I 100% agree with you Paris(Dont know your real name, but have been following you in several places). The way manufacturing works especially in technology field has gotten here very fast and is to stay here for long. Working in the automotive manufacturing field myself, I can imagine the pressures that are there on manufacturers to set up and crank up volumes like the one demanded by a popular cell phone( iphone ). The production numbers need for the iphone can be matched up with the automated robotic lines, but then with the automated systems you get very rigid with what you can produce. you cannot do that not knowing if your product would be successful. If you are careful about truly what the customer needs than what Apple has done was the right thing, to get the product done from a place where it is flexible to produce so much in mass. 

The smart and flexible system like the ones at Foxconn are the ones that can respond to the true needs of demanding customers like Apple. All said and done Apple could do a better job believing what is reported is true. But always at the end of the day, the true person in charge of the plant holds the last right in doing what he does everyday. Supplier development is only one portion of sourcing a product, but it needs time which doesnt fit in the product lifecycles of electronics products. Its very hard in even products for automotive were I come from, but its close to impossible with shorter life cycles. No matter how hard you try, you cannot meet all the goals you are looking for. So you always end up with a compromise. I think Apple has done the right thing in deciding what its priorities are. I am pretty sure all other major consumer electronics giants are in the same state. For such a situation to change, it can only come from with the vendors. People have to understand that there are people in the world who are willing to work in such conditions, as long as there are people like that, there will be people who will use them. So the change has to come from within the vendors for Apple. 

We can all crib about such situations from the outside, but a true change can only come from within. This is my first random rant on this subject. 

parislemon:

A lot of people have asked for my take on The New York Times piece yesterday about the true cost of making Apple products in China. Let me first just say that it’s an important piece full of good reporting by Charles Duhigg and David Barboza. Parts of it are very sad — sickening, really.

But…