Foxconn Trims Working Hours, Boosts Safety After FLA Audits

Foxconn Technology Group, Apple’s largest supplier, cut working hours and improved safety conditions at its China factories after inspections by the Fair Labor Association found dozens of violations, the group said.

The changes are among 284 made by Foxconn this year after FLA audits at three plants of the Taiwan-based company logged more than 50 breaches of Chinese regulations, the group said in a report released today. Foxconn is ahead of its own 15-month schedule for upgrading conditions and meeting FLA mandates, with 76 more items due for completion by July 1, the group said. “A lot of companies are looking at Foxconn’s progress with considerable interest and concern because they know how ambitious a target Foxconn has set,” Auret van Heerden, president and chief executive officer of the labor group, said in an interview. “It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that a Samsung facility will come up” for future inspection.