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Last week, it was revealed that Catcher Technology, Apple's primary unibody aluminum case supplier for the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, had halted some production at its Chinese plant over pollution concerns. One report had indicated that Catcher was investing $2-3 million in addressing the issues, aiming to resume production sometime next month.
Reuters briefly reports, however, that Catcher has been able to move even more quickly, with full production set to resume by the end of this month.
Catcher Technology , a casing supplier for Apple Inc , said on Wednesday its China plant will be fully reopened at end of this month.
Catcher, which reportedly supplies about 60% of Apple's demand for notebook shells, had previously reported that the production halt would result in a 20% decrease in its October sales.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)Let's hope for a case redesign in the near future!
I was going to hope for a less polluted future, but I supposed a new case would be just as good.Let's hope for a case redesign in the near future!
Serious question - what kind of re-design?I think the current design of the MBP and MBA is great looking. How would you change them, beyond dropping the Optical Drive in the MBP to make it thinner? :confused:
LOL maybe it was oregano, and it smelled so much unlike soy sauce that they panicked. :p
Well, hopefully in the long run this leads towards better environmental protection. It's ridiculous if Apple sells an aluminum casing on being recyclable to Western customers, and meanwhile manufacturing that casing in the East is far worse environmentally than if the case were manufactured in a "clean" plant but could not be recycled.
It was one, or possibly two, things. It was either the coolant for the milling machines or what they use to clean the coolant off the finished parts.
Some of the coolant has a nasty odor and the cleaner/solvents they may be using can cause strong odors and nasty contamination.
I was a sub on an IT project at a manufacturer in central Michigan and noticed that everyone carried bottles of water in with them. Then I asked one of the techs and we said that it was because the water out of the tap is so contaminated, it's undrinkable. People also took their mugs home to wash because the water was so bad there. They were in a very rural area and since the plant had been there for 50/60 years, and they dumped coolants and solvents on the ground and routinely had leaks in their waste tanks, the ground water all around the plant was just nasty. They didn't seem concerned about it at all which, aside from the lackadaisical opinion on the leaking chemicals, I found very incredibly tragically disturbingly odd... It's almost like they would have gladly given up their health for a job. I found that stunning...:eek: I tipped the state off to the mess and they still, after 8+ years, to my knowledge, have not investigated at all which I found disgusting. They busted a guy for dumping his used motor oil in his backyard and sent him to jail, and won't investigate a corporation that has literally dumped poisons on the ground and is killing the town. Go figure... And what's that PR campaign for Michigan? "Pure Michigan"? If you don't mind the contaminated water...
They discovered it was lunch.
LOL maybe it was oregano, and it smelled so much unlike soy sauce that they panicked. :p
Well, hopefully in the long run this leads towards better environmental protection. It's ridiculous if Apple sells an aluminum casing on being recyclable to Western customers, and meanwhile manufacturing that casing in the East is far worse environmentally than if the case were manufactured in a "clean" plant but could not be recycled.
Serious question - what kind of re-design?
Good question!
I think the current design of the MBP and MBA is great looking. How would you change them, beyond dropping the Optical Drive in the MBP to make it thinner? :confused:
No major redesign in 2012. It is too early. Or do you think Professionals are happy with a 256 GB (blade) SSD in a thinner 17" MBP?
Anyone have details on what the pollution problems were, exactly?
Reports in Western media (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/10/factory-stench-shipment-delays/) were (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/10/factory-stench-shipment-delays/) simply that there was some kind of odor coming from the plant, and nearby residents complained, prompting the government to ask them to shut down and figure it out. So it could be that whatever was causing the problem was easier to identify / fix than anticipated? (It could also be a wide variety of things). It doesn't seem like it was shut down for a known pattern of ongoing environmental misbehavior, so whatever they did to fix it might not be a huge improvement on the plant's environmental vitae.