The fire incident at iPhone assembler Pegatron India’s factory near Chennai on Sunday was reportedly triggered by a short circuit resulting from an electrical switch being left on after the testing of devices during the assembly process.
The incident has resulted in loss of production for three days and there is no clarity yet on resumption of operations, news agency Reuters reported.
The Apple supplier disclosed to the Taiwan stock exchange on Wednesday that an incident occurred at the factory on Sunday and attributed it to “a small switchboard malfunction”.
The report, citing a source from the Tamil Nadu government, said the workers at the Pegatron plant engage in a specific assembly process for iPhones. After assembling approximately 70 individual iPhone components, they proceed to charge the device batteries up to a level of 50% at a designated charging rack. Following this step, the workers then install the necessary software onto the devices.
A switch on one of the charging racks was inadvertently left in the “on” position at the conclusion of the night shifts on Saturday. This oversight resulted in overheating, ultimately leading to a spark that ignited a foam sheet used to safeguard new mobile phones against scratches.
Compounding the situation, the following day was a holiday, and only a limited number of maintenance workers were on duty. The government source pointed out that if there had been a larger workforce present in the facility at that time, the fire might have been swiftly contained and prevented from escalating further.
In response to the emergency, firefighting teams were swiftly dispatched following a distress call received at approximately 8:50 PM on Sunday, as confirmed by a local fire official.
An estimated six machines sustained damage during the fire. However, the specific type of machines affected was not disclosed.
Earlier it was reported that the production shutdown at the Chennai manufacturing facility of Pegatron is expected to extend for the third day on Wednesday as authorities were investigating the fire incident at the Taiwanese firm’s unit on Sunday night.
Following the fire incident, Pegatron temporarily suspended iPhone assembly operations starting Monday. There were no casualties or injuries due to the fire as it occurred during a holiday when the factory was not operational.
Pegatron presently accounts for about 10% of Apple’s annual iPhone production in India, according to research firm Counterpoint.
The development comes at a time when Apple is reportedly planning to ramp up production in India by more than five times from the current levels to around $40 Bn.
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