Apple today released its 2018 Supplier Responsibility Report, which provides a look into Code of Conduct violations in the Apple supply chain and outlines progress made with new programs promoting health and education awareness.

Apple provides supplier responsibility progress reports on an annual basis in an effort to be transparent about the steps it takes to improve the lives of the employees who manufacture the wide range of Apple products available to consumers.

applepegatron
Apple conducted 756 audits across 30 countries in 2017 (up from 705 last year), and it says that its efforts to raise standards are having a "dramatic impact." The number of low-performing facilities (judged on a point system based on compliance with Apple's Code of Conduct) decreased to one percent during the year, and Apple saw a 35 percent increase in the number of high performers. Overall, Apple suppliers earned an average Labor and Human rights score of 86 out of 100.

Apple did, however, uncover 44 core violations at its supplier facilities, including three bonded-labor violations, 38 working hours falsifications violations, one access restriction violation, and two cases of underage labor. In one incident, Apple says 700 workers in the Philippines paid out a total of $1 million in recruitment fees for factory jobs, which Apple made the supplier pay back. These violations have increased from last year, and Apple says this is because it brought on several new suppliers during the year.

Last year, Apple launched a health awareness program for women at supplier facilities in India and China, which offers access to services and education on self-examination for early cancer detection, nutrition, personal care, and maternal health. Apple says that this program, along with others promoting education and worker rights, has been highly successful.

"We believe that everyone making Apple products deserves to be treated with dignity and respect and we're proud that almost 15 million people understand their workplace rights as a result of the work we've done over the years. We're going further with health education programs and new opportunities for advancement at our suppliers," said Jeff Williams, Apple's COO. "A new preventive health care curriculum is encouraging women to focus on their personal health, and hopefully share that knowledge with their families and communities. Our goal is to reach 1 million women by 2020. We know our work is never done and we're committed to raising the bar every year across our supply chain."

Apple also worked with Beijing Normal University and some of its larger suppliers to introduce a Factory Line Leader Program that offers practical vocational skills, guaranteed internships, and long-term full-time employment opportunities to workers in an effort to recruit more factory line leaders.

Apple says that over the course of the last 10 years, more than 2.5 million supplier employees have taken education classes under its Supplier Employee Education and Development program, and over 12,000 have enrolled for a degree.

As of 2017, all of Apple's final assembly sites around the world have been certified as zero waste to landfill, and suppliers working with Apple introduced energy efficiency improvements that reduced more than on 320,000 annualized metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions during the year.

Additional details about Apple's supply chain and environmental efforts can be read in the full 2018 Supplier Responsibility Report.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Top Rated Comments

Apple_Robert Avatar
96 months ago
It would be good in many ways, if Apple would bring manufacturing back to the U.S.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pika2000 Avatar
96 months ago
It would be good in many ways, if Apple would bring manufacturing back to the U.S.
It's just not feasible.
1. The human resources in the US have not been prepped up for factory work like this for a while. It will take a new generation of modifying the school system to prep up new workers that fit for the job, and this won't be overnight.
2. Even after that, it will take several more years for the skillsets of the workers to be up to par. The Chinese have been doing this for decades.

Of course, you can ask Foxconn to setup a factory in the US and bring some initial workforce. But then one would ask, would the education system want to change, and would the people even support this as it won't give jobs to Americans right off the bat. Short answer, nope.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BoxerGT2.5 Avatar
96 months ago
It would be good in many ways, if Apple would bring manufacturing back to the U.S.
There is no way Apple could pay what American workers would want, follow our labor laws (if a US company had to install nets around the building to catch the workers who snap and fling themselves out a window the government would shut them down in a heartbeat. This is to say nothing of dealing with the eventual cost of Unions while still trying to maintain their profit margins. The would have to raise the cost of their products to levels that would probably price them completely out of the market. People don't like it, but that's the reality.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ericgtr12 Avatar
96 months ago
Nice to see Apple taking steps with this, it would be nice to see Foxconn no longer have a need for suicide nets ('https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/18/foxconn-life-death-forbidden-city-longhua-suicide-apple-iphone-brian-merchant-one-device-extract').
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ericgtr12 Avatar
96 months ago
San Francisco seems to have realised that 1600 people dying by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge is enough. Many, many lifes too late.

Foxconn had the choice: Let people die, or put up suicide nets and have idiots all over the world chuckle about them. While saving lives. For saving lives at the expense of being ridiculed, they have my admiration.
I won't speculate as to why one is troubled enough to jump off the golden gate bridge, we all have our struggles. However, one does not have to speculate as to why they're jumping out of windows in a factory where they're worked to the point that they feel life is no longer worth living. They shouldn't have our admiration, they should have our protection and we should stand up against such deplorable conditions so it doesn't happen in the first place.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Naraxus Avatar
96 months ago
The pressure these employees are under must be insane...
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Monday June 30, 2025 1:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are less than three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September this year. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

Wednesday July 2, 2025 6:36 am PDT by
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads. As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
iOS 18

Apple Releases Second iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:19 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a day after Apple provided the betas to developers. Apple has also released a second beta of macOS Sequoia 15.6. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible...
maxresdefault

New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

Monday June 30, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
Apple is developing a MacBook with the A18 Pro chip, according to findings in backend code uncovered by MacRumors. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Earlier today, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip. The machine is expected to feature a 13-inch display, the A18 Pro chip, and color options...