Last week the tech world was a little surprised by Google’s decison to make the Nexus Q using parts and labors of American manufacture. The trend towards American manufacture isn’t purely tech, with many solid organizations working hard to ensure the continued stability of US made goods.
I personally found it exciting enough to consider purchasing the Q, despite my inherent luddite tendancies and thrifty mindset. Anything made in America has GOT to be good, right? Right?
A week has passed since the announcement and we get a deeper look into the decision Google made to produce the Nexus Q in it’s hometown.
Turns out that while the cost of goods have risen sharply in China over the last 5 years, the deciding factor was speed to market. This is more exciting to me than pure ideological reasons.
Simply put, working with local companies allowed Google to get the Nexus Q to market faster, at a price point that was competitive.
Wow.
We all know that sourcing locally is good for our economy, but it isn’t always teneble for the bottom line of serious competitors in the IT space. At least, not in recent years. However, Having solid reasons to back up the decision could indicate a turn-around in the way we view our managed labor outsourcing.
While most of us in this country lament the loss of our labor pool in favor of less-expensive work overseas, we recognize the trend isn’t going to turn around purely on price. The US has long pushed for a global economy for reasons of security and long term growth.
Let us see more of this trend in the future.
If you have any strong opinions about the way this country views labor outsourcing, I would love to hear it.
Twitter: @OpenSpectrumInc
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