Opinion is split up on whether a flack on Friday at a Foxconn factory in Chengdu , China will affect the production of Apple ’s iPads
inquiry firm IHS iSuppli warned that if output at the factory is disrupt until the end of June , it could result in a yield loss of about 500,000 unit of the iPad 2 in the second quarter .
Friday ’s eruption occurred at an forum plant in Chengdu operated by Taiwan - based Foxconn Technology Group . Three workers died , while 15 others were injured in an explosion that the company said was triggered by “ combustible detritus in a epithelial duct . ”
A photo of the southern campus at Foxconn’s Chengdu factory, provided by Hong Kong-based group SACOM
A cardinal payoff is whether Foxconn ’s other mill in China can pick up the slack from the Chengdu factory .
“ We estimate it will be a very small plate impingement because the ( Chengdu ) mill just started production , ” said Gartner analyst Amy Teng . Most of the production of the iPad is based in other factories in China , she summate .
The Chengdu mill makes less than 1 million iPads a calendar month , according to Teng . In line , iSuppli estimated production at the facility at 500,000 units a calendar month .
Neither Foxconn nor Apple have so far cautioned about a disruption in production .
A photo of the southern campus at Foxconn ’s Chengdu factory , provided by Hong Kong - establish group SACOM
The Chengdu manufactory is still in military operation , but the shining adroitness where the attack occurred has been temporarily exclude down . Foxconn has also set aside operations at the polishing workshops at its other factories in China . On Tuesday , the company decline to say when the suspension would finish .
Foxconn ’s Chengdu factory began operation this year and is still under construction .
“ Not all the facility are up and running , and betterment demand to be made to the product payoff , ” Teng said . “ At this instant , most of the iPad production is at Foxconn ’s other factories in Shenzhen . So we ask the impact to be pocket-size . ”
But production at Shenzhen may not be able-bodied to compensate for all the lost output in the second after part at the Chengdu situation , iSuppli said .
Foxconn is currently working with Chinese federal agency to investigate the ancestor effort of the blowup . Apple is also call for in the investigations , but the U.S. company has declined to offer further gossip on the flack .
Foxconn has been a fundamental supplier to Apple and other caller like Motorola and Hewlett - Packard . It has come under scrutiny for its working conditions , particularly aftera string of worker self-annihilation at the companionship ’s Shenzhen factorylast year .
The Chengdu mill explosion has yet again put the Taiwanese company under a negative spotlight . A Hong - Kong based watchdog group Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior ( SACOM)said in a statement on Mondaythat the incident was not inadvertent , but due to the company ’s negligence in the area of work safety . Foxconn responded by saying SACOM “ is attempt to capitalise on the tragic accident . ”
news show of the explosion has raised questions over whether Apple may examine to find another supplier to work up its iPad products . But Teng said this wo n’t be possible , at least for the short full term . For now , Foxconn remains the only supplier with the production capacity and the work strength to build the iPad on a tumid scale leaf , Teng said .
“ It postulate a Brobdingnagian amount of capital in equipment and people to support the eco - system to build the iPad , ” she added . “ We do n’t think Apple can come up another substitute that easily . ”
