Up in flames: Big Setback for Apple India, Chittoor factory burns down, production hit for 2 months

One of Apple’s biggest suppliers in India, Foxlink faced a major setback as its factory in Chittor went up in flames. The Taiwanese manufacturer announced early on Wednesday that they are trying everything to resume production, but it is highly unlikely that the factory will resume full operations for at least two months. This has raised some major supply chain concerns for the Cupertino-based tech giant. The Foxlink factory in India was one of the largest producers of charging cables for iPhones, iPads and a few models of Apple’s MacBook laptops. Foxlink exported approximately 7 million USB-C to lightning cables from India last year, and delivered 1.6 million pieces in January. Cables accounted for approximately 98% of all exports from the factory. **Also read: Apple to speed up iPhone 15 production in India, starts testing manufacturing capabilities alongside China** The fire led to the collapse of a part of the factory building. As of writing this report, no casualties were reported. Foxlink, in a statement to the Taiwan stock exchange, said it is investigating the cause of the fire and “working hard to resume production.” The site of the fire has been cordoned off by the fire department, and about four production lines were completely damaged. Foxlink runs a total of ten assembly lines in two distinct facilities at the factory in Andhra. The remaining six manufacturing lines are anticipated to restart production later this week. **Also read: Major step up for Apple’s Make in India plan as Indian supplier starts making AirPod parts for export** Foxlink, in its statement to the Taiwanese stock exchange, informed that the plant, equipment and inventory were covered by insurance and that the fire has not yet had an impact on the company’s finance. However, going forward the situation is likely to change given how the factory will not be operational at its optimum level for a considerable amount of time. The company will coordinate with customers and suppliers to “discuss solutions for the production capacity affected before resuming work.” Reports have quoted a government official as saying that much of the fire safety equipment at the facility was faulty and not functional. Foxlink, has not commented on this as of yet. **Also read: Apple’s India production faces quality issues, about 50% of iPhone housings produced rejected** Except for fire extinguishers, safety systems such as smoke detectors, sprinklers and fire hydrants were faulty, leading to a slower response in containing the fire, said J Ramanaiah, who leads the Fire Services Department in the region. “The smoke detector was not activated and fire alarms didn’t go off,” Ramanaiah added. The fire’s origin is still being examined. According to Shuvana Sony, zone manager of the industrial park where the plant is situated, the regional fire department will send a report on the incident to state authorities, who will determine whether to probe further. Sony noted that her prior visits to the plant revealed no safety flaws. Police report suggests that the total loss from the fire amount to about $12 million or just shy of Rs 100 crore. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.