Lenovo Building Manufacturing Plant in North Carolina 120
An anonymous reader writes "One of the major themes of the ongoing presidential election in the United States has been the perceived need to bring product manufacturing back to the United States. A recent announcement from Lenovo is going to play to this point; the PC manufacturer said today that it's building a U.S. location in Whitsett, North Carolina. The new facility is small, with just over 100 people and is being built for a modest $2M, but Lenovo states that it's merely the beginning of a larger initiative."
It makes sense: their U.S. HQ is a stone's throw away in RTP.
Not a new building... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Real Time Protocol (Score:5, Informative)
It stands for Research Triangle Park
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Triangle_Park [wikipedia.org]
Government contracts (Score:2, Informative)
My wife replaced her government issued laptop recently. She was free to get whatever laptop she wanted, as long as it was not made in China. So she ended up with a Dell assembled in Ireland with parts manufactured in China. I assume the NC facility will be mainly a federal government procurement facility to comply with the "not from China" policy.
Re:Maybe the quality will improve? (Score:2, Informative)
From what I have heard there is a consensus that Thinkpads used to be much better back in the days. Before they got branded/involved with Lenovo.
Maybe they are going to be better built now?
If you ask me this is bullshit.
My last "IBM" thinkpad (T41) died from the infamous ATI BGA packing defect after only two years of use.
Before this CFL tube on my "IBM" thinkpad ??? blew after about the same time.
Current "lenovo" T400 with LED backlight and switchable graphics has been with me for more than 4 years now including origional 4-cell (small) battery still providing >1.5hr. This machine is used every day with no problem of any kind.
Case is solid, keyboard is great and internal magnesium frame in "lenovo" T400 is more substantial than "IBM" T41.
While Lenovo also makes cheap crap you can still get real thinkpads if your willing to pay the slight premium or pick up an older model and save $$$.
As always YMMV, antidotical evidence cuts both ways and is best ignored outright. The assertion there is a consensus that lenovo is worse than IBM is bullshit in my not so polite opinion.
Re:Not a new building... (Score:2, Informative)
What is the labor content of that laptop in dollars? It's pretty small. There was a report a while ago that paying the Foxconn workers standard US wages would add $17 per unit or so. This isn't some hand made product here, the cost is in many things, the labor is a fairly small fraction. Add in the costs of expedited shipping, and 'poof' away goes that differential. Add in growing wages in the coastal regions of China, some labor distress and 'poof' away goes more of it.
There are metal fabrication houses in Silicon Valley who ship custom subcomponents to Chinese manufacturers because they compete, effectively, on price and quality. The world is becoming a much more complicated place than you would believe.