Zenith's demise.

[Yamaha B-2]

There are many others, as well. Atmel, LSI Logic, National Semiconductor, Medtronic, etc. But, chips have become dominated by computer design and automated fabrication. And 12" wafers. All this makes for a poor employment environment. And people, other than engineers (which we do a poor job of turning out - no one wants to work that hard today) don't need all that much education to do the routine tasks now required in semiconductor manufacturing, where I worked as an engineer until 2000. With the new paradigm, it is very difficult to compete with the Chinese.

[peverett]

You are correct in that most of the work is done (in both design and manufacturing) by computers. I do the design work day in and day out It is all done with computers.

I am not sure that most electronic manufacturing jobs ever required great skill. Wiring up TV or radio chassis does not seem to me to require any more skill than working in a modern chip fabrication line. The skill was always in the design(of the part and the manufacturing process) , testing, and servicing.

Mostly because of so much integration and cost reduction in modern electronics, the service side is now almost completely dead for consumer items

You are very correct in saying that it is very hard to compete with the Chinese. Another reason that we do not turn out any more engineers than we do is that bright students see engineers being laid off at 50. They then turn to being doctors and lawyers so they will not have to put up with that crap. (I want to strangle all of the CEOs who come out complaining that we do not graduate enough engineers-most of them are part of the problem).

AMD also has manufacturing in the US.

[Yamaha B-2]

Originally Posted by peverett

I am not sure that most electronic manufacturing jobs ever required great skill.

AMD also has manufacturing in the US.

I would disagree. Back when the techs running the process tools had to know when to tweak and whatever. How to measure results by hand and work with the "hands-on" engineers to correct. Highly skilled individuals with real process knowledge.

I was the project manager for the multi-million upgrade of AMD Fabs 10, 14 & 15 in Austin back in 1989. At that time AMD was the largest maker of the 286 (more than Intel, who had moved on to the 386). Ratty old Fab 10 had much better yields than Fabs 14 & 15. Because they had the skilled techs running the processes. My, how time flies.

[peverett]

Time does fly-I am still in Austin, working for Freescale (spun off from Motrola). Our newest fab was built in the mid 1990s. It seems that AMDs new fabs are built in Germany these days.

The newest fab in Austin now was built by Samsung of Korea. It is my understanding that TI, Intel, and IBM are all building new fabs in the US, so some activity is underway.

Of course, this does not have anything to do with the demise of Zenith. Back on this subject, I did see a PBS special quite a few years ago that claimed that the beginning if the demise of US TV/radio manufacturers was when Sears imported Japanese sets at below manufacturing cost in the early 1970s. The US manufacturers sued the Japanese for dumping and won, but by then it was too late. At present time, even Japan is to expensive for TV/radio manufacturing, so it has also bypassed them.

I have a working 12" Sears color tv from 1971 and it was made in Japan. I have have also discovered that Curthis Mathis was importing Japanese electronics for their comsumer items at this time also.

[andy]

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(I want to strangle all of the CEOs who come out complaining that we do not graduate enough engineers-most of them are part of the problem


you are so very correct. Lets get rid of all those idiots in Washington at the same time. Seems that the whole world and a lot of our own elected are trying to make us go broke . Self interest seems to be the problem. As for me, I am proud of what americans have done in the past. In lew of self. For example , how about Armstrong? He was a smart cookie and he gave up all his patents in WW II for the sake of the USA/. In the end, RCA screwed him.
Its a darn shame. All cause of greed. I am not rich but I am content!

[sydsfloyd67]

Originally Posted by Bobby4244

(I want to strangle all of the CEOs who come out complaining that we do not graduate enough engineers-most of them are part of the problem.............You are so very correct. Lets get rid of all those idiots in Washington at the same time. Seems that the whole world and a lot of our own elected are trying to make us go broke . Self interest seems to be the problem. As for me, I am proud of what americans have done in the past. In lew of self. For example , how about Armstrong? He was a smart cookie and he gave up all his patents in WW II for the sake of the USA/. In the end, RCA screwed him.
Its a darn shame. All cause of greed. I am not rich but I am content!

Right on. A paradigm shift is urgently needed. We may well look back at this period in history with amazement about how far an ecomonic lead we squandered by allowing short-sighted self-interest to become almost a religion. (Has that happened yet?) -sf

'Can't make it here any more