Apple iPhone assembler, Foxconn will begin production of iPhone 13 at its new plant in Chennai, India this month, after a three months delay. Foxconn was supposed to start mass production of 5.4-inch iPhone 13 mini and 6.1-inch iPhone 13 at the Chennai plant in January 2022 for local and overseas markets. But Apple put the manufacturer on probation for not providing quality working and living conditions to the workers.
In December 2021, the Foxconn factory in Chennai that employs around 17,000 people was shut down when an unfortunate food poisoning incident left 150 employees hospitalized. The incident led to protests and it was also found that workers were kept in unsanitary living conditions.
Foxconn to provide workers with adequate resources to resume operations at Chennai factory in India
During the investigation of the food poisoning incident and living conditions, the official for the state of Tamil Nadu said that the authority has told Foxconn to check and improve the quality of workers’ living conditions at the factory and to provide them with resources and recreational facilities like food and water, power backups, indoor games, library, TV and other needs.
Furthermore, the government told the manufacturer that the plant will resume production at full speed only after improvement in the workers’ living conditions.
As the Business Standard reports that iPhone 13 production will commence at Foxconn’s Chennai plant in April, it is likely that workers living conditions issues and concerns have been resolved.
Seven months after it was launched in India, Apple is expected to start manufacturing the iPhone 13 at the Foxconn plant in Sriperumbudur near Chennai from April, according to sources. The phones will be for both the domestic and export market.
The production of the iPhone 13 in the Chennai plant was meant to start from January but had to be postponed after Apple suspended production following protests in December by women worÂkers about food poisoning. An Apple spokesperson did not respond to an e-mail query.
But all is not well for Foxconn; the manufacturer’s second-largest manufacturing hub in Shenzhen, China is shut down as the city has gone under COVID lockdown.
