 "Tata Electronics partially restarts operations at Hosur facility after fire")
Work at Tata Electronics factory in Tamil Nadu’s Hosur partially resumed on Thursday, five days after a major fire blazed through the plant forcing it to halt the production of iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 cases.
The factory will hit full gear in a phased manner, and employees will continue receiving full pay till then.
“The safety and well-being of our employees is always our top priority, and we’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire at our Hosur facility. We plan to restart work in many areas of the facility today. And as we work toward resuming full operations, all our team members will continue to receive full pay,” a Tata Electronics spokesperson said.
A Reuters report, quoting Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Research, estimated local sales of 1.5 million units of iPhone 14 and 15 models during the festival season -- which runs from late October to early November -- with Apple struggling to fulfil as much as 15 per cent of that demand due to the fire.
“We have been working diligently since Saturday... to identify the cause of the fire at our Hosur facility,” a company spokesperson reportedly said.
The factory manufactures essential back panels and other components for iPhones. Though both Apple and Tata Electronics held meetings to review the situation, it is not clear on when operations will be fully restored.
Tata Electronics Private Limited, along with Pegatron and Foxconn, are Apple’s key contract manufacturers in India. After the fire incident on Saturday, the company had said that production for iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 cases were suspended. However, as it had ample stock supplies are unlikely to be affected.
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Apple had reportedly sent three officials from its supplier responsibility team to the Tata Electronics unit on September 29 on Sunday to counsel and advice its supplier partner, a routine exercise that the company follows.