Report: HP Moves Part Of Notebook Production From China To Japan

CrunchGear ^ | June 17, 2011 | Serkan Toto

[BfloGuy]

You don’t hear news like this too often these days, but according to Japanese business daily The Nikkei, HP is planning to shift part of its notebook production from China to Japan in the next few months. The Californian company plans to eventually manufacture all computers for sale in Japan in factories in Akishima near Tokyo.

For that, HP plans to hire 50% more workers in Akishima, boosting the number of employees there to 450. According to the Nikkei, labor costs in Japan are about four times higher than in China. But with this move, HP apparently wants to increase efficiency, be closer to the market, stand out with a “made-in-Japan” moniker, and push down delivery times especially to Japanese business customers.

[Tainan]

Isn’t HP now Lenovo...the Chinese company that bought them out?

[Tainan]

Ditto here on Taiwan re:"Made in Japan" label.

I recently bought my son a new wristwatch. At the local watch shop they had Seikos from China and Seilkos from Japan. They made it very clear that they preferred selling the ones from Japan. This is a very reputable shop that has a lot of high-end brands for their offerings.
I see this same preference for many other items here - Quality from Japan is SOP over mainland China.

[Tainan]

I'll answer my own question - NO...

"Lenovo acquired the former IBM PC Company Division, which marketed the ThinkPad line of notebook PCs, in 2005 for approximately $1.75 billion."

They bought the PC division of IBM.

[wally_bert]

There is a reason that HP home stuff is generally a tad lower than most of the other brands.

[catnipman]

“There is a reason that HP home stuff is generally a tad lower than most of the other brands.”

OK. I’ll bite. And that reason is?