Chinese authorities are still inspecting a factory that produces aluminum casings for MacBook laptops, following residents’ complaints of unbearable odors coming from the facility, according to “InfoWorld” (http://macte.ch/tzuWv). (By MacBooks, I’m assuming this is both the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air line.)
Apple’s MacBook inventories, however, appear so far to be unaffected by the factory’s temporary shutdown, Helen Chiang, an analyst with research firm IDC, told the publication. In mid-October, Taiwan-based Catcher Technology announced that it had stopped production at its factory in Suzhou, China.
Authorities have since been inspecting the factory to ensure its manufacturing processes will not emit any strong odors that will affect nearby residents. Chiang told “InfoWorld” that Apple appears to have mitigated the effect of the factory’s outage as it shifted production to another supplier.
— Dennis Sellers