From iPhone maker to VW, China factories enter bubbles over Covid outbreak

Volkswagen and Foxconn are keeping their workers on-site in their factories in Chengdu after the Chinese metropolis locked down its 21 million residents to contain a Covid-19 outbreak.

The German automaker’s factory, jointly operated with its local partner China FAW Group Co., entered a so-called “closed loop system” Thursday evening to maintain production, a company representative said on the phone on Friday, without elaborating. Foxconn, the largest assembler of Apple devices, is also adopting the method at its facility that makes iPads there, according to a person familiar with the decision. 

First used during the Beijing Winter Olympics as a way of