Outbreaks have the potential to cripple production, threatening the global supply of everything from cars and golf carts to kitchen appliances and, of course, iPhones.
| From locking in workers to hoarding medicines, beds and disinfectant, China’s factories are going to great lengths to keep the machines running – and the global supply chain intact – as an onslaught of COVID-19 cases looms.
Outbreaks have the potential to cripple production or tear through employee rosters, threatening the global supply of everything from cars and golf carts to kitchen appliances and iPhones.The same battle to ward off COVID-19 was fought what now seems like an eon ago in facilities across the US and Europe. Those efforts provide a cautionary tale for China on the difficulty of keeping out the virus from factories completely.
Many Chinese manufacturers are turning to closed-loop systems, a model designed to isolate workers from the wider population and reduce the chance of infections. Companies such as Tesla used them during the Shanghai lockdown to keep employees COVID-free and maintain production. COVID-19 has already ripped through a workshop at BMW’s Shenyang factory, infecting most of a production line, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. A new group of employees was called in to replace the sickened staff this month.
Manufacturers in North America showed early in the pandemic how the virus can lead to production chaos, and then supply chain disruption. Infections at US car factories forced closures in the first few months of the crisis. Then a global chip shortage, triggered by the pandemic, led to yet more output cuts.
Jinneng Holding Group, a miner in Shanxi province, is asking staff to avoid colleagues in different divisions, and canteens have been replaced with food deliveries to working areas. The company’s solar unit has installed beds in offices for staff who can’t return home.Longi Green Energy Technology, the world’s largest solar equipment manufacturer, has most of its front-line workers living in dormitories.
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