Smartphone giant helps boost worker skill levels

Employees of Apple's suppliers take vocational lessons through the US tech giant's education initiative. [Photo/China Daily]

Zhou Xue, an employee at smartphone manufacturer Foxconn's factory in Chengdu, Sichuan province, did not expect that one day she would help develop a mobile app.

Born in the 2000s, Zhou joined the plant as a technician in 2021, and one of her job was to change and record the tools used at various assembly lines－a monotonous task prone to error.

"Tools such as knives and punches are consumed a lot in the factory and they need to be replaced frequently. It takes time and effort to manually record how many of them have been changed," Zhou said.

After participating in programming training courses, she developed an app with others that monitors and records equipment and machine usage in real time, thus saving a lot of manpower. The app not only helped Zhou boost work efficiency, but also allowed her to win a transfer to the automation internet engineering department of the factory.

Zhou is among a growing number of front-line manufacturing workers in China that have benefited from Apple Inc's supplier employee development initiative, which is designed to better empower people across its supply chains with more access to learning opportunities. Foxconn manufactures smartphones for Apple.

Isabel Ge Mahe, vice-president and managing director of Apple Greater China, said that Apple is very happy to witness, participate in and promote China's shift toward high-end manufacturing.

As China's manufacturing industry becomes increasingly intelligent, and the education levels of employees continue to improve, Apple is providing employees of its suppliers more training in automation and advanced manufacturing techniques, such as programming and robotics, Ge said.

According to the senior executive, the company has established a robotics science training center in Chengdu, with plans to add more training points in the coming years.

Talent is the source of development. Apple's training courses are in line with the needs of China's manufacturing industry, and the purpose is to cultivate the skilled workforce required by advanced manufacturing, she added.

Apple said it also provides ongoing support to suppliers and vocational schools in China, including work-study integrated courses and life skills courses, which can help young people transform from students to employees of advanced manufacturing, and also contributes to the development of China's manufacturing industry.

Foxconn employees are on their way to work at the company's factory in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. [Photo/China Daily]

Zhang Long, general manager of the intelligent manufacturing research center at the China Center for Information Industry Development, a Beijing-based think tank, said China places greater emphasis on the shift to high value-added industrial fields, which puts forward higher requirements for manufacturing talent.

In March, Apple launched a $50 million Supplier Employee Development Fund to expand access to learning opportunities and skills development in its latest push to better empower people across its supply chains.

Apple has offered in-person and virtual education, skill-building, and enrichment courses since 2008, providing opportunities for people in its supply chains to gain new technical and leadership skills.

With the new $50 million commitment, Apple said that it is significantly expanding the scope of these offerings, adding new educational resources for people in its supply chains－and the surrounding communities－to develop the skills necessary for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

The new education initiatives will make training and coursework available to supplier employees around the world, with programming initially available to individuals in the United States, China, India and Vietnam, the company said.

By 2023, Apple expects more than 100,000 supplier employees to participate in new learning opportunities－from leadership training and technical certifications to classes on coding, robotics and advanced manufacturing fundamentals, including green manufacturing.

Apple's supplier employee educational programming has already reached more than 5 million people.

To better empower talent in China, Apple has also launched a string of "Today at Apple" events, including an Earth-Day-themed initiative. Under the initiative, Apple partners with the Beijing Entrepreneur Environmental Protection Foundation to invite photographers and designers from the environmental community to offer perspectives on environmental topics such as biodiversity and climate change.

Participants of the 11 courses, which are scheduled to be held from April 19 to May 29 in cities such as Beijing, will also learn how to better use phones to take photos, and record videos to speak up for environmental causes.