Manufacturing

One of these dresses costs $27.80. One costs $57.99.

Which one are you buying?

Coming off my last topic, one of the things to pick up from (out of SO many things it brought up) was low costs and saving money. 

I'm going to guess that with those two dresses you would much rather pay $27.80 than $57.99. Duh, right? Not....really. So here's the other question, after the jump of course.

made in china 27.80 // made in usa 57.99

One of these dresses is made in the US (or your country of origin for the point of this example, but seriously, one is made in the US). One is made in China.

Which one are you buying?

This tests well. On paper and in your mind, it's great to buy from the US. But do consumers actually follow that buying pattern? American Apparel seems to have built a successful company on the primary basis of US manufacturing, but how many times have you heard someone say how expensive they are? This could go really political, which I hope it doesn't, but definitely share what you want. I'm not saying I'm pro anything here - just that this is a really interesting topic I don't think is brought up enough. I've heard too many people complain about factories being outsourced who don't truly think about the big picture. There are so many aspects to this and it's really not all that black and white.

Let's start first with cost. Why does US manufacturing cost more? Our cost of living is higher therefore wages are set higher. We also have very different labor laws as well. When you compare the labor costs (only assembly by a human of a product, not the raw material cost) from America to an overseas vendor, the cost different is quite huge. Companies do pay larger freight and tax costs on imported goods, but the addition of those isn't enough to make American manufacturing companies all that competitive. We also have a smaller job pool for skilled workers, and many of the ones currently working in factories are beginning to retire, leaving jobs open that no one wants to fill.With all of that considered, often other countries have the skilled laborers to fill those jobs in the right areas, making it an easier bet than staying in the US where those skills are found less commonly.

I think it's important to take a step back here. America was built on manufacturing. We were full of those so-called smog inducing factories at each port, riverbed, and city throughout the country. Cities and areas boomed because of our industrial capabilites. But now? Do you know anyone who works in a factory?  Factories now have moved and stay in fairly rural areas to save on cost of land and wages - hence why you don't find many factories in downtown NYC now and rather office buildings in place of them. Even more so, more of my generation (Gen Y) or the one below me are going to college and will possess at least a bachelors degree - nearly 63% of my generation does (one). This makes factory and industrial work less and less appealing. In order to drive people to want to work at these jobs, they need to pay higher wages. Yet, factories have to compete with China. In result, US factories are outsourced, leaving older employees with only that skill jobless. If you have ever visited a city that once boomed due to some sort of industrial economy, well, they aren't pretty to see. American factories are less common and typically no longer situated in citties like they used to be. This is beginning to happen in China too as costs in cities like Shenzhen rise, factories have gone further inland where living costs are lower, so wages can be too. This happened once in the US too - and why US factories are commonly located in cities a bit more off the beaten path.

US manfacturing today is really quite different. First, think of how many people (more relating to younger generations) are willing to work in a factory? My generation has fewer skilled laborers lwith regards to any sort of industrial work, which results in the positions actually having higher wages because they are such a rare commodity (two). But with more college graduates, the work and life in a factory is less normal, approachable, glamourous, and accepted. This is beginning to happen in China too, as we watch factory jobs be 'beneath people.' (three) Indeed, I took the college then 9 to 5 job path, and it seems to be how we push children to be. But each job is important to our economy, and if we are all web designers, we're going to end up a sad bunch.

In terms of supporting products made in the USA, I think it's really admirable. I definitely will prefer a product made in the USA a bit over another, but I also have truly come to terms with the fact there are things that we do not excel at making here. Other countries are set up with more advanced factories for producing technology, for instance. In terms of a global market, I find it interesting to see the strengths of each area and what they can produce. Is it better that we can share these strengths?

This is a topic I hope you all have a lot of opinions to share on with me. Experiences, things to add - I'm hoping to help you learn more and hopefully you can help me learn more as well.

resouce one // resource two // resource three

cincinnati incline image // women in factory image