Wow, and you americans keep wondering why you're so hated by the rest of the world. Some of you people are just sickening, greedy and, dare i say it, plain dumb.
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Foxconn Workers Reportedly Strike over iPhone 5 Quality Control Demands
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Demand something and not give your staff the tools they need to fulfill the demands? That's a guarantee that your workers will get frustrated and take it out on the company and the customers. One of the basic rules they taught us in management class was that your staff wants to do a good job. They want to be able to take pride in what they do. Management's job is to help them do that. Increasing demands without extra support to help them is a recipe for disaster. Apparently Foxconn's management needs to go back to school.
Treating them well will magically make them not package up defective work? No. Even in the fabulous USA, when you put in defective work, you are expected to fix it.
The iFactory TV tour of Foxconn said that the workers got $1.75 an hour for a 60 hour work week.
Those are not the condition at Foxconn lol. The workers are not as powerless as most people think. They would have burnt down the factory if their rice was mouldy. I am Chinese and we take our rice seriously...
Anyway that isn't to say things can't be improved, that there isn't even poorer areas in China with conditions described (Foxconn workers are typically fairly well off comparatively) etc. Just that in this particular case it is more sensationalism vs facts.
Get your facts straight before you troll - moron.
Yeah - How much does housing cost when there's no electrical or plumbing and the floors are just dirt? And food costs - mouldy rice is cheap, cheap, cheap!
Their cost of living is so low, they don't know how lucky they really are!
That sounds right but i recall another story that said there was overtime paid above 60 hours and some sort of bonus, but maybe the latter was a signing bonus of some sort.
The "defective" work was caused because of lack of proper equipment, training and support from a managerial level. This can happen anywhere once you put those 3 factors into a project where timelines are a priority.
1a) I agree, with the exception of price. That factor should be left out of the conversation relative to the way Apple positions itself as "the best". That alone is the reason APPLE not Foxconn, should insure build quality is proper.
2a) You're right.
3a) Most companies have a set of standards that are set in place. I'm sure Apple does too. Therefore it's an issue of weak or no follow up on Apple's part.
Apple is becoming like Walmart only worse.
Especially since at no time has Walmart ever boasted that it sells "Magical and Revolutionary" products.
Unless you soldered those circuit boards and twisted those wires underlying those plastic keys I hope you enjoy your bloody keyboard.
It is actually a fair point seven2k7. However consumers would need to take action, in say for example LAW, that require companies based in or that do business in the US to apply the same standards of working conditions to any work done on their behalf outside this nation's boundaries.
God for bid we the people tell corporate people how to treat real people, and hurt that "stock" price.
Or we could try the other approach and simply stop buying any from of product made in any part of the world with 19th or 20th century standards of works rights. That's worked before.... Why is everyone rolling on the floor laughing?
It is always unsettling to read stuff like this. So many people here are OCD and when you read about the conditions that people are working in while trying to hit an unrealistic target to maintain those QC standards...it really puts things in perspective (1stworldproblems).
It just sucks because you know the demo units during the press conference were all probably hand-built at the Apple campus to ensure top notch quality fit and finish while the mass units are just put together as quickly as possibly in a sweatshop like environment where people are overstressed/worked and underpaid.
However, as bad as it sounds, that is not OUR job as the consumer...it is Apple/Foxconn's job. We should not feel bad about complaining about cosmetic issues or returning phones so long as we are paying up to $800 for these devices. For what Apple charges, we should have phones that do maintain the highest quality. Granted, Apple has to meet supply demand but they are charging quite a bit of money for me to feel guilty about making sure it is up to my standards.
It just sucks because you know the demo units during the press conference were all probably hand-built at the Apple campus to ensure top notch quality fit and finish while the mass units are just put together as quickly as possibly in a sweatshop like environment where people are overstressed/worked and underpaid.
However, as bad as it sounds, that is not OUR job as the consumer...it is Apple/Foxconn's job. We should not feel bad about complaining about cosmetic issues or returning phones so long as we are paying up to $800 for these devices. For what Apple charges, we should have phones that do maintain the highest quality. Granted, Apple has to meet supply demand but they are charging quite a bit of money for me to feel guilty about making sure it is up to my standards.
Sorry, but you are clueless. If you are sitting there thinking that Apple will just decide to halve its profit to bring the work back overseas to the US, you are dreaming.
1. American workers won't work for low wages, nor would they work the demanding hours required. They'll sit around without a job before they'll do hard labor for dirt cheap....so if anything, those jobs moving from China will just go to the next lowest bidder.
2. It's not just Apple. You make it sound like they are the ones responsible here. Nearly every piece of electronics in your house is made in China.
Are you willing to pay $1200 for your Iphone? Is there anywhere in the U.S capable of providing hundreds of thousands of workers to assembly the phone to meets the huge demands? Are American workers willing to work overtime all year round?
If the answers are yes for all those questions, then ...
Yep.
Foxconn's parent company is buying over a million robots over the next few years. Rising labor costs and lowering profits ... partly from being squeezed by Apple... have made automation imperative.
They're also (finally) adding automated circuit board X-ray quality control for every board ... something that American automated factories have done for decades.
Most SELFISH comment I've ever seen. I hope you NEVER get a perfect IPhone or any other product again. Arrogant as$hat
You don't need to feel bad. You purchased the most expansive phone on the market. It is a premium product and it is not shocking for you to expect it to be shipped to you in good condition.
The culprit here is Apple which in spite if charging a premium price employs unqualified workers in poor conditions, which leads to poor manufacturing and is humanely not very nice. I think not complaining is actually cautioning what Apple is doing (ie making fools of both consumers and workers).
Of course most big electronics companies also work with Foxconn and also have issues. But I think Apple exacerbates the problems buy just assuming that the China workforce is totally flexible with no limit, and that asking Foxconn to manufactures millions of device within a few weeks and with a pretty late notice has not consequence.
I have to disagree. How much training and managerial support does one need to use their eyes and say "this is scratched"? I mean, honestly now. These aren't internals. These are visually damaged casings, and people who pay premium dollars for products expect to get nothing less than what they paid for.
When it is cheaper to use manual labor than to utilize machines to assemble the product, then you use labor. When labor becomes more expensive than utilizing machines to automate some elements of assembly, then you start eliminating jobs. Bet you that the factory job looks better than looking at the back of an ox in the fields for most of the workers.
Someone mentioned that this is a turning point in China, just remember that the Chinese government may not look at this as a plus.
How much more expensive would the iPhone 5 be if it was assembled over here in the US?
Maybe. These factories are isolated from the large cities and the government has its "ways" of keeping mouths shut. Also, China has a billion people, so like someone already stated, they can always bring in other people that want to work.
Just because we get the inside scoop of what is going on in these factories, the rest of China, particularly those in the cities, probably do not. That is just how their government works.
12 hours a day, without any rest on holiday..very low pay
actually 14 workers chose to suicide from Jan. 2010 to Oct. 2010.
Now every worker will sign a "No-Suicide" contract with Foxconn before they get jobs there.
so i hope people in developed country would complain less about any workers' strike in Foxconn. Foxconn is the most evil company in the asia.
BTW, i am chinese so i am not good at english but i hope i have successfully conveyed my idea.
Liar. Apple doesn't employ these people. They pay a company which employs these people. Do you blame the supermarket because they order fruit from a farm where people make less than you think is fair to keep your price at the register down?
relax...you use apple products yes?
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if the quality isn't up to your standards...you pick another supplier...