Less than 20% of employees expected to return to work in China
Aaron Lee, Taipei; Willis Ke, DIGITIMES
Monday 10 February 2020
Less than 20% of Chinese factory employees would return to work after an extended Lunar New Year break due to the coronavirus outbreak, and many components plants in China have decided not to restart production until February 25 despite being allowed to resume operations on February 10, according to supply chain sources.
The low percentage of returning employees, sharply down from the corresponding figure of 70% in past years, is the major factor affecting production at most components plants, and whether the rate can pick up in March will depend on the development of the epidemic, the sources said.
The sources continued that notebook ODMs Wistron and Compal Electronics have decided to resume operations on February 10 and 17, respectively, though they can hardly estimate how many Chinese employees can return to work.
But both Wistron and Compal will have to carry out their assembly operations with components in their inventories, which can last only 1-2 weeks, the sources said. Many supporting components suppliers will keep their plants closed till February 25 to avoid the risk of longer production halts, as local governments stipulate that once one employee is confirmed infected with the virus, the entire plant in question must be shut, the sources said.
The sources said even if employees can return to factories on February 10, they still have to be quarantined for 14 days, and can restart work in late February if they are proved uninfected.
As notebook ODMs with plants in southwestern cities of Chongqing and Chengdu usually hire local employees, they will suffer less from workforce shortfalls but may still see their production and shipments disrupted by insufficient parts and components supply associated with transport controls, said the sources.
Meanwhile, few Taiwanese managers are willing to return to their plants in Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic, after staying in Taiwan for the Lunar New Year break, said the sources. Plants in Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province are expected to be hardest hit as the rate of employees willing to return to work there would be limited.
digitimes.com |
