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I'm not sure how Apple does it, but when I was working in manufacturing we were not told what steps to use or given finished samples by the customer. In general, there is a quote phase before the contract being awarded. In this phase, you're given a blueprint / shop drawing with tolerances, 3D model, and any other specifications that need to be satisfied (e.g., material type, surface finish). If anything is missing, you can submit a request to get the engineering team to update the documents. If you give someone a finished part, it misses so much of the information that's necessary to check the parts. There is a saying, "build to print" because the print contains the key info and is including in the contracts. It's up to you to determine how to produce the widget. You put forth your quote based on your costs, the material costs you can get, and you factor in your production yield. The article and the Financial Times article they are citing are light on details. It's not clear if this is an issue with production, inspection, or what exactly is going on. Usually there are some ramp up issues with launching a new process or production line, so challenges are expected. But 50% rejection is huge. I assume the "casings" being referred to are the back housing / surface of the phone, which is highly cosmetic. If that's the case, the rejection could be for cosmetic issues. It could be related to not hitting the correct tolerances. There are lots of reasons, but the article doesn't really give these details. It's also not clear if every second part is being rejected or if the first half of the batch is rejected or if there are other patterns to the rejections. Could be issues with setup, operation, inspection, or material handling. |