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I remember reading a story about the manufacturing and shipping of the first iPhone. Late into the process, Steve Jobs threw a (justified) fit over the fact tha
by mariodiana 8y ago
I remember reading a story about the manufacturing and shipping of the first iPhone. Late into the process, Steve Jobs threw a (justified) fit over the fact that the screen was to be made of plastic. He (rightly) complained that people would be putting the phone in their pockets with their keys, and the thing would be scratched up in no time. This, he declared, would not do.
So, what happened next, in short, is that the Chinese factory was contacted and—in order to keep to schedule, which Apple refused to change—the foremen woke up all the line workers, who were asleep in their company provided dormitories, roused them out of bed, told them that there was time enough to get dressed and have a quick cup of tea, after which they would have to get their selves onto the assembly line and start work immediately, as there had been a big change.
This is not going to happen in the United States—ever. And this, above all else, is a big reason why companies want to use Chinese manufacturing.
I share this only to raise the point that we live in interesting times, and they're about to get even more interesting.
- praestigiare 8y agoOf course, reasonable schedule changes for last minute changes would have also solved this problem.
- mariodiana 8y agoYes, for people interested in solving problems this way. Don't get me wrong! I am not cheering on this sort of thing. It's almost Dickensian, and I am no socialist—not by a mile.
- sonnyblarney 8y ago"This is not going to happen in the United States—ever." This should happen in medical/military/civic emergency situations, not in making commodity consumer crap. I have no problem indicating I think Trump is a dupe, but he's a little bit right here. Some innovation in manufacturing + some employment in under-employed areas would work in America. If people are allowed to have the 'vision' that we can have electric cars or put people on the moon, they should be able to aspire to intelligent manufacturing developing in the West.
- GenerocUsername 8y agoHorrible that a work force essentially kept in company camps can be woken in the night to get back to work because a higher-up decided to change something obvious last-second. I would hope this would not happen in 'Merica.
- gonyea 8y agoWell, they’re from villages all across China. They need somewhere to live and it might as well not have a commute. Nearly every large employer in China has employee housing of some sort, including government agencies. Every single manufacturer has dorms.
- badlucklottery 8y agoI think the issue is more that the employees are on-call 24/7. On-site housing is just a way to make that happen.
- mariodiana 8y agoI used to work for a catering hall that was, decades ago, a resort. The cottages on the property, that once used to house guests, housed the (illegal alien) kitchen workers. The owner (and his managers) used to wake everyone up and get them into the kitchen, unexpectedly, if something went wrong—which might mean only management's planning. It cannot be ignored that—however convenient it may be for workers—the arrangement is easy for management to abuse.
- mariodiana 8y agoCompany dorms were a thing when the U.S. started to industrialize. People come off the farms and in to industrial areas, they know nobody, and they don't have two nickels to rub together. So, they got put up in dorms.
- wodenokoto 8y agoGlass screen was in no way obvious in 2006.
- devoply 8y ago> This is not going to happen in the United States—ever. And this, above all else, is a big reason why companies want to use Chinese manufacturing. You can't always get what you want, even if you are a rich American company. And Steve Jobs was a tyrant, he should've known well ahead of time that the screen was made of plastic.