The photo above with happy employees can be found here. No one is sleeping. There's another photo here of an employee at a plant where Apple products are made where there's educational resources and access to iMacs in a clean environment.

The union video from the BBC's documentary showed masses of unskilled workers being given answers to test questions just so that they'd comply with Apple's minimum guidelines. The clash of images is dependent on the perspective of the one's holding the camera. One is idyllic while the other is designed to depress and anger those in Western societies. I suspect that this PR war is far from over on both sides and we'll cover the news on developments as they come to light.

Apple Patent Covers Assembly Line Production Instructions

In a patent application that was filed in Hong Kong and published by the European Patent Office earlier this month I found a segment that shows that Apple has or will laser etch assembly instructions inside an iPhone to assist young unexperienced workers to make mistakes assembling an iPhone.

Apple states that "Particularly in assembly environments in which there are numerous connections that need to be made, assembly operations may be challenging for unskilled workers who are unfamiliar with the assembly process. The device may therefore include a set of numbers to help guide workers during the assembly process. An example of this type of arrangement is shown in FIG. 29" below.

Apple's patent FIG. 29 shows an illustrative interior view of a device which is an iPhone. Apple notes that in FIG. 29, the device may include components such as integrated circuits encased in electromagnetic shielding ("cans") such as housings #280 and #282. The iPhone may also include one or more modules such as module #284 which may be a module that includes acoustic components such as a microphone, speaker, etc. The dock connector #20 may be connected to a module such as module #284.

Regions such as regions #286 and #288 may include exposed circuit boards, one or more discrete components, flex circuits, or other suitable electrical components.

The components of the iPhone may be interconnected by communications paths. The communications paths may be, for example, transmission line paths such as coaxial cable paths, flex circuits, board-to-board paths supported by printed circuit board traces, etc., as described elsewhere in the patent filing. An illustrative communications path is shown as path #292 in FIG. 29.

Examples of suitable indicators include Arabic numerals (e.g., 1, 2, 3, . . . ), Roman numerals, Chinese numerals, letters (e.g., A, B, C . . . or comparable letters in other alphabets), combinations of numerals and letters (e.g., A1, A2, B1, B2, B3, C1, . . . ), or symbols (e.g., *, **, ***, etc.). The indicators preferably denote a desired assembly order or orders and may, if desired, be followed in reverse order by a worker who wishes to partly or fully disassembly a device for rework or repair.

To assist workers in deciphering the assembly/disassembly order indicators and/or to provide other suitable guidance for the workers, the iPhone (or device 10) may include instructions such as instructions #294. The instructions may be laser-etched on the metal surface of cans such as can #280, may be printed on can #280 or other suitable surface of the components of the iPhone (or device 10), may be printed on a label that is affixed within the device, may be inscribed on an interior portion of the case or may be otherwise formed on the device. Assembly and disassembly instructions (e.g., instructions referring to the assembly order) may also be included in software and displayed using a display, although this type of arrangement will generally only be practical if device is at least partly operational).

Instructions (#294) may be written instructions that include, for example, explanatory text (e.g., in English, Chinese, or other suitable language). The Instructions may also be partly or completely formed from symbolic instructions (e.g., a diagram showing how parts should be connected, a list of corresponding assembly order indicators, etc.).

We reported back in July that a Chinese report confirmed that 100,000 new iPhone Workers had been hired. Most of these workers had likely never touched an iPhone before let alone assemble one. To be able to get assembly workers up to speed, the laser etched instructions is a way to assist workers. Considering that Apple is trying to patent this idea would strongly suggest that other devices made by other manufactures haven't thought through the assembly process as well as Apple has.

The Hong Kong patent surfaced in the European Patent Office database December 12, 2014 as noted below.

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