Foxconn Interns Reportedly Broke PS4 Consoles on Purpose

[froggyboy604]

There has been some mixed news surrounding the launch of Sony's new PlayStation 4 gaming console. Over the weekend, Sony announced that it sold one million PS4s in the first 24 hours of availability.
 
However, a recent report suggests that interns at a Chinese Foxconn plant claim that a portion of first available PlayStation 4 consoles were purposefully sabotaged during the manufacturing process.

According to a new report from Neowin, interns from a Foxconn plant in Yantai, China sabotaged the PS4 during manufacturing because they felt they were being mistreated in the workplace.

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I think I try my best to avoid buying any products made by Foxconn since there could be more cases of workers and interns from breaking electronics which they assembled, and I feel I be promoting poor working conditions for factory workers if I buy from Foxconn.

I bet this wouldn't have happen if the PS4 was made in America, Canada, and Europe with highly paid and skilled workers in good working conditions.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

This can happen to any place, I think any plant of any kind that has over worked and mistreated workers, even in a bakery plant where my dad works will do harm to products.

 

[froggyboy604]

I agree, this could happen at any plant. But, plants in the US, Canada, and most Europeon countries are less likely to have as many workers breaking stuff on purpose since there are laws, unions, and the government who investigate unsafe and unfair wages.

But, in factories in China like Foxconn, the government does not care as much, the laws in China don't promote safe working conditions vs. the US and Canada where companies can get sued for unfair treatment for workers, and better wages like the US, Canada, and Europe, and there are no powerful working unions in China which protect the rights of its workers.

 

[VirusZero]

The problem is that a lot of companies don't want to pay manufacturing costs in North America because they cost significantly more. I mean in parts of North America minimum wage is over 10 dollars an hour. And for any sort of labour requiring skill or precision you can expect to be paying at least 20-30 an hour. 
I highly doubt they pay that much for manufacturing in China... 

I do agree though that just because it was made in North America doesn't mean that you won't have employees sabotaging products. Some employees are just bad and will damage things because they can. (And it can be difficult to track who did what and when. )

 

[froggyboy604]

Higher paid workers in North America maybe more motivated to be more careful when assembling electronics since they are happy with their jobs, or don't want to risk losing a high paying job by breaking products, so the percentage of sabotage are more likely slimmer. A lot of people in North America also use low paying jobs at smaller companies, etc as stepping stones for finding higher quality jobs, so people generally try to maintain a good working relationship with their employer.

North American workers use references from old jobs for finding jobs if they decide to move to another city to find a job, or apply for other jobs, so a lot more workers in North America may quit , or find a new job, and use their previous employers as references if they left without being fired for poor workmanship. I'm not sure if references are as important for finding a job in China where there are millions of people who can be trained to do the same jobs.

There are some workers who steal, sabotage, and start fights, but I think it is generally less common in higher paying jobs.

In my experience, products made in the USA, Europe, Japan, and Canada generally have fewer problems during its lifespan.