Apple CEO Tim Cook Visits Foxconn, Conditions to Improve

Apple CEO Tim Cook is on a visit to China, which wouldn't be complete without a visit to Foxconn – the company responsible for the production of much of Apple's products.

Cook reportedly paid a visit to the newly built Foxconn Zhengzhou Technology Park -- which employs around 120,000 people -- in the north central province of Hebei.

The Cupertino company has been under fire of late over the working conditions of Foxconn workers who produce the millions of iPads that get sold worldwide. It appears now that Tim Cook is taking action with Foxconn to make things better.

According to Reuters, Apple and Foxconn have agreed to "clamp down on illegal overtime, improve safety protocols and upgrade worker housing and other amenities." Doing so will require the hiring of tens of thousands of new workers.

Foxconn said that it will limit the weekly work hours of its workers to 49 per week, including overtime, while keeping the same wage. This is a reduction from a report that found workers putting in more than 60 hours per week on average during peak production times.

Such changes will inevitably drive up the costs to produce products at the Foxconn factory, though the full impact may not be directly passed on to the consumer as companies such as Apple and HP may absorb some of those increased costs.

(The images that appear here were released today from Apple Inc.)

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