Why can't iPhones be assembled in the United States? They don't even have all the screws

Even though U.S. President Trump personally warned Apple to return to the United States to produce computers and other products, the New York Times still believes that the American company is unlikely to move its manufacturing operations closer to home.

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The newspaper also pointed out that a small screw can explain the reason.

On January 28, The New York Times reported in an article titled “A tiny screw explains why the iPhone won’t be assembled in the U.S.” that in 2012, Apple CEO Timothy D. Cook announced on a prime-time television show that Mac computers would be produced in the United States. This would be the first Apple product produced by American workers in many years, and the high-end Mac Pro would also be labeled “Assembled in the USA.”

But when Apple began producing the $3,000 computer in Austin, Texas, it struggled to find enough screws, according to three people who worked on the project and spoke on condition of anonymity.

In China, Apple relies on factories that can produce large quantities of custom screws in a short period of time. But that's not the case in Texas.

Testing of the new Apple computers ran into trouble because a 20-person factory workshop they were working with could only produce a maximum of 1,000 screws a day.

Project participants recalled that one of the reasons why the computer was delayed for months was a lack of screws. When Apple was preparing to mass-produce the computer, it had already ordered screws from China.

The New York Times interpreted that the Texas case highlights the problems Apple will face when it moves a large amount of its production business out of China.

The company has realized that no country, including the United States, can match China's total package of scale, technology, infrastructure and cost.

“The technology here is incredible,” Cook, who was in China at the end of 2017, exclaimed.

He also pointed out that the production of Apple devices requires the most advanced machines and many people who know how to operate them. "In the United States, when you have a meeting with mold engineers, you don't know if you can fill the room; but in China, you can fill up several football fields."

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However, Cook refuted the argument that Apple stayed in China because of cheap labor.

According to a previous report by 21st Century Business Herald, Cook once emphasized at the "Guangzhou 2017 Fortune Global Forum" that some people have some misunderstandings or confusions about China, thinking that China can provide low-cost labor. In fact, China is no longer the country with the highest labor costs in the world, and this is not the reason why Apple chose China.

Cook further pointed out, "We are because of China's technology. Our products need the best tools, plus materials, it will become an art. China's skills are very high. I don't know if this requirement can be met in the United States."

In 2004, Cook helped Apple move production overseas, a move that cut costs and enabled the production of some of the best-selling technology products in history. Apple outsourced much of the work to large Chinese factories that employed hundreds of thousands of people to assemble, test and package its products. Some of the parts came from around the world and were eventually shipped to China.

At the same time, as manufacturing has shifted, demand for some products has dried up in the United States, and its manufacturers have also transformed, such as replacing stamping machines that can mass-produce screws with machines used for more precise, specialized fields and designs.

Screw manufacturers that work indirectly with Apple also said it would be difficult to increase investment in the United States because these products are sold cheaply overseas.

A former Apple manager also revealed that the team size of Texas manufacturer Flextronics employed by Apple was much smaller than the manufacturer teams he encountered in similar Apple projects in China.

He also said that in China, there would be a room full of people responsible for a particular Apple business to ensure that all the materials needed for production were in place. But in Texas, there was only one person, who often seemed overwhelmed, resulting in delays because materials were misplaced or arrived late.

Susan Helper, professor of economics at Case Western Reserve University and former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Commerce, suggested that if Apple invested a lot of time and money to increase its reliance on robots and professional engineers, it could produce more products in the United States. In addition, the government and related industries need to strengthen job training and promote the development of supply chain infrastructure.

But she admitted that the chances of achieving all this were slim.