Interesting thread. Participated as a rabble-rouser at the beginning...I'll be more serious now. Since I was part of a team that relocated a TV picture tube factory to China in the late 80s, I have a few insights others might find interesting.
Many of the above points are valid and bear on the issue. From my 20 some years in manufacturing engineering and year and a half in China, the following points should be considered:
1. Unions - High wage scales and benefits are part of the problem, but not the deal breaker. Work rule inflexibility, combined with the high expense IS. A company has to be agile if they are to remain competitive these days. Customer requirements can change overnight. If the union workforce will not willingly work with management to meet these changing requirements and if every change results in extensive HR-Union negotiations (where typically HR gives away the farm); then the workforce is of very little value to management or the company.
2. The Chinese are willing workers and they are very intelligent. With proper motivation, training and tools; they can turn out quality products as well as anyone. Like us, they have goals, families and dreams and a steady income is needed to support these things. Unlike many U.S. workers, most that I met were not too proud to do menial and/or heavy labor or work long hours over long periods while in the process of bettering themselves or their families. The important thing to them was the steady income, be it little or much. The slackers got weeded out quickly by the Party people in management.
3. Management in Chinese factories, at the time I was in-country, was heavily dominated by Party favorites. The people who knew manufacturing (mostly Party people themselves) took orders from the Party favorites. Quality and productivity were pretty uneven as a result. The poor initial performance resulted in a shift away from the favorites and toward the manufacturing professionals. The result has been the closest thing to an actual Great Leap Forward that China's ever enjoyed. There are still problems, but the cost & quality soon become more than adequate in any area where they concentrate their efforts.
4. Environmental issues get short shrift in China. There was little or no control over waste dumping, water pollution or air pollution while I was there. The stuff went where there was room to put it, period. Trash dumps seemed to sprout everywhere. Anyone who's been involved with even a small expansion of a factory in the U.S. knows the tortuous path that must be followed with state, local and federal environmental agencies, many of which cannot agree with themselves on the proper way to do things. This adds great expense to any manufacturing undertaking in this country....not so much meeting the env. requirements themselves, but the delay and loss of opportunity while trying to settle on an approach that meets all requirements and satisfies everyone. From a competitive standpoint, this places U.S. based manufacturing at a huge disadvantage.
5. Once gone, they're gone - Manufacturing facilities, once closed here, will never be back. The rules and regulations that govern every aspect of manufacturing in the U.S. these days are so many, onerous and costly, that few in their right mind (and none who answer to a board of directors) would consider it without a lot of special incentives. (I know, you're thinking, "Never say never, Bob.". Well I'd be overjoyed to be proved wrong on this point.)
FWIW, I was in charge of setting up, modifying and debugging the factory's computer based automatic test and data collection systems in China. Sort of the high-tech goto guy on the team. I trained many Chinese and almost without exception, they were bright and motivated, of good character and good team workers. We got along well and got the job done in spite of language difficulties. Not all were happy with their leadership, but nearly all were determined to make a go of the opportunities they were offered.
Bob
A need to keep priced down at the local Walmart? 