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Question:

I’m writing a paper on the U.S. economy from 1975-2000.  Although most of the software comes from the U.S., where does hardware come from?  Where do the parts, assembly, and R&D of products from supposedly U.S. brands come from nowadays?  My Epson printer says assembled in U.S. from U.S. and Japanese parts. Was it designed here too?  Are certain countries better at certain things or is the market totally internationalized?  How about cars?  Are they border-free nowadays or are they still largely regionalized?  And if so, which regions excell at which products and processes?

Response:

Taiwan has quite a big computer products manufacturing industry – many semiconductor components, motherboards, RAM chips, video cards, etc. are made there now. Some of the design is probably there too, but much of it is probably still in the US. — Robert Hancock      Saskatoon, SK, Canada Home Page: http://members.home.net/hancockr

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I’m writing a paper on the U.S. economy from 1975-2000.  Although most of the > software comes from the U.S., where does hardware come from?  Where do the > parts, assembly, and R&D of products from supposedly U.S. brands come from > nowadays?  My Epson printer says assembled in U.S. from U.S. and Japanese parts. > Was it designed here too?  Are certain countries better at certain things or is > the market totally internationalized?  How about cars?  Are they border-free > nowadays or are they still largely regionalized?  And if so, which regions > excell at which products and processes?

Response:

Everything I buy nowadays says it’s made in China. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >I’m writing a paper on the U.S. economy from 1975-2000.  Although most of the >software comes from the U.S., where does hardware come from?  Where do the >parts, assembly, and R&D of products from supposedly U.S. brands come from >nowadays?  My Epson printer says assembled in U.S. from U.S. and Japanese parts. >Was it designed here too?  Are certain countries better at certain things or is >the market totally internationalized?  How about cars?  Are they border-free >nowadays or are they still largely regionalized?  And if so, which regions >excell at which products and processes?

Response:

Well, I think that the Russian dude in Armageddon said it best with: "American parts, Russian parts, all made in Taiwan" My two cents ~Dave – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >I’m writing a paper on the U.S. economy from 1975-2000.  Although most of the >software comes from the U.S., where does hardware come from?  Where do the >parts, assembly, and R&D of products from supposedly U.S. brands come from >nowadays?  My Epson printer says assembled in U.S. from U.S. and Japanese parts. >Was it designed here too?  Are certain countries better at certain things or is >the market totally internationalized?  How about cars?  Are they border-free >nowadays or are they still largely regionalized?  And if so, which regions >excell at which products and processes?

Response:

You won’t need a very long piece of paper then, I can confirm that ALL components for all devices, including cars, are manufactured and assembled in China and Taiwan, in very very very Big annonymous grey factories, they are then re-badged in various countries, and stamped with that country as originator. This accounts for the variable quality of cars such as BMW, and Electric Toasters etc. — 88 Trabant, Sharked and Tight.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I’m writing a paper on the U.S. economy from 1975-2000.  Although most of the > software comes from the U.S., where does hardware come from?  Where do the > parts, assembly, and R&D of products from supposedly U.S. brands come from > nowadays?  My Epson printer says assembled in U.S. from U.S. and Japanese parts. > Was it designed here too?  Are certain countries better at certain things or is > the market totally internationalized?  How about cars?  Are they border-free > nowadays or are they still largely regionalized?  And if so, which regions > excell at which products and processes?

Response:

Your Epson was probably designed in Japan because Epson is a Japanese company and does not do design in the US (I am a product manager that works with them as several of the products for which I am responsible are Epson products).  On the other hand Dell, Compaq, Gateway, HP and other computers made by US firms are designed in the US by US engineers.  Many products are "Hybrid", for example HP laser printers use Canon mechanisms designed by Canon in Japan and built in various plants some in the US and some in Japan.  But the HP controller that is installed is HP designed in the US, may be made almost anywhere and may be installed either when the engine is built by Canon in a Canon plant, or by HP in an HP plant (that is probably in the US) subsequently. As you can surmise from the above, your question is difficult to answer in a concise simple manner.  Design is one thing and is usually done in the "home country" of the parent company.  But assembly is done all over the world, with Japan, US, Mexico, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Phillipines ALL being popular locations for many major companies.  And companies sometimes assemble their own products and sometimes have a supplier/vendor do it for them.  So the situation is very complex and hard to generalize. Barry Watzman – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > I’m writing a paper on the U.S. economy from 1975-2000.  Although most of the > software comes from the U.S., where does hardware come from?  Where do the > parts, assembly, and R&D of products from supposedly U.S. brands come from > nowadays?  My Epson printer says assembled in U.S. from U.S. and Japanese parts. > Was it designed here too?  Are certain countries better at certain things or is > the market totally internationalized?  How about cars?  Are they border-free > nowadays or are they still largely regionalized?  And if so, which regions > excell at which products and processes?

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