“The site of Friday’s explosion was massive 8-building complex thrown together in a record 70 days,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.
“When a polishing plant blew up in Foxconn’s new factory complex in Chengdu, China, it was an English-language website operating, as they put it, “outside the Great Firewall of China, temporarily,” that broke the news and provided U.S. media outlets with videos, photos and regular updates,” P.E.D. reports. “On Saturday, the website — M.I.C. Gadget — posted a background story on Foxconn’s Chengdu facility that offers a rare glimpse not only of life inside the factories (see photo), but of the industrial policies that brought them to Chengdu in the first place.”
P.E.D. reports, “It’s a remarkable tale. According to M.I.C.’s Star Chang, the factories were constructed in record time specifically to meet demand for Apple’s (AAPL) iPad 2. With its Shenzhen factory operating at full capacity churning out, according to Chang, 2.5 million first-generation iPads a month, Foxconn needed 50 new production lines capable of building up to 40 million second-generation iPad per year.”
Read more in the full article here.
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