¿Cuánto cuesta producir un iPhone, en cuánto nos lo venden y cuánto pagan a los empleados que lo manufacturan?
POR: LUIS ALBERTO HARA - 02/23/2012
Los costos de producción del iPhone, y los salarios de aquellos que los manufacturan, contrastan con las ganancias que obtiene Apple y, en particular, con lo que la marca gasta en mercadotecnia y diseño.
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| Horace Dediu |
Recientemente el equipo del programa “Nightline“, de la cadena estadounidense ABC, pudo echar un vistazo tras bambalinas de las fábricas donde se producen los iPhones en China. Durante el recorrido se pudieron observar algunos de los procesos de manufactura de este codiciado gadget y el blogger, analista de tecnología y ex gerente del Área de Desarrollo de Negocios de Nokia, Horace Dediu, aprovechó esta información visual para obtener algunas conclusiones, entre ellas, el costo estimado de producción del más cool de los teléfonos móviles.
Entre las conclusiones a las que llegó Dediu encontramos que, en promedio, cada dispositivo se tarda alrededor de 24 horas en producirse —esto incluyendo la adaptación del software y una fase de prueba. Por otro lado, y tal vez auxiliado por información complementaria, el especialista hace énfasis en que los empleados que laboran en estas fábricas ganan $1.78 dólares por cada hora de trabajo.
Posteriormente calculó el costo aproximado que le implica a Apple producir cada iPhone: entre $12 y $30 dólares (no hay que ser muy diestro en matemáticas para alarmarse ante esta cifra o, mejor dicho, ante lo que cada propietario de un teléfono de Apple debe pagar para obtenerlo, es decir entre $200 y $400 dólares en Estados Unidos, mientras que en otros países puede superar los $1000).
Es importante aclarar que a la cantidad de producción debe sumarse los costos que implica recubrirlo en ese halo implacable de mercadotecnia que distingue a esta marca. Es decir, desde lo que cobran sus equipos de diseño de producto, paquetería, etc., hasta lo que invierten en publicidad y demás (el propio Dediu calcula que esto podría elevar el costo del producto en un máximo de 300%). Finalmente hay que agregar los costos de traslado a las diversas tiendas de Apple alrededor del mundo y los costos de la compañía para responder a cualquier falla que aún se encuentre dentro de los tiempos de garantía.
Documentary Nightline ABC iFactory Apple Foxconn
Y tras esta revisión podemos obtener al menos tres conclusiones:
1. Lo más valioso de Apple —y en particular del iPhone— no son los productos en sí, sino el diseño y, en especial, el despliegue de marketing que afecta en la psique del comprador y de la sociedad que le rodea.
2. Los empleados que trabajan en las fábricas de China están a años luz de poder acceder a un estilo de vida cool, que es precisamente la promesa que te ofrece, entre líneas, Apple. Y sus sueldos, independientemente del contexto propio del país en que se producen, podría ser considerado anti-cool, o incluso miserables.
3. Apple es, sin duda, la marca que mejor comercializa algo absolutamente abstracto, como lo son el status y la imagen.
Tomado de Pijamasurf
Apple? No, Thanks! - Deconstructing Foxconn
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Ahora pueden leer el artículo que escribió Horace Dediu al respecto
How much does it cost to manufacture an iPhone?
An iPhone generates approximately $650 in revenue for Apple. This figure has remained fairly steady over time. Using deduction from overall margins, it’s possible to estimate the gross margin on the product to be around 55%.
That means that the cost of goods sold (COGS) for the iPhone is about $293. Is that a lot? Where does that money go? What else does it tell us about how the company operates?
To find out we need to understand the cost structure of phone building.
Typically there are four main categories of costs for a phone:
In the case of the iPhone the BOM has been fairly steady around $200 for a new model. That leaves quite a big gap to the overall COGS of $293.
Could transportation, manufacturing and warranty costs really add up to $90 for an iPhone?
The manufacturing costs are not usually discussed in detail openly because the processes used are secret. However, thanks to and ABC Nightline report, some clues have emerged about how iPhones are built and, although incomplete, they offer some interesting bounds.
One data point recently published is that the iPhone takes 24 hours to be built. Of that 6 to 8 hours is spent in “burn-in” to install and test the software and components automatically. This leaves about 17 hours unaccounted for in the throughput time. Could this time be spent in labor intensive operations? In the ABC report the wage of workers on the line is given as $1.78/hr[4]. 17 hours of labor input would imply $30 labor cost per iPhone. That seems a lot higher than the industry (i.e. iSupply’s estimate is $8 for manufacturing cost.) This is an upper bound. Obviously, those 17 hours could be spent in automated operations which were not shown or simply sitting idle, waiting for a process to begin.
