Apple holding off on Vietnam iPhone assembly over workers' living conditions
Apple is considering the possibility of bringing iPhone manufacturing to Vietnam, a report claims, after the Cupertino company visited a factory owned by assembly partner Luxshare to check the conditions of the facility.
Representatives from Apple visited Luxshare over the summer to check out the facility's quick construction and viability for iPhone production, according to Luxshare Foreign Affairs Manager Tang Due Bang. Local reports cites Bang as claiming the factory in Van Trung Industrial Park was inspected to ensure it was the right scale, had the correct facilities, and the available investment capital to start iPhone assembly.
"The Apple side continually surveyed the workshop of Luxshare in Bac Giang on iPhone production conditions," said Bang. "Apple Corporation is impressed by the speed at which our fast facility is built here. At the same time, through practical research, Apple highly appreciates the potential in Bac Giang province and hard-working workers."
The facility was one of a number of Vietnam operations working for Apple that sought financial support to expand their AirPods assembly lines in December 2019, funding which Luxshare evidently attained. According to Bang, the 30-hectare factory was constructed in 5 months after Apple's request to expand production.
Luxshare's investment in the Bac Giang province is said to have reached $270 million, and while it already as 28,000 workers, it would need to swell numbers to between 50,000 and 60,000 workers if it gains approval to make iPhones.
However, part of the facility has yet to meet Apple's requirements, specifically those relating to the on-side dormitories. It is unclear what requirements Luxshare missed, but it seems to be the main thing holding back the facility from gaining Apple's approval.
Luxshare is also seeing to expand its facilities further, with two more plots outside the industrial park for more dormitories currently seeking approval for construction from the local government.
Vietnam isn't the only place Luxshare wants to use for iPhone production. In July, it purchased an iPhone plant in China from Wistron for approximately $472 million.
Representatives from Apple visited Luxshare over the summer to check out the facility's quick construction and viability for iPhone production, according to Luxshare Foreign Affairs Manager Tang Due Bang. Local reports cites Bang as claiming the factory in Van Trung Industrial Park was inspected to ensure it was the right scale, had the correct facilities, and the available investment capital to start iPhone assembly.
"The Apple side continually surveyed the workshop of Luxshare in Bac Giang on iPhone production conditions," said Bang. "Apple Corporation is impressed by the speed at which our fast facility is built here. At the same time, through practical research, Apple highly appreciates the potential in Bac Giang province and hard-working workers."
The facility was one of a number of Vietnam operations working for Apple that sought financial support to expand their AirPods assembly lines in December 2019, funding which Luxshare evidently attained. According to Bang, the 30-hectare factory was constructed in 5 months after Apple's request to expand production.
Luxshare's investment in the Bac Giang province is said to have reached $270 million, and while it already as 28,000 workers, it would need to swell numbers to between 50,000 and 60,000 workers if it gains approval to make iPhones.
However, part of the facility has yet to meet Apple's requirements, specifically those relating to the on-side dormitories. It is unclear what requirements Luxshare missed, but it seems to be the main thing holding back the facility from gaining Apple's approval.
Luxshare is also seeing to expand its facilities further, with two more plots outside the industrial park for more dormitories currently seeking approval for construction from the local government.
Vietnam isn't the only place Luxshare wants to use for iPhone production. In July, it purchased an iPhone plant in China from Wistron for approximately $472 million.
Comments
Dumb logic. Apple doesn't even own these companies and these companies manufacture Apple knockoffs as well.
What counts is what they do and how they perform under existing circumstances.
And please go into some details here. You know; stuff like how their salaries are perceived when they go to the local bank for a loan to buy an apartment, what the renting situation is like, as well as the availability of land if they decide to build (or park a trailer). Please also add a bit about the public transportation for to commute to work; and maybe you could also add a bit about stores, buying groceries, and how that fits within the salary?
If the people who complain about workers standard of living, really cared they would start in the US, where people who work in similar factory live in substandard housing, How many people do you see complaining about that to the company and the consumer buying those products. They can complain to the Government and they do and the governments does not care since people have choices, so their living conditions most times are their own choosing.
My point is simple, these Asian companies if they want US companies to source product from them they have to stop the companies towns, it does not fly well with the complainers.
And on top of that the factory in Bac Giang has been recruiting since early this year, fighting hard to compensate for the shutdown of the factory in China (due to corona); which is something that few regions can just handle, unless they started out with an overcapacity to handle people there's no simple upscaling for a city to handle a new/expanding factory. Which included housing, transportation, roads, etc. Not to mention that your idea of everyone just buying mopeds isn't exactly realistic; they can easily cost the first 1-2 months of salaries, which is something that most people desperate for a job can't handle.
Perhaps that's why things moved there. American workers used to be hungry enough for a job that they would accept almost any conditions. Working in a mill or a mine was hard, grueling and dangerous -- plus the company owned or controlled the places where people lived and shopped. Today, not so much.
It was actually a part that was added to the modified NAFTA agreement: trying to even out wages and working conditions between Mexico and the U.S. so that U.S. workers could compete with Mexican workers without sacrificing their hard won gains. It'll be interesting to see how that works out (from both sides of the border.)
That's about as relevant as your attempts at deflection and whataboutism.