factories

Rob Schmitz, the public radio journalist who cried foul on Apple commentator Mike Daisey's statements related to Foxconn working conditions, is now reporting from the factory floor.

Schmitz, who has been a longtime correspondent for American Public Media's Marketplace, is only the second Western journalist to be granted access to Foxconn facilities, and today offered his first report on what he observed at the company's factory in Shenzhen, China. Not surprisingly, his first takeaway was comprehending the vast number of people working on Apple's iPad.

"In this factory, on the iPad assembly line, what first … Read more

The average Foxconn worker logs at least 56 hours a week, finds the factory stressful, has seen an accident, wants better air conditioning, and plans on a tenure of about two years. That worker also wants better food in the canteen.

Welcome to Apple's supply chain.

After logging 3,000 staff hours while investigating three factories since February, the Fair Labor Association finally released its very detailed report about labor rights violations going on within the factories of Apple's largest supplier, Foxconn. What has emerged from the report is a composite sketch of the day in the life … Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook has visited a Foxconn factory in China where iPhones are manufactured as the company grapples with criticism over its handling of working conditions in its supply chain.

Cook inspected a newly constructed facility in Zhengzhou, China, that employs 120,000 people, Apple spokesperson Carolyn Wu told Bloomberg. Wu declined to discuss what Cook has planned for the remainder of his visit or how much longer he's expected to be in the country.

Earlier this week, Apple's chief executive was spotted in the Joy City Apple Store in Beijing, looking over his company's products … Read more

Workers injured in a December blast at a Chinese factory say that Apple inspectors toured the facility hours before the accident.

NPR spoke with 25 injured workers who criticized safety conditions at the plant and said they were instructed not to speak with the Apple contingent.

One of the injured employees, Zhang Qing, told NPR that workers were not informed about a similar blast seven months earlier at a factory in Chengdu, China, which was tied to a buildup of aluminum dust.

Another worker hurt in the explosion, Liu Hengchao, said he watched as inspectors wearing white gloves checked for … Read more

Foxconn, an Apple manufacturing partner, has been leveled with an accusation regarding teenage workers, even as the Fair Labor Association inspects its facilities.

Speaking in an interview published today by AppleInsider, Debby Sze Wan Chan, project officer of the Hong Kong-based not-for-profit Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), said that Foxconn moved younger workers and banned them from overtime ahead Apple's of requested audits by the Fair Labor Association, an independent group.

"All underage workers, between 16-17 years old, were not assigned any overtime work and some of them were even sent to other departments," Chan … Read more

Apple's Chinese supply chain has come under fire over the years for its allegedly poor environmental record. But according to a new report, Apple now plans to address that with independent audits.

Apple is bringing in independent environmental auditors to at least two supplier factories in China, USA Today reported yesterday, citing environmental activists. Speaking to USA Today, Ma Jun, founder of the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPEA), said that Apple agreed to the reviews in January and will allow auditors in two facilities, possibly starting in March.

The reviews, Ma told USA Today, will focus on … Read more

Apple's supply chain is once again in the crosshairs, after a South Korean newspaper today reported that Chinese factory workers are paid substantially less than their counterparts elsewhere around the world.

According to the Korea Daily, citing sources, factory workers in China who are producing iPads collectively earn about $8 per unit among them, or about 1.6 percent of the cheapest iPad's selling price.

Korean factory workers, on the other hand, share about $34 per unit among them, giving them 6.8 percent of the sales price, according to the report.

Over the last several months, complaints about working conditions in factories … Read more

Even electronics need to let their kink flags fly sometimes. Open-minded iPad and iPhone 4S owners can dress their devices up as furries with ION-factory's fur covers.

The Monster Fur Cover for the iPhone is a hard snap-on cover with a shock of artificial fur on the back. It comes in three colors: snow white, creamy camel, and schnauzer grey. Gotta dig that schnauzer grey.

The iPhone cover costs $40, while a leopard-print version for the iPad 2 costs $70. Ion encourages you to pamper your new flat tribble with combing and grooming. Your real-life Shih Tzu will soon … Read more

Apple's outrageous success has a dark side. But does that mean it's time to stop buying Apple products?

Before we go there, let's get a few things out of the way. The focus of the New York Times iPad human cost story was Apple because:

Fame: Like anything that is constantly in the public eye (such as, say, a Republican presidential candidate) Apple is a magnet for reporters. There's lots and lots of reporting about Apple, some invariably negative.

Profits: While analysts and journalists trip over each other to applaud Apple's profit juggernaut, the way … Read more