When buying any product it is only natural to want to know the details, including where it came from and where it was made. This is especially true when it comes to larger, more expensive goods such as pieces of technology.
In the present day Laptops are one of the most commonly brought pieces of technology with people buying them for work, college, school, gaming or research.
Laptops allow people to access the internet, stay connected to the outside world, type up documents, create spreadsheets and a whole lot more so it is only natural that they are popular across all walks of life.
Microsoft laptops are some of the best on the market and the Surface Laptops are no exception, they are currently one of the most popular options available.
More popularity means more sales which in turn means a larger fan base therefore, over the past few years people have started to show more and more interest in the brand.
Although most of this interest is good it has also meant that people have started asking more and more questions regarding the brand such as, where are they made?
What Are Microsoft Surface Laptops?
Microsoft are leaders in the technology department with their first class phones, laptops and software so it is no surprise that the Surface Laptops have become so popular.
The Microsoft Surface Laptops initially came out in 2012 and there have been many additions. The different laptops have included:
- Surface
- Surface 2
- Surface 3
- Surface Go
- Surface Go 2
- Surface Go 3
- Surface Pro
- Surface Pro 2
- Surface Pro 3
- Surface Pro 4
- Surface Pro (2017)
- Surface Pro 6
- Surface Pro 7
- Surface Pro 7+
- Surface Pro 8
- Surface Pro X (SQ1)
- Surface Pro X (SQ2)
- Surface Laptop Go
- Surface Laptop
- Surface Laptop 2
- Surface Laptop 3
- Surface Laptop 4
- Surface Laptop Studio
- Surface Book
- Surface Book with performance base
- Surface Book 2
- Surface Book 3
- Surface Hub
- Surface Hub 2S
- Surface Duo
- Surface Duo 2
Interestingly, none of these products are discontinued and they are all still supported. This is an impressive amount of products to be launched in only nine years. A large amount of products of course means a large amount of production.
Production
It is arguable that the Microsoft Surface products are an example of mass production as they have sold several millions of products over the last decade. This mass production relies on effective production levels.
Production is not linear and is a varied process with each product having numerous different stages. Production can be very expensive for the company, especially when it comes to the manufacturing of technology.
This inflated cost is due to costs of materials, manufacturing equipment, property and staffing. Production staff are interestingly some of the most vulnerable staff in the world with many actually being exploited.
It is such a neglected job for many reasons including the fact that it is classed as an unskilled job aimed at those with lower education meaning that they are often less aware of their rights.
Similarly, production often takes place in third world countries. This is generally for economic reasons as property is cheaper to buy there and companies can generally get away with paying a lower wage.
In fact, the situation has gotten so bad that factories and places of manufacturing and production are now closely linked to modern day slavery as the often act as a hub for such offences. This is in no way a reflection on Microsoft, they are often regarded as a very good employer, but rather of the production industry as a whole.
Place Of Production
Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates in 1975 In New Mexico, United States. Since 1975 the company has grown and grown, developing into the household name that is loved by so many people today. Interestingly Microsoft has done a lot of moving over its less than 50 year lifespan.
Only a few years after they first opened their doors they moved to Washington State in 1979. Today Microsoft’s headquarters are still in Washington, in a small area called Redmond. However, their places of production are less centralised and have also changed throughout the company’s life.
For instance in 2015, they opened a new production centre in Wilsonville, stamping many of their products made in this time period with “Made in Portland, Oregon”.
However, despite their US based heritage and their impressively large US based customer base they decided to move production elsewhere. For instance, they then moved all production of the Microsoft Surface products from the US to China.
Why China?
China is one of the most popular places for large companies to manufacture goods. This is for many reasons including the fact that they have lots of cities designed for this kind of thing so it is easy for companies to find and purchase factories or purpose built buildings.
Another reason is that there are lots of staff in China willing to work for a lower wage so in moving the factory from the US to China it can be assumed that Microsoft made big savings in terms of wages.
Final Thoughts
The simple answer to where are Microsoft Surface Laptops are made is China. However, this has not always been the case as even up until a few years ago Microsoft were firmly based within their home soil, America.
However, over time mass production can need to be moved for several reasons. Clearly China boasts a lot of positives drawing many companies including Microsoft to manufacture there. China’s pull factors include lots of readily available factories, relatively cheap costs and lots of cheap labor.
Overall, moving production to China makes it cheaper and with the amount of production Microsoft embark on it is fair today that the saving is probably huge. The Surface is still made to a good quality today so it does not appear that the change in approach to production has had a negative effect on product quality or customers.
from https://ift.tt/3ckbav9
0 Comments