Apple's Supply-Chain Secret? Hoard Lasers

Businessweek:

The iPhone maker spends lavishly on all stages of the manufacturing process, giving it a huge operations advantage

Read the whole story: Businessweek

Comments

[Tom Weidermeijer]

12:13 PM on 11/07/2011

Maybe their secret is VAMPIRES!

Pete Townshend was RIGHT!

[BCinVA]

11:20 AM on 11/07/2011

So they have become a large company that can bully suppliers to give them preference, putting their competitors in a bind. They shop cheap labor around the world and are generally cut throat and ruthless in their dealings. That is pretty normal stuff in a global economy. No news here we are supporting China as usual.

[Nerdiac]

04:33 PM on 11/07/2011

Apple is the WalMart of tech.

[Mister Grumpy]

08:55 AM on 11/07/2011

Yep....... buy the equipment in the US, Ship it to China so they can steal the technology, then sell the finished product to the stupid American consumer..........

What we need is another Free Trade Agreement...... Yeah....... that's what we need......

[CaptainObvvious]

09:05 AM on 11/07/2011

That's how it is for ALL tech companies and every piece of tech you use... That is true 99% of the time.

Apple isn't alone in this. The system needs to change.

[Baneblade]

08:57 AM on 11/07/2011

"Apple's Big Manufacturing Secret Revealed"

Slave labor?

[dontplaymisty]

07:22 AM on 11/07/2011

They manufacture their products in the Peoples Republic of China?

[HafaAdai]

08:33 AM on 11/07/2011

Exactly! Where were you all along pal?

[Mister Grumpy]

08:58 AM on 11/07/2011

Yep........ Your iPad and iPhone's native language is Mandarin....... enjoy...........

[cmr11]

06:43 AM on 11/07/2011

is there a special reason they didn't mention foxxcon's employee's jumping out the windows? dieing of cancer? getting killed by explosions in the factory? we can see what apple's operating techniques have done. they are the walmart of electronics. none of the ideas that were mentioned in this article are original to apple...... they took all those ideas from walmart.

[CaptainObvvious]

09:06 AM on 11/07/2011

What company made your computer or phone?

You are aware that a dozen MAJOR companies use the SAME factory right?

[Rick08]

09:22 AM on 11/07/2011

Just become it is common practice doesn't make it right. Before the Civil War slavery was the norm in the South. Did that make it right? Let's not glorify companies that outsource jobs to China where they pay near slavery wages and work in unacceptable conditions.
Apple gets an A+ for their products and a D- for their approach to manufacturing. Simple. They should improve their grades.

[cmr11]

09:29 AM on 11/07/2011

what difference does it make? if i have one of them does it make it ok all of a sudden? your post doesn't make any since.......... these business practices are wrong, period.

[theveggiedude]

11:45 AM on 11/07/2011

Maybe the didn't mention it because it is not a problem western media make it out to be. The average Foxconn worker is half as likely to commit suicide than the average Chinese worker, and four times less than the US worker.

[cmr11]

12:16 PM on 11/07/2011

so much not a problem they put nets under their windows...... western media? my search engine works world wide........

[quedog]

06:07 AM on 11/07/2011

apple uses a common sense approach
not the simple Dell model of get it from china as cheap as possible
apple tries to make products like they used to be made, when it was done in the US
now all they need to do is use some of their 80 billion to build a US production facility

[v eyepete]

05:13 AM on 11/07/2011

We have three articles about Apple on the front page every day. I don't read them because they are shameless advertising masquerading as news... you can't really even call it news? Is drivel the right word?

[MichaelMcKLA]

02:13 AM on 11/07/2011

That's impressive.

[shutzy56]

02:10 AM on 11/07/2011

I know, but I am still a Mac user, period. But, I refuse to shop Walmart ... go figure.

[Rick08]

09:23 AM on 11/07/2011

We get addicted so we ignore the problems until it clearly becomes OUR problem.

[operator10001]

12:29 AM on 11/07/2011

kewl
http://expose2.wordpress.com

[Foodgrade]

12:29 AM on 11/07/2011

What secret? They outsource like the rest of the arsles?

[Siebenstein]

04:17 AM on 11/07/2011

cha

[danninoonen]

11:58 PM on 11/06/2011

Occupy Apple Stores!

[Steven Travis]

05:53 AM on 11/07/2011

They already are. Ever tried to go into one? It's a mad house.

[Mr Crabs]

11:46 PM on 11/06/2011

It's always been my belief that Apple is just a polished up Walmart.

[Luke Armstrong]

11:43 PM on 11/06/2011

Wish they would bring jobs here to the USA in the spirit of Henry Ford

[danninoonen]

11:57 PM on 11/06/2011

The same Henry Ford that made tires in Brazil? Fordlandia, I believe it was called.

[Maximo Ugmo]

12:15 AM on 11/07/2011

If Ford could have grown rubber trees here in America I'm sure he would have...He looked for alternatives vulcanization processes. Ford also processed natural ore and produced the steel, long before Brazil even thought about manufacturing anything other than sombreros...

[CaptainObvvious]

09:07 AM on 11/07/2011

America isn't the same place as it was. It wasn't impossibly expensive to manufacture here as it is now.