Apple supports one million jobs in India, pilots new manufacturing project

Worker in Apple's supply chain in India

Priya Balasubramaniam, Apple's vice president of Product Operations VP, has been speaking to the Bengaluru Tech Summit about the company's plans for India. She said that Apple currently supports a wide range of jobs through direct employment, the app economy, and local supply partners.

According to The Indian Express, Balasubramaniam also said that Apple is planning to expand, and is trialling new manufacturing processes in the country.

"Apple is investing significantly in the Indian market to expand its reach and engage with more local suppliers," she said. "[The] nature of manufacturing is transforming at rapid speed [and] India can also play a role in that transformation."

The new pilot manufacturing process is called station monitoring with Machine Learning, and Balasubramaniam described how it is being developed.

"We can now develop predictive models that anticipate issues and we can proactively implement corrective actions, without slowing productivity," she said. "Smart manufacturing is more resource-efficient and more sustainable. It also helps us reduce our environmental impact."

She praised India for how Apple was able to achieve "the goal of zero waste to landfill very quickly." She said the country "went further by taking the learnings of waste reduction into local communities where employees live."

Balasubramaniam has recently been tipped to take over as senior vice president, operations, when Tim Cook leaves the company and Apple restructures its executive team.