Journalist creates video tour of the iPad factory
I love seeing how things are made, which is why one of my favorite TV shows is “How It’s Made”. I don’t really care what it is that’s being made, even seemingly boring items can have interesting stories, and it’s nice to see some documentary on TV that doesn’t include blowing something up (*cough* Mythbusters *cough*). When you actually do see something that you recognize on those shows however, it’s even more fun. That’s why the release of even a short, somewhat random video from inside the Foxconn iPad factory gets me excited.
The video tour is done by radio journalist Rob Schmitz, who was responsible for discovering that a story about Foxconn working conditions a while ago was very exaggerated. That apparently got him enough goodwill with the people at Foxconn to get in to see the real truth. This is after all not a normal factory we’re talking about, it’s essentially an industrial city with 240,000 workers and a whole city infra structure on its own campus.
As for the contents of the video, I wish there was more technical stuff, but considering what lead the journalist there to begin with, it’s natural that the general workings of the factory and its workers are also in focus. There’s been a lot of debate around the Foxconn facilities, both related to suicides, the before-mentioned retracted story and just general discussion, but it’s important to remember to distinguish between cultural differences and Foxconn differences.
[Marketplace.org via CNET]
