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Which-Moment-6544 t1_iuhhet1 wrote

Today I learned that Foxxcon in China makes 70% of iphones.

I also learned they employ 200,000 people at their one factory.

For context, GM employs 94,500 people in America, 173,000 Worldwide.

Pretty wild to think about.

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Seeker_Of_Knowledge- t1_iuhrau6 wrote

That is not a fair comparison considering the population difference.

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Which-Moment-6544 t1_iuht4cs wrote

The country is irrelevant.

I was pointing out the amount of human capital it takes to produce a vehicle vs. a cellphone.

The process would remain constant if cell phones were made in Germany, Australia, or Antarctica therefore taking the same amount of labor.

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throwaway836282672 t1_iuhyry0 wrote

>The process would remain constant if cell phones were made in Germany, Australia, or Antarctica therefore taking the same amount of labor.

I adamantly disagree. Regulatory consideration is a major component of manufacturing, especially with industrial scale. I can't speak for telecommunication utility devices, but in regards to generalized manufacturing you need to consider the entire cost. In the United States, for example, we will often use more skilled labor rather than disposable labor and this is typically manifested through unions. In the automotive segment, we cannot ignore the UAW.

When you start treating laborers as skilled resources (like in the automotive industry) rather than disposable ones (like in Foxconn), typically substantially less workers are required.

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Which-Moment-6544 t1_iui1fb5 wrote

Of course the process would change with the advent of the Penguins Assembler Union (PAU of Antarctica), but we are talking about a fixed process. But they just fought for a contract saying that our Foxconn venture will employ 200,000 penguin laborers even though they can build cellphones with 100 skilled penguins. The rest will be janitors and cooks in the factory to improve moral. It's in the contract.

I see your point over processes changing with innovative processes, automation, skilled labor, or any other number of things we both have not mentioned here.

The og comparison is we currently have 200,000 people employed in the production of cellphones and 173,000 in the production of vehicles.

I was responding to a person asserting that comparison was unfair due to differences in population, which made little sense to me.

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throwaway836282672 t1_iui4pbf wrote

>I was responding to a person asserting that comparison was unfair due to differences in population

I see that perspective now. I completely missed that originally. Thank you for your insights, it isn't something I had considered from my perspective. I think I need to reevaluate. Just sending this message to tell you thank you for your comment and I hear what you're saying.

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Which-Moment-6544 t1_iui7a16 wrote

I was kind of hoping we could get into a detailed discussion about the obvious corruption present in that Penguin Union, but I appreciate your perspective as well.

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685327593 t1_iuhql17 wrote

Just wait until you learn about the suicide nets.

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Which-Moment-6544 t1_iuht9wb wrote

I guess it goes without saying they don't have worker rights over there?

For the record, I'm an android user, but I don't know if Samsung is any better.

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i_reddit_too_mcuh t1_iui81fn wrote

My intention is not to downplay poor working conditions, mental health, or anything else, just adding some numbers.

The suicide rate in China is ~7/100,000. Foxconn employs 200,000 in one location. One would expect to see some suicides there.

Looking at the list of Foxconn suicides, they've been averaging <1 per year since 2011 and that's for all of Foxconn in China, not just the 200,000 person factory.

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