4 ms·

how much will the human labor cost per shirt be once these automatic t-shirt machines are moved to Bangladesh?

bmcusick 9y ago
Robot production lines need robot technicians to support them. I doubt you'll find many of those in Bangladesh any time soon.
- HillaryBriss 9y ago
  eventually though. there are, no doubt, some very skillful, very resourceful sewing machine repair techs there. i guess that time window is how long the automatic t-shirt making business remains viable in the US.
- photojosh 9y ago
  IIRC most of the world's hard drives are made in Thailand, not too far away. They found them somewhere. :) And one robot replaces 17 workers, it's probably around 1 robot tech to support 10-20 machines. According to these stats [1], in Bangladesh there's 4800 factories with around 725 workers on average. So that would be 40 machines with one worker each to supervise and 3-4 robot techs. 5 people to replace 725! [1] http://www.waronwant.org/sweatshops-bangladesh http://www.waronwant.org/sweatshops-bangladesh
joeyo 9y ago
Why will the machines need to be located in Bangladesh? Cheaper repairmen?
- HillaryBriss 9y ago
  i was just thinking like some business owner might: let's try to lower costs in every possible way, including labor.
  - andrewjl 9y ago
    The owner will be balancing those costs against the cost of shipping and extra logistics overhead for goods destined to North America or Europe.
pwg 9y ago
That issue becomes a logistics issue. You can pay one worker in Bangladesh to oversee the machine, or you can pay one worker in the US (or Europe) to oversee the machine. But, if your target market is US (or Europe) you've got shipping costs to get your finished shirts to the US (or European) market. If the machine is in the US (or Europe) those shipping costs are substantially lower (and with much less latency). The lower latency (meaning you can sell shirts in a more "on-demand" manner) and much lower shipping costs might well outweigh the labor savings of the Bangladesh worker overseeing the machine.
- gozur88 9y ago
  I remember reading an article on shipping, and they claimed shipping costs for a t-shirt from China to the US are something around $0.02. I'm thinking the biggest advantage to outsourcing t-shirts is in a lot of places you can dump used dyes into the local river instead of dealing with rules on toxic waste.
  - flukus 9y ago
    I assume shipping the raw materials (wool and cotton) to Bangladesh would cost more than the shirt on the return trip.
Retric 9y ago
Depends on the price of the machine. You don't want to place expensive factories in unstable locations. China / Mexico are generally considered safe bets compared to much of the world and also have cheap labor.

Robot production lines need robot technicians to support them. I doubt you'll find many of those in Bangladesh any time soon.

HillaryBriss 9y ago
eventually though. there are, no doubt, some very skillful, very resourceful sewing machine repair techs there. i guess that time window is how long the automatic t-shirt making business remains viable in the US.
photojosh 9y ago
IIRC most of the world's hard drives are made in Thailand, not too far away. They found them somewhere. :) And one robot replaces 17 workers, it's probably around 1 robot tech to support 10-20 machines. According to these stats [1], in Bangladesh there's 4800 factories with around 725 workers on average. So that would be 40 machines with one worker each to supervise and 3-4 robot techs. 5 people to replace 725! [1] http://www.waronwant.org/sweatshops-bangladesh http://www.waronwant.org/sweatshops-bangladesh

joeyo 9y ago

Why will the machines need to be located in Bangladesh? Cheaper repairmen?

HillaryBriss 9y ago
i was just thinking like some business owner might: let's try to lower costs in every possible way, including labor.
- andrewjl 9y ago
  The owner will be balancing those costs against the cost of shipping and extra logistics overhead for goods destined to North America or Europe.

pwg 9y ago

That issue becomes a logistics issue. You can pay one worker in Bangladesh to oversee the machine, or you can pay one worker in the US (or Europe) to oversee the machine. But, if your target market is US (or Europe) you've got shipping costs to get your finished shirts to the US (or European) market. If the machine is in the US (or Europe) those shipping costs are substantially lower (and with much less latency). The lower latency (meaning you can sell shirts in a more "on-demand" manner) and much lower shipping costs might well outweigh the labor savings of the Bangladesh worker overseeing the machine.

gozur88 9y ago
I remember reading an article on shipping, and they claimed shipping costs for a t-shirt from China to the US are something around $0.02. I'm thinking the biggest advantage to outsourcing t-shirts is in a lot of places you can dump used dyes into the local river instead of dealing with rules on toxic waste.
- flukus 9y ago
  I assume shipping the raw materials (wool and cotton) to Bangladesh would cost more than the shirt on the return trip.

Retric 9y ago

Depends on the price of the machine. You don't want to place expensive factories in unstable locations. China / Mexico are generally considered safe bets compared to much of the world and also have cheap labor.