Is there another way we can check this?
There is. The ABC report also mentioned that there were 141 (presumably labor) work steps in the production for an iPhone. If we knew the time each step took we could obtain another estimate. For example, if each step in the human assembly process took 3 minutes[2] then human hands will touch the iPhone for 423 minutes or about 7 hours. This would imply a labor cost for an iPhone of about $12.5. If each step was longer or shorter, the cost would vary accordingly.
Unfortunately we can’t be sure of the exact cost. However, these recent clues offer some interesting bounds and observations[3]:
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Notes:
That means that the cost of goods sold (COGS) for the iPhone is about $293. Is that a lot? Where does that money go? What else does it tell us about how the company operates?
To find out we need to understand the cost structure of phone building.
Typically there are four main categories of costs for a phone:
- Bill of materials (BOM). This represents the cost of the components that go into the device. These are paid to suppliers.
- Transportation/warehousing. This is the cost to transport and store the product before sale. This is paid to shipping companies and warehousing.
- Manufacturing cost (including labor). This is paid to contract manufacturers.
- Warranty expense. This is paid back to customers for returned product that can no longer be sold.
In the case of the iPhone the BOM has been fairly steady around $200 for a new model. That leaves quite a big gap to the overall COGS of $293.
Could transportation, manufacturing and warranty costs really add up to $90 for an iPhone?
The manufacturing costs are not usually discussed in detail openly because the processes used are secret. However, thanks to and ABC Nightline report, some clues have emerged about how iPhones are built and, although incomplete, they offer some interesting bounds.
One data point recently published is that the iPhone takes 24 hours to be built. Of that 6 to 8 hours is spent in “burn-in” to install and test the software and components automatically. This leaves about 17 hours unaccounted for in the throughput time. Could this time be spent in labor intensive operations? In the ABC report the wage of workers on the line is given as $1.78/hr[4]. 17 hours of labor input would imply $30 labor cost per iPhone. That seems a lot higher than the industry (i.e. iSupply’s estimate is $8 for manufacturing cost.) This is an upper bound. Obviously, those 17 hours could be spent in automated operations which were not shown or simply sitting idle, waiting for a process to begin.
Is there another way we can check this?
There is. The ABC report also mentioned that there were 141 (presumably labor) work steps in the production for an iPhone. If we knew the time each step took we could obtain another estimate. For example, if each step in the human assembly process took 3 minutes[2] then human hands will touch the iPhone for 423 minutes or about 7 hours. This would imply a labor cost for an iPhone of about $12.5. If each step was longer or shorter, the cost would vary accordingly.
Unfortunately we can’t be sure of the exact cost. However, these recent clues offer some interesting bounds and observations[3]:
- Manufacturing costs for the iPhone are likely to be much higher than comparable devices. This is partly because of the design of the product and partly because of the quality testing needed.
- Those costs are likely to range between $12.5 and $30 per unit.
- The iPhone manufacturing costs are likely to be twice or three times the average.
- Labor costs are still a small part of the overall cost structure at between 2% and 5% of sales price.
- The high level (141 steps) of human interaction in the process could be automated however, the fact that it isn’t implies that the cost of automation would be higher and the flexibility of the automated process would be lower. It’s much more likely that the process is a mixture of labor and robot intensive sub-processes.
- Even if we assume a $30 manufacturing cost, there is still $60 that needs to be allocated to transportation and warranty expense. These require sanity checks as well.
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Notes:
- Note that R&D (engineering and development) and Sales, General and Administrative (e.g. Marketing) costs are not part of this cost structure. They are considered fixed costs and are not allocated to individual units of production.
- Note that during the ABC video there was mention of automated instructions being broadcast to the line. This implies that each worker is working on a “clock cycle” and each work stage is timed to take an equal amount of time. This clock cycle time is crucial in understanding the cost structure. One further clue to this cycle time comes from the iPad output rate per worker. This was mentioned in the slide show to be up to 6,000 units per day. Assuming 10 hours of working time per day means 600 units per hour or 10 per minute. This seems extremely high as the worker would have to handle the product for only six seconds. [UPDATE: Apple clarified this point: “In manufacturing parlance this is called deburring. Her line processes 3,000 units per shift, with two shifts per day for a total of 6,000. A single operator at Ms. Zhou’s station would deburr 3,000 iPads in a shift”]
- As this post shows the amount of information that can be obtained from observing operations can be significant and lead to competitor advantage. It should be clear why this is not something done willingly.
- UPDATE: In a statement Foxconn clarified wages as “We have over 75 percent of the employees in the category of earning at least 2,200 RMB ($349/month) basic compensation standard. That means they are earning 13.75 RMB ($2.18) per hour”.
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