It's hard to imagine that anything at Apple could be run more tightly than it was under Steve Jobs' rule, but a new report claims that CEO Tim Cook has been clamping down harder on quality control in the company's supply chain.
DigiTimes is reporting that Apple is focused on "even stricter management over its supply chain" since CEO Tim Cook took over the reins last year, which includes both more frequent and far longer inspections at the manufacturing plants themselves, according to sources within those supply chains.
"The sources pointed out that Apple has been putting a lot of effort into managing costs and product quality for the past half year, and the company's suppliers are all being heavily evaluated," the report reveals.
The move shouldn't come as much of a surprise, given that Cook was largely responsible for streamlining Apple's manufacturing when he first joined the company, and has been instrumental in helping Cupertino maximize profits at the same time.
Supply chain sources claim that a fingerprint was accidentally printed on an internal component of the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display prior to release -- a gaffe that forced Apple to recheck the entire production line to correct the situation.
"With Apple adopting higher standards over product quality, the sources expect the strategy to become a challenge to suppliers' production line management as well as a threshold for players wishing to enter Apple's supply chain," the report concludes.
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