Apple has made several changes to its factory safety guidelines to help prevent leaks, according to a new report from The information. According to the updated guidelines, the company’s manufacturing partners can no longer collect biometric data, such as fingerprints or face scans from Apple employees, but the same does not apply to factory workers.
The information says he obtained an internal document from Apple describing the changes. One change is that the manufacturing partners that Apple works with, like Foxconn and Pegatron, are no longer allowed to collect biometric data from Apple employees, but they are still free to collect that data from their own employees, even if those employees are making Apple products.
The guidelines also make other changes to help curb product leaks that come from the supply chain. For the first time, Apple now requires manufacturers to check the criminal records of all workers. The company is also demanding that the use of surveillance cameras be increased at these facilities.
Another change includes Apple increasing its focus on “moving sensitive parts in factories”. As part of this change, if a component takes “an unusually long time to reach its destination”, an internal security alarm must be triggered.
Apple is also making updates to its system to track parts and components within these factories:
Apple is updating its own computer system, which is installed in some factories, to determine how long parts must remain at one production station before being transferred to another. The system uses proprietary Apple software on Mac minis to collect and analyze manufacturing data, according to a person familiar with Wistron’s operations in India. This type of monitoring can help Apple determine whether manufacturers are saving, which Apple sometimes accuses even its biggest partners of doing, according to people familiar with the systems. The system can also prevent component theft, these people say.
Apple’s new safety guidelines for manufacturing partners also include requirements for guards at checkpoints to “keep detailed records of movement of workers transporting sensitive parts from one area to another,” explains the report. Visitors to the factory are now also required to show government identity documents, something that was not necessary before.
Finally, security cameras must now capture the four sides of the transport vehicles, and videos that “show the destruction of defective prototypes and parts” must be kept for at least 180 days.
The information notes that these changes are being seen as a double standard among factory workers and partners, who believe that Apple is essentially cracking down on supply chain security in countries where privacy laws are more flexible. Employees also say that the changes – mainly in the collection of biometric data – are taking place as Apple reduces its focus on privacy, but the same standards are not being applied to workers in the supply chain.
The full report at The information worth reading.
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