Foxconn workers at the company’s plant in Yantai, a city in the northeastern Shandong province, have had to evacuate the building today as another fire and possible explosion engulfed parts of the factory in smoke. Thankfully, it seems no one has been injured.
Apple has responded to concerns from environmental activist groups in China by meeting with The Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) in Beijing. IPE has called the gesture a “positive sign” that Apple is attentive to environmental concerns regarding its suppliers overseas.
According to Macworld, IPE and other groups have accused Apple of using Chinese manufacturers that pollute the environment, even going so far as to say that such manufacturers are responsible for a rise in cancer rates among locals.
Apple’s iPad will soon be spawning in Brazil, according to the country’s Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Aloizio Mercadante. Until now, the device has been produced solely by Foxconn in China, but by December Brazilian iPads will be hitting the market.
We’re all eagerly anticipating the launch of Apple’s iPhone 5, and while the Cupertino company is still yet to announce its release date, the device’s unveiling looks to be imminent as production is ramped up to 150,000 units per day.
Let’s just take a few minutes away from the stories surrounding Steve Jobs and Tim Cook and talk about the iPad 3. We know it’s not going to launch this year — I’d have put money on that from day one — but according to one report it could go into production as early as October… without Samsung on-board.
Apple has reportedly turned to Samsung and Chimei Innolux for iPad 2 displays having suspended orders from LG Display due to quality issues.
To those of you who scoffed at Steve Wozniak when he said that machines will one day take over as superior beings, leaving us humans as the “dogs of the house,” take note: It seems Woz’ vision is very much becoming a reality for some Foxconn workers, who are set to be replaced by robots over the next three years.
Foxconn Electronics currently assembles a whole host of Apple gear, and apparently persuaded the Cupertino company recently to make it the sole producer of a third iPad expected to launch later this year. It seems that’s not enough for the China-based manufacturer, however. It has no intention of being as loyal to Apple in return. According to industry sources, it will also produce what could be one of the iPad’s biggest rivals: an Amazon Kindle tablet.
Following recent rumors that Apple may be adding a second manufacturer to its iPad supply chain for the launch of a third device, Foxconn Electronics has reportedly “exerted its efforts to protect its orders” and has “persuaded” Apple not to shift production of the device to a second contractor.
Apple’s iPhone 5, expected to launch later this year, will be “thinner and lighter” than the current device, and will feature a much improved camera, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Companies within Apple’s supply chain are currently preparing materials for the production of the iPhone 5, which they believe is likely to launch this September… but it may not be launching alone. Instead, it will be accompanied by the iPad 3.
Remember the three Foxconn employees arrested back in December for leaking the design of the iPad 2 to third-party case makers? They’ve been found guilty, and they’re going to prison.
Following an explosion on May 20th that killed 3 people and injured 15 others, Foxconn has today reopened its iPad 2 polishing workshops in Chengdu after an investigation into what caused the explosion has now been concluded.
Yesterday, we reported that Apple had taken the unusual step of both suing and filing-to-dismiss its own lawsuit against the Fei Lam, the teenager who sold Steve Wozniak along with hundreds of others their own white iPhone 4 conversion kits.
That was weird enough. Even weirder? This is the first Fei Lam himself has heard about the case being settled.
Foxconn’s public relations issues have just collided. A week after an explosion rocked Foxconn’s iPad 2 production facility in Chengdu, China, an employee of that facility has committed suicide.
The news keeps on getting worse for Apple in the wake of the Chengdu Foxconn explosion. Besides the ghastly loss of three lives and the dozens of wounded Foxconn employees, the explosion could cost Apple half a million iPad 2s. Given existing supply problems, that’s a number of lost iPads Apple can ill afford to lose.
The tragic explosion at a iPad 2 polishing plant in Chengdu has already killed three and wounded dozens, and the closing of that facility could affect iPad 2 supply by up to 30%.
In the short term, iPad 2 supply is likely to get even worse, as Foxconn has just closed all of its polishing plants across China for investigation.
The unexpected explosion that rocked Foxconn’s Chengdu facility on Friday killing three has been blamed upon a build up of combustible dust at the iPad 2 polishing plant. As a two-week old report on factory worker conditions makes clear, though, the dangers of allowing such dust to build-up has been brought to the attention of Foxconn and Apple before.
While the impact of deaths and injuries from the Foxconn explosions should not be minimized, analysts Monday discounted the effect on iPad 2 production as minimal and ‘temporary.’ But is a 20-30% decrease in production when Apple is already struggling to fulfill demand really minimal?
The folks at All Things Digital have obtained a statement from Apple in regards to the explosion that occurred at Foxconn’s facilities in Chengdu China where the iPad 2 is manufactured.
A few hours ago, an explosion rocked Foxconn’s Chengdu manufacturing facility, which is one of the main producers of iPad 2s within China…. and it’s looking increasingly likely that the explosion might have occurred on the iPad 2 production line.
Faced with the ongoing PR crisis of suicides and alleged human rights violations of its Chinese contractors, it’s looking increasingly like Apple might shift a sizable portion of their iPad production to Brazil. To prepare, Brazil’s president lowered taxes on producing and purchasing tablets in the South American country.
Sources in Apple’s supply chain have revealed that Foxconn Electronics is currently facing supply and labor shortages that could delay shipments of both the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2 during the second quarter.
Working conditions at the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, China, have long been the center of attention. 1 million Chinese workers build electronics for Apple, HP, Nokia, Palm and Sony at the plant, some are reportedly as young as 12; having to endure long, repetitive work under notoriously harsh conditions. At last count, at least 14 Foxconn workers have committed suicide in the last 16 months.
The plant is now ordering its employees to sign an ‘anti-suicide pledge’, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail. Under the pledge, employees must not attempt to kill themselves, and if they do, their families can only seek the minimum in damages.
The New York Times‘ Bay Citizen website has published more remarks from Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak on the subject of Mike Daisey’s controversial one man show.
As previously reported, Woz was moved to tears by “The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,” a monologue about Apple and Foxconn, the company’s largest supplier in Asia that saw a rash of worker suicides last year.
Wozniak says he found the play deeply upsetting. He urges Tim Cook, Apple’s COO and current acting CEO, to go see the one-man show besucase the issues it discusses could hurt Apple financially in the future:
Tim should know about this very soon, so that he knows what’s in more and more people’s heads. The emotions and understanding and moral feelings that Mike brings out are very strong and could be a threat to Apple’s future, even though they are only simmering now.
The Bay Citizen: Apple Co-Founder Responds to ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs’
