Hah!

My wife refers to this chain of events as "all part of the 'new world order'
that President Bush Senior talked about years ago in his presidency"...
Really, What's so new about it? I think it's more opportunism than anything
else... I doubt former President Bush had the clout to orchestrate this. The
US tax policies and market pressures have really set the pace of foreign
investment and outsourcing of jobs. It's human nature to find the best deal
and maximize your profits and the market expects continued growth or they
loose interest and invest in other companies. But not all things we do as
humans are good for us.

If 'money' is your only 'god'... it has no morals, nor does it discern the
difference between bad customers and good customers... it all spends the
same and is not beholden to anyone. The problem with it seems to be in the
'vision' area... Money cannot predict the future... but it can affect it for
good or bad. Unfortunately it has a hard time making the distinction between
the two. There are times when 'more' is not necessarily 'better'.

That's why people with vision need to make decisions about the direction we
are headed and choose the path carefully before marching off to do business.

The American companies may make short term profits from their investments
abroad, but they also may face stiff competition with those same assets
later when the countries they are dealing with learn how to compete and
start their own enterprises.

The Japanese have an acute sense of national pride that seems to make would
be competitors collaborate to keep sensitive 'trade secrets' at home rather
than selling them to the highest bidder abroad. This may not be the 'best
deal' for one of the companies, but it IS the best deal for their country as
a whole. It allows them to keep their competitive edge and not loose
momentum. They also invest heavily in R&D and THIS is where our focus should
be as well.

"Although they interfere less than they once did, Japan's bureaucrats are
concerned by the prospect of manufacturing, especially high-tech
manufacturing, going abroad. Surely, the thinking goes, if one Japanese
company builds a plant in China, and the technology is copied, then all of
the firm's Japanese rivals will face cheap competition? Hidetaka Fukuda, who
oversees information technology for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry, says that METI stepped in earlier this year to persuade NEC, an
electronics giant, to sell its plasma-display business to local rival
Pioneer, rather than a foreign investor, as a way to keep its technology in
Japan. Mr. Fukuda says that he is currently in similar negotiations with
roughly ten other companies that might otherwise transfer technology
abroad."

It should be an interesting next 10 years in our business area... I hope we
all get to be a part of it.


Bill Brooks
PCB Design Engineer , C.I.D., C.I.I.
Tel: (760)597-1500 Ext 3772 Fax: (760)597-1510


-----Original Message-----
From: Kowalewski, Andy [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, April 19, 2004 12:50 PM
To: (Designers Council Forum); Brooks,Bill
Subject: RE: [DC] Outsourcing coming back to insourcing

Right on.

I used to be on PC Design Magazine's Editorial Review Board, and at a
meeting of the Design, Fab and Assembly ERBs (in Pete's better days) there
was a lot of talk about fab and assembly going off shore, and how everybody
was working hard to stay competitive within the US by outsourcing. I asked
the question "Aren't you worried about selling the farm? You're teaching all
these overseas companies how to do your work to get the advantage of low
labour costs - aren't you worried about them eventually eating your lunch?"
Most of the answers boiled down to "We aren't worried - we'll make sure we
stay ahead by developing new machinery, new processes and new techniques".

I wonder if those same people have the same blasé attitude today?


Andy K.
Sychip Inc
Office (972) 202 8852

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