A custom screw was the bottleneck of American production Mac Pro

Apple CEO Tim Cook visits production facilities in Austin, Texas, in 2014

Apple announced its intention to produce the Mac Pro in the United States in 2012, making it the first Apple product made in the country for years. Although the declaration was ambitious, the production of the model only resulted in limited supply, but it was eventually sent to consumers wearing "Made in the USA" engraving instead of "Made in China".

The slow start of production was apparently due to a lack of supply for a specific type of screw, according to a report from New York Times.

S addressing three people who worked on the project, it was difficult to get screws for the Mac Pro in the United States. The first production tests were hampered by the contractor's limited production levels, which produced a maximum of 1,000 screws per day in his 20-employee workshop.

The team behind the Mac Pro needed new parts as the design changed, but if components could be shipped from China, Apple was looking for items closer to home in Texas. In this case, Mac Pro's badembly partner, Flextronics, retained Caldwell Manufacturing from Lockhard to produce 28,000 screws.

While Caldwell was previously able to produce high capacity screws, its president and president, Stephen Melo, had replaced stamping machines for mbad production with versions used for more precise work because of the capacity of the machine. China to mbad produce at lower cost.

"It's hard to invest for that (Apple-level orders) in the United States because these products are being bought very cheaply abroad," explained Melo.

In the end, the new machines were used to create the screws, but not the exact versions desired by Apple. It should also be noted that the 28,000 screws were delivered to Flextronics in 22 trips, with Melo making certain deliveries in a Lexus sedan.

A former Apple executive pointed out the relatively small size of the Flextronics team on the project, compared to that of the largest teams in China, which overwhelmed the overwhelmed workers. It was unclear why the team was smaller, but it was suggested that the higher wages of American workers were behind the decision.

Another problem cited with American production is the lack of production 24 hours a day, American workers not working 24 hours a day. In China, on the other hand, the factories were planning production for all available hours and workers were leaving the country. their sleep to achieve production goals, if any.

Susan Helper, professor of economics at Case Western Reserve University, said: "China is not only cheap" because it is a country where the presence of a government authoritarian means "you can gather 100,000 people to work all night for you".

Chinese factories can also find a large number of employees in no time, as Foxconn's recent promise to hire more than 50,000 people in all of its Chinese factories in the first quarter.

Helper suggests that it is possible for Apple to increase production in the United States, but this would require a significant investment of time and resources for robotics and the recruitment of specialized engineers, rather than the Hiring a large number of low-paid workers. Vocational training should also be improved by the government and industry for this to happen.

Despite calls by the Trump administration to Apple to bring the manufacturing sector to the United States, Helper warns that the risk of this happening in the current climate is low.