The problem is that the supply chain for the parts no longer is based in the US. In order to compete, companies build factories where they don't incur a lot of shipping costs. We are no longer the major consumer market that we once were and our regulations are way beyond any other manufacturing country. I read the article and was very impressed that a shift foreman could mobilize his workers (8000 of em) to start work and get the job at least working in the middle of the night. That kind of response is probably not available to a small company like Outlaw, the way it is to Apple, but it speaks volumes about the work ethic of both countries. It is unfortunate that getting an engineering degree in this country no longer guarantees you won't be flippin burgers to pay off the school loans. The asian markets also employ a lot of quasi engineers with the right skillset but not the diploma that has all the extraneous junk courses required in american colleges.
Two things:
a) Just how many Outlaw 978's do you think will be sold in China?
*Something* has to be shipped *somewhere*. Whether it's the parts necessary to build a 978, or the final product. So that argument doesn't work for me. Whether you ship the final unit from China to the US, or the parts necessary to build one from there to here, there are still shipping costs.
b) Mobilizing a workforce to work at midnight. Work ethic? How about that that is really just a form of corporate slavery in China?
I hate to say it, but a lot of these seem to me to be "excuses" and not "reasons" why something can't be manufactured here.
There *are* products manufactured here, and those companies can compete just fine with the differences between here and there.
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