Chinese Factory Shutdown May Affect Apple Notebook Supplies

[MacRumors]

​

Computerworld reports that the shutdown of a Chinese manufacturer may affect inventories of Apple's MacBook Pro and MacBook Air notebooks.

Taiwanese company Catcher Technology has had to temporarily close down a factory in eastern China due to complaints of a "strange odor" coming from the building. Catcher is said to be responsible for 60% of Apple's uni-body aluminum casings for Apple's notebook line. In a statement, Catcher admitted that customer supplies would be affected.

"Shipments to our customers will inevitably be affected. We already asked them to make adjustments to their (casings) procurement," Catcher President Allen Horng told a news conference.

It's not clear when the plant will resume full operations. Apple obtains the other 40% of its case supply from Foxconn.

The timing is unfortunate as we've been hearing rumors that Apple was planning on a small MacBook Pro refresh as early as this week. Rumors had suggested a processor bump was due late this year, and new part numbers have suggested an imminent launch.

Article Link: Chinese Factory Shutdown May Affect Apple Notebook Supplies

 

[complexcommunic]

Why is this the first I'm hearing of a macbook pro refresh?

 

[lifeinhd]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Good incentive to release the thinner models sooner then-- thinner model = less aluminum = Foxconn can create more... at least, with my twisted thinking

 

[jav6454]

Hopefully a nice stock of Al cases is handy while this brushes over.

 

[mrtravel123]

"The timing is unfortunate as we've been hearing rumors that Apple was planning on a small MacBook Pro refresh as early as this week."

I don't remember any reporting on these rumors either. Isn't this MacRumors?

One thing is for sure. I don't want AAPL to tank because of this. I think that most investors were hoping for a homerun earnings report on Tuesday... and a small bump in the stock price. Now... who knows?

 

[Abyssgh0st]

Why is this the first I'm hearing of a macbook pro refresh?

Guessed you missed this.

 

[Inakto]

I'm sure apple will demand the dead bodies removed from the factory.
In my opinion the factory ought not overwork their employees to the point of death, but who am I really?

 

[swingerofbirch]

Unfortunate timing?

These are the factories we've read about where workers are constantly inhaling aluminum dust, getting sick, and even dying. The fact that authorities in China have shut it down tells you it's a pretty bad situation. What's unfortunate is that people are sick from factory work.

When the Foxconn factory exploded, there were reports that workers there too were inhaling aluminum dust and they found a lot of huge safety violations.

This factory is only finally getting attention because the smell was so bad it was bothering neighbors near the factory--imagine what it's like inside.

There is a precedent for this situation: late 19th century/early 20th century United States. It was a moral tragedy. And it was for the sake of greed. And saying the timing is unfortunate now because you are worried an unannounced, very slightly speed bumped MBP will be delayed is also greedy.

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"The timing is unfortunate as we've been hearing rumors that Apple was planning on a small MacBook Pro refresh as early as this week."

I don't remember any reporting on these rumors either. Isn't this MacRumors?

One thing is for sure. I don't want AAPL to tank because of this. I think that most investors were hoping for a homerun earnings report on Tuesday... and a small bump in the stock price. Now... who knows?

I'm guessing this is sarcasm.

 

[Gemütlichkeit]

I hope someday they can bring production to the states.

Made and Designed in California

 

[v1nny]

I bought a 13 MBP last month . Filed a return on amazon this morning because of the rumors of the late 2011 refresh. Now what? lol. I only have 30 days to return...

 

[blunti]

I hope someday they can bring production to the states.

Made and Designed in California

if they do, the price of the computers will increase a lot.

 

[SilianRail]

I hope someday they can bring production to the states.

Made and Designed in California

Anyone know the last Apple computer to be manufactured in the US? I know the Apple II for sure, but that cost $1298 in 1977, which is around $4800 today.

 

[SchneiderMan]

I've got mine, I'm all good.

 

[smulji]

I hope someday they can bring production to the states.

Made and Designed in California

As long as people everywhere demand quality products at cheaper & cheaper prices it'll never happen.

Unless Americans want to get paid peanuts so that the cost of the products don't dramatically rise forget about it.

Greed, in terms of the profits demanded by corporations & shareholders, & the desire for cheap products demanded by consumers is the enemy of morality in business.

 

[CFreymarc]

Shutdown the Chinese factories. Build Apple products in Texas. Get rid of the unions. Profit!

 

[SandynJosh]

This factory is only finally getting attention because the smell was so bad it was bothering neighbors near the factory--imagine what it's like inside.

It was fine inside. Passed all the air-quality tests. It stunk outside because they were doing a real good job of exhausting whatever it is. Typical Chinese corruption...move the problem around instead of fixing it. In the USA we rely on Congress to do that for us.

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I hope someday they can bring production to the states.

Made and Designed in California

Well, they could move it to Canada. I understand there's a good-sized phone/tablet factory there that's not doing much these days.

 

[StoneyG]

if they do, the price of the computers will increase a lot.

I bought a 13 MBP last month . Filed a return on amazon this morning because of the rumors of the late 2011 refresh. Now what? lol. I only have 30 days to return...

You people are part of the problem. Clearly you've missed some of the other ramifications of what was mentioned in the post.

Oh, and what swingerofbirch said.

 

[mrsir2009]

Oh well... Its only a minor update. It'll get here eventually.

 

[oxfordguy]

Guessed you missed this.

and this last week...

 

[Peace]

Apple's pretty good about supply chain logistics. I'd guess this will have little impact on supplies.

 

[Laird Knox]

I'm sure apple will demand the dead bodies removed from the factory.
In my opinion the factory ought not overwork their employees to the point of death, but who am I really?

Yeah Apple sux, Dell, Motorolla, LG and Samsung are so much more responsible.

 

[q64ceo]

It could always be much worse than having China make Apple's products. It could be made in Great Britain, and that is really, really scary.

 

[LeiQQ]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Now I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and buy one.

 

[adder7712]

Still have the "original" unibody MacBook Aluminium.

Hopefully iMac supplies are not affected, might grab the higher end one in December.

 

[Ping Guo]

if they do, the price of the computers will increase a lot.

The labor cost is only one factor, and not as much as a lot of people think. The Japanese have high labor cost, yet they've managed to be extremely competitive building automobiles and computers.

Apple can still source some parts from Taiwan and Korea, and move assembly back to the states, and take advantage of robotics like the Japanese do. This would provide skilled jobs.

The increased labor costs would also be offset somewhat by cheaper shipping.