manufacturer

Made in America? Foxconn mulls U.S. expansion

"Made in the U.S." is becoming more appealing to at least one Asian manufacturer.

Foxconn, a major supplier to Apple and other tech companies, today told Bloomberg that it's seeking to expand its operations in North America as customers request more of their products be made in the region.

"We are looking at doing more manufacturing in the U.S. because, in general, customers want more to be done there," Louis Woo, a Foxconn spokesman, told Bloomberg.

He didn't provide many other details beyond saying the supply chain is a big challenge for … Read more

Apple returning to old stomping grounds for U.S.-made iMacs?

Evidence suggests that Apple could be assembling some of the new iMacs in Fremont, Calif.

Two U.S. models that 9to5Mac traced originated in the San Jose area.

"One tipster's origination pickup point was briefly visible as Fremont CA so it would appear that iMac assembly is happening in that general vicinity," the Mac enthusiast site said.

Another possible location for an assembly operation would be Elk Grove, Calif., where Apple still has operations. But, so far, there's no hard evidence that units are being assembled there.

This follows images posted last week by iFixit showing &… Read more

Some iMacs labeled 'Assembled in USA,' teardown shows

Could Apple be assembling some new iMacs in the U.S.? A teardown of a new model introduced on Thursday shows an iMac with this marking.

A teardown by iFixit revealed markings on the back of an iMac that say, "Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in USA."

What isn't clear at this point is whether this is a new Apple policy to assemble new products in the U.S. or imprecise Apple labeling.

Refurbished products and some custom-ordered Apple products are modified in the U.S. -- but that's different than assembling a standard product … Read more

3D printing: The hype, the hopes, the hurdles

MARANA, Ariz. - Three-dimensional printing: hype, or hope?

That's the question industry leaders sought to answer at the Techonomy conference here in the sunny greater Tucson area. A panel of experts -- Geomagic's Ping Fu, Shapeways' Peter Weijmarshausen and PARC's Stephen Hoover, with CNET's own Paul Sloan moderating -- discussed the promises, pitfalls and potential of a technology that allows almost anyone to turn a digital file into a perfect copy of a physical object, from puzzle pieces to airplane wings, in materials such as plastic, metal and rubberlike polymers.

Can 3D printing change the world? … Read more

Lenovo: Making it in the U.S.A. (Q&A)

China's premier PC company, Lenovo, is moving some of its desktop, laptop, and tablet production to the U.S. I asked the company -- which Gartner says is now the largest PC maker on the planet -- to explain what making a product in the U.S. means exactly.

I spoke with Mark Stanton, director of global supply chain communications at Lenovo, about the company's plan to to make computing devices in North Carolina, including its ThinkPad Tablet 2 and ThinkPad laptops.

Q: What does "made in the U.S." mean in this case? Stanton: The … Read more

Foxconn workers reportedly strike over iPhone quality demands

Approximately 3,000 to 4,000 workers at one of Foxconn's factories in Zhengzhou, in China's Henan province, reportedly went on strike earlier today over what a watchdog group says were onerous demands on quality in producing Apple's iPhone 5.

In a news release, China Labor Watch says the workers, who mainly do quality control for the factory's production line, were asked by the company to improve the quality of their work to the point where production deadlines could no longer be met:

According to workers, multiple iPhone 5 production lines from various factory buildings were … Read more

'No more iSlave:' An activist fights for iPhone workers

HONG KONG -- Debby Chan may not have the answer to the terribly complex issues facing workers at the giant Chinese contract manufacturing plants where iPhones are assembled.

But she has plenty of questions.

Chan's modest office here, shared with another human rights activist, is cluttered with books and papers. Posters hang from the walls, questioning the legitimacy of Burma's 2010 elections. There's another of an iPhone with a graphic on the screen, a worker carrying the Apple logo on his back with blood flowing from his mouth, under the words "No more iSlave."

And … Read more

Assembly bot Baxter wants to get close to you (Q&A)

If Baxter had a favorite band, it might be The Carpenters. Rethink Robotics' new droid could hum "Close to You" while it gets cozy with human workers along the assembly line.

The Boston-based startup launches Baxter today, billing it as a revolutionary humanoid robot that could help stem the tide of manufacturing going overseas for cheap labor.

For one thing, Baxter itself is surprisingly low-cost. Priced at $22,000 including software upgrades, it goes for far less than traditional industrial robots and puts automation in the hands of small and midsize companies that may not have been able to afford it. Labs and universities are also expected to show interest.

Also, unlike most factory robots, Baxter doesn't require a safety cage. People can work alongside the droid, which is covered in soft materials in case of impact. Sensors tell it when people are near, and it will stop moving if it does make contact with something unexpected. … Read more

Samsung to invest up to $4 billion in Texas plant

Samsung is investing billions of dollars into a plant in Austin, Texas, that's known to produce Apple's mobile processors.

The company said yesterday that it'll spend between $3 billion and $4 billion retrofitting its facility to improve production of more-advanced mobile processors, the local newspaper, Austin Statesman, is reporting. About half of the facility will be updated.

According to the Statesman, the work should be completed during the second half of 2013, allowing the entire facility to focus efforts on system-on-a-chip (SoC) processors for smartphones and tablets.

Last year, reports surfaced saying Samsung was producing Apple's A5 processor for the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S … Read more