I think one point that is absent here is that JLCPCB and others like them use a COMBINATION of things to achieve the low cost. They are highly automated. But they use an advanced MANAGEMENT system to utilize that automation to the max. Then they combine that with the least expensive shipping and every other advantage they can find. They maximize all the parts of getting a part to the customer at the least expensive cost.
In contrast to this I have seen so many US companies that offer only one or two of the elements that minimize the cost. For example, some US companies only offer one or two choices of shipping services. They either have a "deal" with one shipping company which locks in high prices or just don't want to take the trouble of using multiple services. I KNOW that you don't have to ship thousands of packages a day to get better rates. You just need to seek those better rates. I worked for a US company that shipped around 50 or 100 packages on a good day and often much less on a slow one. They had a shipping room set up for more than five different shipping companies. Those companies provided the scales and boxes and envelopes needed and, of course, made morning deliveries and evening pick-ups. One shipping clerk easily handled all the company's shipments, each at the best price. They beat the various services against each other to obtain the lowest prices all the time. This required a good shipping clerk and the will to do the needed work. I know all this because that company allowed the employees to take advantage of the lower rates. And I did: I was able to ship things at great rates.
This in in contrast to US companies that have much larger shipping volumes but only offer one choice of shipping service. Why? They just don't see any advantage in taking the extra effort that might help the customers. That does not mean that there is no potential advantage there. It means that they just don't want to take the effort.
But this is only one example of what companies can do in only one area of their processes. If they truly want to be more competitive on the world stage, they need to look at ALL areas where things can be improved
for the customer - like the Chinese companies are doing. Not just one area, but ALL areas, considered together.
I fear that the US manufacturing industry has simply
lost the will to innovate.
People who do not know and understand how things work will very often imagine and believe complicated conspiracy theories rather than say to themselves they just do not understand it.
Most people tend to consider the cost of producing something must determine the final sales price but this is not how companies work. Companies try to make as much profit as a whole unit and often that means making more money in one product or sales line and less money in another line or even "losing" money.
Airlines often are selling seats at a loss. A seat sold at low price brings in more dollars than a seat which goes empty.
Similarly, it costs a sufficiently automated PCB company very little to fill unused space on a standard-sized panel with multiple additional designs.
All that matters is that the total income for some number of panels exceeds the cost - being able to sell otherwise-unused capacity for peanuts is a good marketing tool to attract customers for production orders
This only works once you have sufficiently high order volume, so attracting more customers is a very important part of the overall business model.
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