Apple’s Jeff Williams: ‘Criticism makes us stronger’

Apple has claimed it is making “concrete changes for the better” at the factories that make its products and said criticism of the company makes it "stronger".

Jeff Williams, senior vice-president of operations, said Apple was making "significant progress" with the working conditions in its supply chain, despite a string of controversies.

Williams, who is responsible for Apple's supply chain management across the world, wrote an email to Apple’s 5,000 staff across the UK in the wake of a BBC Panorama investigation alleging the company mistreats the factory workers who assemble iPhones and iPads on the outskirts of Shanghai.

He said both he and chief executive Tim Cook were “deeply offended by the suggestion that Apple would break a promise to the workers in our supply chain or mislead our customers in any way”.

When asked if Apple will be targeting specific areas of its production lines as highlighted by the BBC, Williams says that every claim made, “whether intended for publication or not”, is investigated.

“We welcome criticism,” he says. “It makes us stronger.”

In the wake of its recent record-breaking quarterly results, the company has released its ninth Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, highlighting the “significant progress” made, Williams said.

Apple conducted 633 audits of its suppliers in the past year, which are designed to improve working conditions and protect the environment, covering some 1.6m workers.

Of the 210 facilities which were audited for the first time, some were brand new suppliers associated with the forthcoming smartwatch Apple Watch, due to go on sale in April. In many cases, Williams says, these factories have never been audited in the past.

These audits, Williams is keen to point out, are working to improve conditions. In the past year, just under $4m ($3.96m) was repaid to foreign contract workers for excessive recruitment fees charged by labour brokers, and close to $900,000 was returned to workers for unpaid overtime.

“It was not intentional, [that this money was taken], but regardless, it’s money they wouldn’t have gotten back,” he said. “These audits play a significant part in driving lasting change.”

Apple is dedicated to using only conflict-free minerals in its products, and expanding the number of verified sources in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the report states.

Apple has worked directly with its smelters, who work to extract metals such as gold, tin, tantalum and tungsten for use in devices including iPads and iPhones, to encourage them to participate in the third-party Conflict-Free Smelter Programme.

The company has more than doubled the number of verified conflict-free smelters to 135 throughout the course of 2014, and has removed four suppliers that failed to commit to third-party auditing, Williams says.

A shortage of qualified people committed to ensuring safe working conditions is one of the key systemic issues affecting progress, he said. “If someone is paid incorrectly, which remains a huge issue, that's resolvable through time. But having an injury is not, and must be addressed.

“With every audit we perform, we find violations associated with factory and worker safety,” he said. “Sometimes they're small, but they exist everywhere, and you need trained professionals as part of the factory.”

The company addressed this worldwide shortage by creating the Apple Supplier Environment, Health and Safety Academy in collaboration with several universities in 2013 – an 18-month course designed to improve working conditions in facilities. More than 600 managers have been enrolled into the programme, and will, Williams hopes, help to impact positively on the entire electronics industry should they move on to work in other companies.

Apple has also invested millions of dollars in training its factory workers in a variety of new skills, from welding to culinary arts, through its Supplier Employee Education and Development (SEED) programme.

“Almost 400,000 workers took courses in 2014 for personal advancement, including marketing and computer technology,” Williams says. “It's clear to us that the investment is well worth it, it's the right thing to do.”

Williams, who joined Apple in 1998 from rival tech giant IBM, has been credited as the brains behind the unprecedented success of the iPhone in the last financial quarter – selling 74m units in three months. He bats this suggestion away as “purely a team effort”.

The latest report places primary focus on the welfare of the production staff, with a letter from Williams stating how the company “cares deeply” about every worker in its supply chain, and how it “will not stop until every person in our supply chain is treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.”