Roger Fingas
A fire erupted Sunday evening at Foxconn's main iPhone manufacturing facility in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, though no one was hurt and it didn't affect production, the company claimed.
The exact cause of the fire is unknown, but it did start in the central air conditioning fan and ductwork on the roof of a building, according to the Wall Street Journal, which later confirmed the incident with Foxconn. Photos and videos on Chinese social media reportedly showed the fire spanning several floors of a factory.
Any disruption to iPhone production could be a serious problem, as Apple is one of Foxconn's largest clients, and the iPhone is Apple's most important product.
Various reports have hinted that Apple is cutting iPhone 6s/6s Plus production for the current quarter anyway, supposedly as an "inventory adjustment" allowing retailers to clear out stock.
Apple's Asian suppliers have periodically encountered fires and explosions linked to combustible dust lingering in the air. Official supplier standards normally forbid such safety violations, but they still periodically turn up in audits or investigations by third-party activists.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
Andrew Orr
8 Comments
OK. Move along! Nothing to see or write home about.
"In related news, police detained several Wall Street analysts including Tripp Chowdhry outside the facility and confiscated large amounts of matches and gasoline that they were carrying...." /s
Small fires in manufacturing plants happen all to frequently and thankfully are put out promptly and the damage minimal. When you have the vast amount of equipment and wiring things can happen, this is why if you dont have people working round the clock (which this plant likely does and is why it was caught early) you have guards constantly making rounds looking for signs of possible trouble. This shouldnt even be in the news!
Hey analysts, better tank Apple's stock some more.
There is already a bullshit video of some miscellaneous warehouse fire being posted all over the interwebs as being the Foxconn fire (it's not)
This is the actual fire: https://youtu.be/WKQX4mF-DHk