Foxconn shuffles the iPhone factory leadership

Foxconn has replaced its iPhone business leader, who seems to have stepped down following huge production challenges since Covid hit Apple’s supply chain.

All change at the top of the phone tree

The company has appointed Michael Chiang as head of its iPhone assembly operations to replace Wang Charng-yang, who remains a Foxconn director.

The company stressed that his departure is not connected to the Covid-related disruptions that impacted production in recent months.

Chiang has been a manager at Foxconn since 1999 with a focus on standards and quality control. He played an important role when managing recent worker unrest, working with Apple and local government.

He has also been working to deploy Foxconn manufacturing in India, explaining the culture shock the company is experiencing there, according to South China Morning Post.

iPhones take a lot of craftsmanship

That report also notes an anecdote explaining that while the company only needs 100 workers per production line to make Android devices, it needs 1,200 for iPhone production.

Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron and others are expanding rapidly in outside China and will accelerate these deployments in 2023.

This is seeing factories deployed in India, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and elsewhere in South East Asia. Factories in the Apple supply chain are also springing up in Mexico, US, Europe and elsewhere.

“Diversification of supply chain is an ongoing trend,” said Pegatron Co-Chief Executive Officer Johnson Teng, as reported by Economic Times.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.