State report says Foxconn's Wisconsin plant 'more of a showcase' than a factory

Credit: Engineering News-Record

A Wisconsin state report on Foxconn's troubled factory concluded that the project shows no sign of actual LCD manufacturing, and likely never will.

The evaluation contradicts statements from Foxconn, which insisted earlier in 2020 that the plant would be producing LCD panels sometime this year.

The report on Wednesday, issued by the Wisconsin Division of Executive Budget and Finance, states that Foxconn's plant "may be better suited for demonstration purposes rather than as a viable commercial glass fabrication facility." The Verge was the first to report on the analysis.

Foxconn has yet to properly outfit the factory with the necessary equipment. And even if the facility were to produce LCD panels, the state report indicated that it would be the smallest Gen 6 plant in the world — not the sprawling Gen 10.5 LCD factory that the company promised.

If the company did any manufacturing in the facility at all, the analysis continued, it would likely only be the final assembly of components shipped from other plants. That project would be much smaller in scope that Foxconn's contract with the state proposed.

In fact, earlier in October, the state denied Foxconn's bid for tax subsidies of that. At the time, state officials suggested that they were still open to negotiate new terms for the plant.

Foxconn said that it would open the plant in May 2020 with 1,500 jobs, about 300 short of the number necessary to secure subsidies. That has, of course, been delayed, and it isn't clear if any manufacturing will take place at the facility at all.

The report on Wednesday said that the factory "would appear to be more of a showcase than a business viable for the long term."

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23 Comments

CloudTalkin

said about 3 years ago

I must say, this is a totally surprising development. I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.

ronn

said about 3 years ago

Corporate Welfare FTW! :#

dewme

said about 3 years ago

The demonstration factory concept is not a bad idea for US manufacturing in general. The sheer size of that facility and its affiliation with what is quickly becoming a massive Foxconn misfire for WI makes it a very expensive way to turn lemons into lemonade.

The EU and especially Germany have put together, for example, a demonstration factory in Aachen, Germany to advance the development of Industry 4.0 initiatives, which is very similar in scope to what is often referred to as “Industrial IoT” in North America. This is a good thing that was done in a purposeful manner. Doing something equivalent in the US absolutely makes sense at a macro level, more so because of the close tie-ins that IIoT has with the emergence of 5G.

Is this the most cost effective way to retarget the goals for the original stakeholders of the Foxconn promise to Wisconsin? Probably not. What becomes of all those high paying production oriented manufacturing jobs that Foxconn promised if this is turned into a massive R&D and proof of concept test bed?

It’s going to be a tough sell to convince the citizens of Wisconsin who were sold a promise of thousands of new jobs being created in their home state that this is a good deal for them. If Wisconsin wanted to embark on the goal of establishing a center of excellence for modern manufacturing, IIoT, and 5G they wouldn’t have partnered, at least not so closely, with Foxconn in the first place.

I hope this works out for the people of Wisconsin.