Quote:
Originally Posted by cvkemp
It is called being priced out of the market. We cannot compete with the very low labor cost of the Asian countries.
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Low labor is only a small part of the overall financial reality.
When I was in manufacturing we produced a small amount of waste glycol, from certain machines in the die casting department. The substance in question was mildly toxic because it was a concentrate of steeric acid. If you got it on you it would burn if not washed off in about fifteen minutes.
No surprise as it is made from the stomach acid of cows.
It also composts quickly into ordinary, everyday, run of the mill dirt if you pour it over leaves. Just like a decomposing cow stomach would.
Our waste disposal cost for the glycol exceeded the labor cost for the die casting department.
We had to tear out the floor in part of the plastics department and lay a thicker slab with more rebar to support some heavier machines. Getting government inspectors to come out and look several times through the process extended what should have been a five day job into three weeks of overtime.
I could go on all day, and so could anyone in manufacturing.
So the industry that moved to Asia isn't moving back, and direct labor costs isn't anywhere near the whole story.
And the design work will always gradually move closer to the production facilities. That is the way of things if quality control costs are to be minimized.