like Apple can keep a closer watch on products that are rolled out on USA assembly lines. When a company outsources to another company in, say, China, this also means outsourcing quality control.
As past incidents have shown, allowing a foreign quality control manager to keep track of manufacturing just doesn’t pan out – and makes a company like Apple look rather bad. Even though sources (reliable ones) assume that Apple will be manufacturing the new iMacs in the USA, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, hasn’t confirmed this bit of news yet. Cook has said that one of Apple’s devices will be made in the USA, but whether that’s the be the iMac or another device has yet to be seen.
Helping the Economy Out
Regardless of which device Apple is set to bring back to the states, one thing is for sure: Apple will be helping to create needed jobs this coming year. In many ways, manufacturing products – even one product out of many – is a win-win situation for both consumers, workers, and companies. It’s also safe to assume that consumers will be far more like to purchase a product made in the USA (even if that product is priced on the high side) than to purchase a device or computer made elsewhere.
What do you think about Apple’s idea to bring manufacturing back? Is Apple making a good move? Or, is Apple being threatened by Google’s recent news – Google is also bringing back manufacturing of some devices to the United States. Does it matter which company decided on USA manufacturing first, or is the really important thing here that both Google and Apple (and other companies) are finally realizing that manufacturing can be brought back to the USA with much success? Stay tuned for more details about Apple’s latest home soil initiative.