Quanta blames limited Apple Watch production on worker shortages
Without mentioning the Apple Watch by name, the vice chairman of manufacturer Quanta Computer said on Friday that initial production of a client's wearable was limited because of workforce shortages, although his company has since caught up.
Quanta lacked sufficient manpower during February's Lunar New Year holidays, company executive C.C. Leung said, according to DigiTimes. This forced it to borrow labor from other manufacturers, and even so it was still limited in the amount of units it could ship.
A separate recent report suggested that one of the main problems in Watch production was the Taptic Engine vibration motor. A number of motors produced by AAC Technologies allegedly failed during relability testing, forcing Apple to at least temporarily shift most Taptic Engine production to Apple's second supplier of the part, Nidec.
Leung noted that the unspecified wearable is no longer a problem for Quanta in terms of quality or technology.
To date Apple has had a difficult time keeping up with Watch orders. While many units are shipping ahead of their predicted devlivery dates, the company is still targeting a "July" window for most new purchases. Edition models, which start at $10,000, should ship in June if not earlier.
18 Comments
Apple had a secondary supplier of taptic engine parts? But this conflicts with the troll narrative of Apple "foolishly" having only one supplier for key components, thereby creating a disastrous launch. Either that, or shame on Angela. I don't think the Watch trolls have reached consensus on their story yet.
[quote name="Suddenly Newton" url="/t/186281/quanta-blames-limited-apple-watch-production-on-worker-shortages#post_2723829"]Apple had a secondary supplier of taptic engine parts? But this conflicts with the troll narrative of Apple "foolishly" having only one supplier for key components, thereby creating a disastrous launch. Either that, or shame on Angela. I don't think the Watch trolls have reached consensus on their story yet.[/quote] Anybody that has ever been involved in a product ramp up knows that there are all sorts of glitches to deal with. In this case Apple has plenty of new tech to deal with from the ultra small PCB to the taptic engine. Possibly having an issue with any of those isn't a big deal, The big deal comes from how you rise to the challenges.
[quote name="Suddenly Newton" url="/t/186281/quanta-blames-limited-apple-watch-production-on-worker-shortages#post_2723829"]Apple had a secondary supplier of taptic engine parts? .[/quote] According to yet another rumor. Lacking anything official from a verified supplier or Apple themselves that's all any of it has amounted to. In any event it doesn't matter. The watches will be available for sale when they're ready, just as it's always been.
[quote name="wizard69" url="/t/186281/quanta-blames-limited-apple-watch-production-on-worker-shortages#post_2723832"] Anybody that has ever been involved in a product ramp up knows that there are all sorts of glitches to deal with. In this case Apple has plenty of new tech to deal with from the ultra small PCB to the taptic engine. Possibly having an issue with any of those isn't a big deal, The big deal comes from how you rise to the challenges.[/quote] if you asked the poor factory slobs working on rotation 24 hours a day pumping them out, I think they'd saying they're rising to the occasion just fine. that some nerds have to wait longer than anticipated during the first months of launch is likely not a big deal to them.
Worker shortages? Really? How come we've never seen this with other Apple products? I don't remember hearing about iPhones or iPads being delayed because of the lunar holiday in China.