On 10/25/07, Funny NYPD wrote: > Agree. For high volume products like the Ipod, most likely the > job are send to Asia for low cost. Sometime, Even the design > are outsourced to Asia. This makes it hard to get a low cost > industry environment here in the USA for small volume > products. The BOM cost here is close to Asia, however the > labor cost is way too expensive comparing with Asia cost. > Feel the same pain here. Often the BOM cost (especially the electronics parts: ICs, etc) can be even cheaper in US comparing to Asia if you insist to use the same components from the same vendors. But then the other parts like plastic or metal parts in US are way too expensive. As for the labor cost, China has an edge. Now some southeast Asia countries (say Vietnam, Indonesia or Thailand, or even Malaysia) are even cheaper than east coastal area of China. That being said, it is not really always cheaper to outsource. Quality control is very important no matter where the product is produced. One needs to be careful when choosing the outsourcing firms. Xiaofan -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist