Zhengzhou
Latest
French reporters infiltrate Foxconn iPhone 5 factory, find few of the vaunted changes (updated)
Envoyé Spécial, a 60 Minutes-like program from public TV station France 2, went undercover at the Zhengzhou iPhone 5 Foxconn factory recently (within the past two months) and reported many of the same problems the Chinese manufacturer and Apple promised to fix earlier this year. According to the story that aired last night, dorms at the new factory were occupied by workers despite the fact that many were still under construction and had no elevators, electricity or running water -- apparently because builders focused on the production lines at the expense of housing. A Foxconn manager even warned employees on hidden camera not to plug devices into dorms that did have electricity, saying that eight workers were killed in a fire after overloading circuits.
Workers at Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory strike in reaction to new iPhone 5 quality standards
Unbox that shiny new iPhone 5 only to find it marred with scratches and blemishes? Good news: Apple is asking Foxconn to adhere to stricter quality demands for its flagship handset. Not so great news: workers at the firm's Zhengzhou factory are striking over the demands. According to China Labor Watch, three to four thousand workers stepped off the production line to protest the new standards, which only allow for a 0.02mm appearance defect. "It's tough under such stringent quality requirements," writes Sina Weibo user and Foxconn employee Yefudao. "A 0.02mm appearance defect is already beyond that of our vision. With such a demanding task, workers' mental pressure becomes so immense that they have to vent it out." China Labor Watch reports that the issue stems not only from the higher quality demands, but the fact that workers are being asked to meet them without receiving the training necessary to do so. The situation hasn't broken out into a riot, but a dispute between line workers and quality control inspectors reportedly sparked a fight that led to property damage, injury and some hospitalization. Production lines have temporarily been frozen by management while Foxconn deals with the situation.
China builds $3.7 billion, 1,373 mile power cable, how was your afternoon?
The State Grid corporation of China is constructing a power line capable of transmitting a staggering 37 billion kWh per year. The record-breaking cable stretches from the power rich Hami Prefecture in Xinjiang to the industrial Zhengzhou in its east -- part of an area that's been suffering from power shortages since March 2011, according to China Daily. Costing a twitch-inducing $3.7 billion, when it's completed in 2014, it'll be the most capacious link in the world. Rather than rest on that particular laurel, the company is commencing work on a second, slightly smaller line that'll be used to transmit wind and solar power from Hami to the rest of the country -- here we were thinking that skipping our lie-in was an impressive feat.
Foxconn plans to build five Brazilian factories to produce Apple products
Apple relies on electronics assembly firm Foxconn to build iPads and iPhones in China. Now Foxconn is reportedly planning to build five new factories in Brazil to help meet the demand for Apple products. There's already one plant cranking out iPads and iPhones, and each of the new factories is expected to have about a thousand workers. The exact locations of the new plants have not yet been decided, with officials from the Brazilian government and Foxconn planning on meeting after the Chinese New Year. The Brazilian government wants the factories in the country: just last week, they approved tax reductions and exemptions that make it attractive for Foxconn to produce iPads in Brazil. A new "Inter-Ministerial Decree 34" provides excise tax, social contribution tax, and federal contribution tax incentives for companies investing in the research and development of keyboard less touchscreen tablets weighing less than 750 grams (the iPad 2 tops out at 613 grams). In other Foxconn news, Chinese tech news site M.I.C. Gadget reports that thousands of Chinese citizens lined up for a chance to try for jobs at an iPhone plant in Zhengzhou. Despite recent Western press accounts painting the company -- and Apple -- as exploiting Chinese workers, there are literally tens of thousands of individuals who feel that a low-paying job in less-than-perfect working conditions is better than no job at all. The photo below shows part of the crowd waiting outside a labor agency in Zhengzhou to apply for the jobs.
