On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 02:47:07 GMT, "carl mciver"
wrote:

"Erik Litchy" wrote in message
news:kraHd.12748$EG1.3635@attbi_s53...
| ben carter wrote:
| I recently was shopping around to have a product of mine manufactured.
| Reality check:
|
| To have it made in China with semi-skilled labor was $1.60 per hour.
|
| The exact same job here was $21.00 per hour. You do the 2nd grade
math...
|
| The point was made to me if I like being able to afford the things I own
| then they have to be made elsewhere. Period. No US manufacturer can
| touch that. Most everything you own was made this way. Tough luck if
| it's substandard.
|
|
| isnt it more of a per unit cost? why figure it by the hour?

The cost in time is the first figure to start with. Once you know what
it costs labor wise to manufacture an item, you then figure in the material
and other stuff. Then the economics of scale and quantity start figuring
in.

You're right that cost of labor is a place to start. But you can't
stop there, even if you want to compare unit cost of production for
identical runs.

--RC
"Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells
'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets
fly with a club.
-- John W. Cambell Jr.