On Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:47:28 -0700, "Bruce L. Bergman (munged human
readable)" wrote:

On Mon, 15 Apr 2013 18:30:06 +0700, J.B.Slocomb
wrote:

On Sun, 14 Apr 2013 20:00:12 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

In California..machinest wages run from $10-30 an hour. Most small
shops the guys make around $15/hr, in bigger shops like Boeing etc
etc..it runs to the high end and a bit beyond.

Jeasus... and here I'd been reading about all those guys on the Ford
assembly line costing $65 an hour.

That's the "Loaded Labor Rate", when they figure in all the costs of
having the employee work for them - social security and other taxes,
Union Dues and the companies cost of dealing with the contract talks
every four years, the retirement plan and 401K and ESOP contributions,
Medical & Dental, uniforms and cleaning, water and soap in the
bathrooms, vacation pay for the worker and the cost of the Temp taking
their place etc. And the portion of the Supervisor's and Foreman's
and Department Clerk's wages allotted to keeping the worker working
and handling all that paperwork.

Yes, I am aware of that..... the reason that we used to charge 2 x
salary.

The worker might be clearing $20 "Plus Bennies" - it costs Ford $65
for them being there. But even though they cost a lot, they get a lot
more done in that same hour to make up the difference - they are
pulling a complete car off that line more than one a minute, without a
lot of rework or failures.

Manufacturing tries to run to low-wage countries like Vietnam and
Bangladesh - The worker clears $2 an hour no bennies, and the loaded
rate is $20 or $25 - Much higher supervision cost percentage with
lower skilled workers.

It is a bit more complicated than that. the cost of doing business in
most Asian countries is far cheaper then in America. Certainly wages
and medical and Insurance is cheaper but so are that other costs. Far
fewer government related costs.

Unfortunately the productivity is much lower which means the product
really isn't that much cheaper, and the reject and failure rates on
the products are going to be higher.


True. Caterpillar has a plant in Indonesia building machines for the
local market. They tell me that the actual cost of building a unit is
far higher than in Japan, for example. BUT... Indonesia has laws
protecting the local manufacturers and thus local made items have a
virtual monopoly in the market.

Often the companies have to run a testing center in the US and do 100%
QA checks on the imported products before they ship to retailers -
because it's far easier and cheaper to deal with a 25% failure/rework
rate at the warehouse where the repair bench is. Otherwise they have
to pay shipping the defective unit both ways, and deal with many irate
customers. (Cough-Fanon-Courier-Cough) Especially when the
replacement is defective too...

-- Bruce --

I can't say for all items but the machinery manufacturers seem to do
their QC at time of manufacture. At least in Thailand as Ford and
Chevrolet both build pickup trucks here and their quality is no
different from the Japanese trucks made here.
--
Cheers,

John B.