iPad Factory Explosion Attributed To Combustible Dust
Foxconn over the weekend acknowledged that a third worker had died in the explosion, but an analyst said the supply of iPads won't be affected.A third worker at Foxconn's Hongfujin Precision Electronics Co. Ltd. facility in Chengdu, China, has died as a consequence of the May 20 explosion at the manufacturing facility.
Foxconn increased its previously stated death toll by one and decreased the injury count by the same amount in a statement issued on Sunday, presumably meaning that a worker previously counted as injured has died.
More Hardware Insights
White Papers
- The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's Good Bones - by BlackBerry
- Red Alert: Why Tablet Security Matters - by BlackBerry
Reports
- How To Build a Mission-Critical Data Center
- SaaS 2011: Adoption Soars, Yet Deployment Concerns Linger
Webcasts
- Server Virtualization Gets Relief From Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments
- Maximize ROI with Database Consolidation onto Private Clouds
The explosion occurred around 7 p.m. on May 20 in one of the Hongfujin Precision Electronics polishing workshops where Apple's iPad 2 is being produced.
The official of cause of the explosion remains undetermined, but Foxconn said early indications are that dust from the polishing process is to blame.
"The cause of this tragic accident is still being investigated by a joint investigation task force led by government officials and law enforcement authorities, but that task force has communicated initial findings that the accident was caused by an explosion of combustible dust in a duct," the company said in an emailed statement.
Some Chinese news reports have said that lightning may have played a role in igniting the dust.
The manufacturing facility was constructed in only 76 days, a record for Foxconn, China Daily reported.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment, but has told Reuters that it is working with Foxconn to understand what happened.
Apple has had trouble keeping up with demand for its iPad 2, but Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White believes the accident will have a minimal effect on iPad availability.
"Our current view is that this tragedy is likely to have some impact on iPad 2 production; however, we believe Hon Hai has the flexibility to shift manufacturing back to the Shenzhen facility if necessary," White said in a research note published on Monday. "As such, we currently don't expect a material impact to Apple's iPad 2 shipments, but we will continue to monitor the situation."
The amount of time that customers must wait to receive an iPad 2 ordered through Apple's website has dropped from three to four weeks in April to only one to two weeks today.
Attend Enterprise 2.0 Boston to see the latest social business tools and technologies. Register with code CPBJEB03 and save $100 off conference passes or for a free expo pass. It happens June 20-23. Find out more.
Related Reading
| To upload an avatar photo, first complete your Disqus profile. | View the list of supported HTML tags you can use to style comments. | Please read our commenting policy. | |
|
|
T-Shirt Giveaway: Each week we're selecting one great comment from our readers. The author of the comment will receive an InformaitonWeek Community t-shirt. So get posting! |
Subscribe to RSSResource Links
This Week's Issue
Free Print Subscription
SubscribeCurrent Government Issue
- Going Mobile: As federal agencies embrace devices and apps to meet employee demand, the White House seeks one comprehensive mobile strategy.
- Smartphone Security: The National Security Agency is developing technologies to make commercial devices suitable for intelligence work.
- Read the Current Issue
Technology Whitepapers
- Mobile BI: Actionable Intelligence for the Agile Enterprise
- Creating the Enterprise-Class Tablet Environment - by Yankee Group
- How To Regain IT Control In An Increasingly Mobile World - by BlackBerry
- The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's Good Bones - by BlackBerry
- New Visual and Wizard-Driven Paradigms for Exploring Data and Developing Analytic Workflows
Featured Broadcast
IDC research shows that the average deployment cost is $615 per PC, and costs exceeding $700 are not uncommon. Find out how to reduce IT costs by up to 55%.
Learn More
Featured Reports
Featured Webcasts
- Server Virtualization Gets Relief From Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments
- Maximize ROI with Database Consolidation onto Private Clouds
- Effective IT Inventory and Asset Management: From Quagmire to Quick Fix
- Outsourcing Security: What Every Potential Cloud Security Customer Should Know
- Five Jobs You Can Do Better with Intelligent Decision Automation












