Profile of Foxconn's Founder Addresses Relationship With Apple

170654 terry gou

Bloomberg Businessweek publishes a lengthy profile of Foxconn founder Terry Gou, who has built his Taiwan-based manufacturing company into a major player in the computing and consumer electronics industries and become Apple's primary manufacturing partner for a broad array of its devices. The interesting profile comes as part of Foxconn's public relations effort to share the steps it has taken to deal with recent suicides and claims of worker discontent at the 900,000-employee company.

As it relates to Apple, the article addresses how Gou is willing to go to extreme lengths to produce quality parts for Apple's devices, even going so far as to spend in excess of $20 million to mass produce the iPhone 4's metal frame on machines meant only for creating prototypes. As a result of this commitment, Foxconn has been able to produce 137,000 iPhones per day while meeting Apple's design demands.

When Apple's iPhone4 was nearing production, Foxconn and Apple discovered that the metal frame was so specialized that it could be made only by an expensive, low-volume machine usually reserved for prototypes. Apple's designers wouldn't budge on their specs, so Gou ordered more than 1,000 of the $20,000 machines from Tokyo-based Fanuc. Most companies have just one. "Terry is a strong leader with a passion for excellence," says Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer. "He's a trusted partner and we are fortunate to work with him." The Longhua plant now produces 137,000 iPhones a day, or about 90 a minute.

The report balances a description of Gou's personal life and dedication to quality with his demanding reputation, noting that he "exhibits severity and kindness in the extreme." Building Foxconn from a minor parts manufacturing company selling channel knobs for black-and-white TVs to television manufacturers, Gou has aggressively expanded his capabilities over time to constantly win market share and customers while also working to secure its intellectual property in the face of stiff competition in the Asian electronics manufacturing industry.

Gou notes that he failed to handle the suicide issues well, not realizing that he had a problem on his hands until the crisis had begun to spiral out of control. The company has taken steps to address workers' health and happiness with new activities and support channels and has undertaken a major effort to build new factories closer to workers' native homes to keep them closer to their family networks. The effort will also allow Foxconn to do away with its "compounds" where employees live and work, offering them a degree of separation from work when they go home to housing and entertainment options provided by local governments rather than the company itself.

The report concludes by noting that Gou remains ambitious in his expansion plans, hoping to target the U.S. to expand production there beyond the current 1,000-employee facility outside Houston. Regardless of its future expansion plans, Foxconn appears to be maintaining a close relationship with Apple and is likely to continue being a major piece of Apple's manufacturing pipeline.

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2023 Event Taking Place June 5 to 9

Wednesday March 29, 2023 9:58 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 34th annual Worldwide Developers Conference will take place from Monday, June 5 to Friday, June 9. Like WWDC 2020, 2021, and 2022, WWDC 2023 will be an online event for the most part, and it will be open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple will provide online sessions and labs, which will allow...
iPhone 15 Pro Buttons CAD Leak

iPhone 15 Pro Low-Energy Chip to Allow Solid-State Buttons to Work When Device is Off or Out of Battery

Wednesday March 29, 2023 1:54 am PDT by
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max will use a new ultra-low energy microprocessor allowing certain features like the new capacitive solid-state buttons to remain functional even when the handset is powered off or the battery has run out, according to a source that shared details on the MacRumors forums. CAD-based render of new solid-state buttons on iPhone 15 Pro models The source of this rumor is ...
CarPlay Phone Call

General Motors to Phase Out Apple CarPlay Starting This Year in EV Transition

Friday March 31, 2023 8:43 am PDT by
General Motors (GM) will phase out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in its vehicles starting this year, shifting to a built-in infotainment system co-developed with Google (via Reuters). GM owns Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC in the United States. It will stop offering Apple CarPlay and Android Auto starting with the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer, which goes on sale this summer. The company plans ...
iPhone 15 Pro Multi Purpose button Mute Switch Feature Green 2

iPhone 15 Pro Rumored to Feature Multi-Use Action Button Instead of Mute Switch

Wednesday March 29, 2023 7:28 am PDT by
iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models are rumored to feature a customizable Action button like the Apple Watch Ultra, according to a MacRumors forum member who leaked accurate details about the Dynamic Island on iPhone 14 Pro models last year. The source claimed the Action button will replace the Ring/Silent switch that has been included on every iPhone model since 2007. They did not...
iOS 16

iOS 16.4 Now Available for Your iPhone With These 8 New Features

Friday March 31, 2023 8:55 am PDT by
Following six weeks of beta testing, iOS 16.4 was released to the public this week. The software update includes a handful of new features and changes for the iPhone 8 and newer. To install an iOS update, open the Settings app on the iPhone, tap General → Software Update, and follow the on-screen instructions. Below, we have recapped eight new features and changes added with iOS 16.4,...
iOS 17 on Phone Feature

Three New iOS Features Coming to Your iPhone Following Apple Music Classical

Thursday March 30, 2023 7:13 am PDT by
With the Apple Music Classical app and an Apple Pay Later early access program now available, the list of previously-announced iOS features that have yet to launch is beginning to shrink. However, there are still a few features we are waiting for. Below, we have recapped three more iOS features that are expected to launch in 2023, including an Apple Card savings account for Daily Cash,...
apple mixed reality headset concept by david lewis and marcus kane

Kuo: Apple Mixed-Reality Headset May Not Appear at WWDC as Mass Production Pushed Back Yet Again

Thursday March 30, 2023 4:50 am PDT by
Apple has again pushed back mass production of its mixed-reality headset and the device may not appear at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today said. Apple headset concept by David Lewis and Marcus Kane In a tweet, Kuo explained that Apple "isn't very optimistic" about whether the headset will be able to create an "iPhone moment." As a result,...