Jobs built a factory. The NeXT computer was made there and the factory was reportedly state-of-the-art.
Of course Jobs is gone but I would guess there are others still at Apple that were involved so that it might not be totally new to them.
Of course Jobs is gone but I would guess there are others still at Apple that were involved so that it might not be totally new to them.
NeXT Computer Inc. eventually became NeXT Software Inc. and ceased manufacturing hardware. That was 23 years ago. I'd be surprised if any significant presence from that manufacturing team remained in Cupertino today.
Looking more recently, Apple does have their own factory in the US to make the Mac Pro. I wonder if any of that was intended as a testbed for in-house manufacturing in general.
"The factory that Jobs had configured to produce 10,000 computers every month produced hundreds every month. Because of the low volume, human labor was cheaper than maintaining the automated equipment."
http://lowendmac.com/2013/next-years-steve-jobs-before-trium...
But, he is gone and as others note it was a long time ago. It's probably not very relevant, in retrospect.