What's the future for Maytag? Monday, July 21, 2003 Maytag is getting tagged for moving jobs to Mexico. The chief executive officer says that no more plants will close. But don't count on it. Appliances are on the endangered list for U.S. manufacturing. A good fact from the article: workers in the Mexican industrial plants earn from $2.60 to $3 per hour including benefits. The average wage at Maytag's Galesburg, Ill., plant is around $15 an hour. Since most of refrigerator manufacturing involves relatively high assembly labor we're in trouble. (Look at the number of screws underneath the gasket in your refrigerator door next time you reach for a snack, and you'll see what I mean.) The alternative is to design for automated assembly...something General Electric has been doing in dishwashers for years. But going that route takes capital (lots of it) and courageous managers. (It also takes accounting systems capable of capturing life cycle costs. Lower warranty costs was one of the unaticipated benefits of moving to more automated assembly for GE.) The easy way out is to jump to low cost maquiladora plants. But that's no solution because China's largest appliance manufacturer, Haier, is knocking on our door... And in China, where I am on the board of a joint venture with U.S., Chinese and Japanese investors in Xi'an, we pay about 500 RMB ($60 per month) for low skilled assembly labor. Sooner or later, we're going to see that our only way to compete against these odds is brainpower and innovation. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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