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Home » Blogs » Assembly Blog » Jim Smith

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ASSEMBLY Blog
The ASSEMBLY Blog is written by our team of editors and industry experts. It provides thought-provoking opinions on issues and trends in manufacturing, as wells tips, tricks and suggestions for implementing assembly technology.

Blog Topics

Austin Weber

Assembly Automation

Ergo Corner

Hoffmann on Testing

Jim Camillo

Jim Smith

John Sprovieri

Recent Comments

Helpful for Trainees

Cable Assembly Manufacturers

Huawei for manufacturing?

should have a scanner and then 3D print the repair

IPC-A-610 and IPC-j-std-001

apple imac

Apple, Outsourcing and Tax Law

Arcane policies allow multinational corporations to avoid paying billions in U.S. taxes.
Jim Smith Ph.D. ABD
May 28, 2013

Multinationals are using overseas subsidiaries to avoid paying billions in federal taxes. Is that a problem? How would you fix it? Should the federal government provide a tax break for repatriated corporate earnings?


Read More
hand soldering

Your Employees Are Smarter Than You Think

Manufacturers can do much better than "train" their employees.
Jim Smith Ph.D. ABD
April 2, 2013

Manufacturers often fail to recognize the ability of their employees to learn and think.


Read More
787 assembly line

The Dreamliner Nightmare, Part 2

The lithium-ion battery fiasco has cost Boeing and its customers millions.
Jim Smith Ph.D. ABD
March 13, 2013

Several respondents to my original blog say the 787's battery problems are a minor blip that Boeing will correct quickly. My impression is that the battery is becoming aviation’s equivalent of the Ford Pinto.


Read More
Boeing assembly plant

The Dreamliner Becomes a Nightmare

How could a really great company get so many things wrong?
Jim Smith Ph.D. ABD
February 12, 2013

Did cost-cutting strategy jeopardize the production of what should have been an engineering triumph?


Read More
apple imac
Reshoring

Apparently, We Can...

No company has been under more pressure than Apple to bring back jobs that were shipped overseas.
Jim Smith Ph.D. ABD
December 10, 2012

Our guest blogger wonders whether Apple's recent decision to invest $100 million to manufacture iMacs in the United States is a token gesture or a sign of things to come.


Read More
robotics.jpg
Assembly Automation

Working With the Lights Out

In their attempts to avoid costly labor, engineers can overinvest in machines.
Jim Smith Ph.D. ABD
November 26, 2012

Automation is wonderfully economical—except when it’s not. Time and again, I’ve seen smart engineers make dumb automation decisions, some of them ruinous.


Read More
did outsourcing kill Nortel?

Did Outsourcing and Corporate Espionage Kill Nortel?

Jim Smith Ph.D. ABD
October 24, 2012

The demise of telecom giant Nortel may have been caused by its contract manufacturer, Huawei.


Read More
Huawei Technologies
Reshoring

China Telecom Issues

Jim Smith Ph.D. ABD
October 8, 2012

Increasingly, China is losing its cost advantages. Workers are striking at Chinese factories. Chinese suppliers copy Western products to become competitors. Time to market is longer. And now we can add electronic espionage.


Read More
China assembly plant

Why not Make Phones and iPods Here? Part 2

Jim Smith Ph.D. ABD
October 1, 2012

The federal government is not entirely to blame for the cost differential between U.S. and Chinese manufacturers.


Read More
assembly line

Why not Make Phones and iPods Here?

Jim Smith Ph.D. ABD
September 25, 2012

Many products made in low-wage countries could, in fact, be produced here economically. There are three reasons why they are not.


Read More
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